Page 86 of The Enemy's Daughter

Liam’s chest rises and falls faster than my heartbeat, but I need him to hear me. “If you...” My voice is a whisper.

“Shhh,” Liam says gently. “Don’t speak.” He tightens the pressure on the left side of my neck. “I think we’ve slowed it.”

Has he? Maybe only the external jugularwascut. It’s the difference between seconds and minutes to live.

“Just hang on,” Liam chokes out. Veins bulge over his sweaty forehead.

That’s the plan, but my vision darkens around the edges. I need to say this before I pass out. “Their magic—if... you hurt him... it will hurt me.” I say it as a threat to keep Liam in line. It’s the only power I hold to protect Tristan.

Liam bares his teeth, his anger returning, making him look wild. “I promise you I will find a way to break this hold on you.”

My eyes widen. Does he not understand what I want?

Or does he simply no longer care?

What happened to you?

Henshaw appears above me. Liam’s at my side, still pressing theshirt into my neck. His eyes are red and wet. Tristan’s words flow through my head, like a prayer, soft and pleading.

“Move your hand,” Henshaw says to Liam, then peers at my bloody neck.

Henshaw levels me with a look of pity, then holds up a metal clamp. “Try not to move. This is going to hurt. A lot.”

Do it.

The metal digs into my neck, and I can’t hold back my scream.

29

“I’ve clamped the bleeding,” Henshaw says, while kneeling on the living room floor in a pool of my blood. “Now move her to a table so I can properly—”

Percy laughs in disbelief. “The bleeding has stopped? Completely?”

Henshaw hesitates. “Yes, but blood flow needs to be re-established to—”

“Let’s go,” Percy shouts.

“What? No!” Henshaw balks. “She needs me to operate. At the very least, I need to close—”

“You will,” Liam says, cutting him off. “After we get out of here. Bandage her up the best you can. Quickly. You’re coming with us.”

Although I hear the words around me, they feel distant, as if they’re being spoken in another room—until Henshaw’s voice is suddenly directly in my ear. “Do not share this with him until I have reconnected your vein. I can’t be certain he won’t bleed to death.”

It’s exactly what I feared. I send the memory of Henshaw’s words to Tristan in hopes it will quiet him, then close my eyes asmy thoughts again turn fuzzy. A bandage is wrapped around my neck on top of the clamps, and despite my weak protests to not kill Tristan, Liam carries me out of the room.

But it’s not until we reach the backyard and I feel Tristan’s fury at being dragged along as their prisoner, that a new and horrifying thought occurs to me: they’re bringing Tristan with us—likely so Liam can fulfill his promise of breaking our connection. But death would be a mercy if Father gets his hands on Tristan.

A shocking number of clansmen wait in Tristan’s backyard, holding horses. Liam hands me over to a bearded man from Cohdor I’ve seen before but can’t name. The man gives me back to Liam once he’s on his mount, and we ride for the border fence, where more clansmen meet us, guarding the access that Liam and Percy gained. There’s no resistance from Kingsland soldiers. No alarm sounding. It’s too easy.

What did they do to make it that way?

After an hour, maybe more, we stop, and I’m laid on the forest floor.

“I cannot do what I need to while she’s lying on the ground,” Henshaw shouts. “My operating field needs to be perfectly sterile, and I absolutely cannot be rushed. Once I start, I don’t stop.”

“Maybe you just need some motivation to be faster,” Percy says.

“Percy!” Liam snaps. Then his voice softens as he speaks to Henshaw. “What do you need?”

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