Evangeline’s mind was racing when a hoarse whisper suddenly ca from the bed. "The Swarm... a habitat?"
She turned abruptly, her gaze eting Loras’s as he slowly opened his eyes.
He struggled to sit up. The movent pulled at his wounds, and his brow furrowed in pain. But his expression smoothed the instant he clearly saw the slender figure standing by his bed. ’What I saw before I passed out... it wasn’t a dream. She’s really here.’
"Loras!" Thorne strode forward, his voice grave. "What in the world happened at Blackwater Swamp? Caden and Lachlan, did they really go beyond the Triangle Sea? Why?"
At these words, Loras’s shoulders, which had relaxed slightly, tensed up again. The smooth lines of his back instantly hardened into sharp angles.
Thorne’s brows snapped low, his voice laced with faint anxiety. "Say sothing! What the hell happened?"
Cold sweat trickled down Loras’s temples, but he remained silent.
Danton’s gaze flickered. He took a half step forward and said gently, "Loras just woke up; he hasn’t recovered. Don’t be so impatient. Perhaps... it would be better to let Eva talk to him alone."
Thorne’s handso face instantly turned grim. However, looking at the silent, downcast Loras, he ultimately said nothing.
’The guy has an awful personality, but he showed so courage defending Blackwater Swamp during the Beast Tide.’
He let out a cold snort and was the first to turn and leave the tent.
Danton glanced at Loras, exchanged a look with Evangeline, and then followed Thorne out.
Once they were gone, the tent suddenly fell silent.
Loras sat on the bed with his head lowered. A sharp, stinging pain radiated from his wounds, but they were also imbued with a sweet fragrance that was not his own. He knew it was Evangeline’s scent; she had applied the dicine with her own hands, and it felt as if the warmth of her touch still lingered on his skin.
The tent was uncannily quiet, insulated from the biting cold outside. The only sound was the soft rustling of snowflakes landing on the canvas.
Though he was eyeless, he could feel Evangeline’s gaze upon him—gentle yet insistent, slowly eroding his hesitation. His Adam’s apple bobbed, but the words that rose to his lips were swallowed back down.
The Triangle Sea. The re ntion of it was enough to send a chill down a Beastman’s spine, to make them pale with fear.
It was a forbidden place.
’What if she insists on forcing a crossing to find Caden and Lachlan, and sothing happens to her? Risking her own safety for two males? Gambling with her life? Is it worth it?’
As a storm of emotions raged within Loras, Evangeline silently sat down on the edge of the bed.
Loras’s breath hitched. His back grew even more taut, like a fully drawn bowstring that might snap at any mont.
Evangeline looked at Loras’s hands resting on the bedding. She rembered when Nix had controlled this body, always using these sa cool hands to deftly unfasten her collar, his touch teasing and precise as it traced every shiver that ran through her.
They were fair, slender hands that bespoke a noble air.
Yet now, those hands were wrapped in layers of white gauze.
She hadn’t forgotten the ghastly wounds in his palms when she had dressed them. The gashes from the bone knife were deep enough to expose bone, spanning nearly his entire palm, and the clotted beads of blood seed to be embedded in his pale skin.
At this thought, Evangeline’s fingertips gently ca to rest on the back of his gauze-wrapped hand.
Loras went still. His eyelashes fluttered as he slowly lifted his gaze to Evangeline, only to find her looking down.
Her gaze fell upon his bandaged palm, and she said softly, "Is that how a bone knife is ant to be used? To wound others and yourself in the process?"
Loras’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently, and he slowly pressed his chapped, pale lips into a thin line.
He unconsciously tried to curl his fingers, to hide his inner turmoil, but the bandages prevented him from moving them.
While fighting the Beast Tide, his power had been depleted. He could only rely on brute strength, relentlessly swinging his bone knife. As claws suffused with attribute power tore into his shoulder, the hilt of his bone knife snapped with a CLANG.
Yet he picked up the Bone Blade without hesitation and began to swing it again. Viscous blood dripped between his fingers as, ti and again, he used the broken blade to slice through the throats of Beastn.
Though the searing pain made his palm go numb, the thought that Evangeline had once endured such suffering transford his agony into a boiling rage and filled him with boundless courage. He wanted to use this Bone Blade to kill even more of the Beastn who would dare to harm her.
When their blood splashed across his face, he found it exhilarating.
’This body has finally tasted the pain she once suffered. And these hands... they have finally protected the one I wanted to protect.’
"Loras, let the past go. Stop torturing yourself, alright?"
Evangeline gently stroked the back of his tense hand, her slender eyes filled with tenderness. Suddenly, she took his scarred hand, raised it to her lips, and pressed them against the wrapping. Even through the gauze, the soft, warm touch felt as if it were being branded onto his palm.
Loras’s purple pupils constricted. Her breath was inches away, and with it ca a tenderness he had never dared to imagine.
He gazed at her quietly for a mont, and the gloom that perpetually shrouded his eyes seed to dissipate completely. The wind and snow howled outside the tent, but they could not drown out the deafening thunder of his own heart.
’Was he... finally cherished by her, too?’
Seeing the brilliant light shining from his eyes, Evangeline chuckled softly. She reached up and traced the shimring purple fleck at the corner of his eye. "Get so more sleep. When you wake up, eat sothing. It won’t be long before we have to set out."
At her words, the light in Loras’s eyes froze. His pale, thin lips trembled for a mont, and fresh blood began to seep through the gauze on his hand. "You’re still going beyond the Triangle Sea? Even though you know..."
’She didn’t ask about Caden and Lachlan’s whereabouts, as if she wasn’t interested in what happened at Blackwater Swamp. But she’s still determined to go.’
Evangeline suddenly leaned forward, her slender arms wrapping gently around his waist as she rested her cheek against his shoulder.
Their chests were pressed close, and for a mont, it felt as if their heartbeats had quietly fallen into sync. Loras flinched, then instinctively, he ignored the sharp, searing pain in his arms and pulled them in, hugging her waist tightly.
"You..." Loras’s voice was impossibly hoarse.
"Loras, all of you are important to . Caden and Lachlan... I have to bring them ho."
Evangeline’s voice was usually enchanting, but in this mont, it held the cool, clear seriousness of jade.
Loras’s gaze was downcast, his chin resting gently in her hair. His voice was low and raspy. "You already know?"
Evangeline’s gaze flickered for a mont. "Yes," she said softly. "I know."
The corners of her lips curved into the faintest of smiles, but her eyes were cold. "It was that Snow Ferret, wasn’t it?"
’In Blackwater Swamp, how many people could possibly have left a ssage for her?’
She didn’t even need to use process of elimination to identify her target. Ever since arriving on the Beastman Continent, the Snow Ferret was the one being she could never figure out, could never get a read on. He seed harmless, but in reality, he was unfathomable. If it ever ca to a direct confrontation, she wasn’t confident she could win.
From the very beginning, the Snow Ferret had only ever treated her as a mobile storehouse for Spiritual Energy, never revealing any other motive.
But this ti, he had gone out of his way to save several people and take Caden and Lachlan, forcing her into his debt.
His goal was to leave her no choice but to travel beyond the Triangle Sea.
Although she was still unsure of the Snow Ferret’s true intentions, it was clear that there was sothing beyond the Triangle Sea that he couldn’t resolve on his own. The Spiritual Energy she possessed had beco the bargaining chip he wanted—and needed—to use.
Thinking of that mysterious Beastman, Loras’s brows knitted together, and his eyes darkened several shades.
After a brief silence, he said in a low voice, "He said his na is Cassian Zane, and that he’s not a Snow Ferret Beastman. He also told to tell you to go beyond the Triangle Sea to find them."
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