Chapter 13 The Fever

• The cabin felt different now, with its wooden beams creaking quietly in the wind outside, the air stale and suffocating around me. I was tied to the bed, the rough ropes biting into my wrists and ankles, the burn of them a constant reminder of my failure. The last of my strength had slipped away days ago—how many days, I couldn’t even tell anymore. There was no hunger, no thirst, just a dull ache in my body, a feverish warmth that crept up my spine and settled under my skin. It should have scared me, the weakness spreading through my limbs, but for some strange reason, it didn’t.
• I was at peace.
• The fever made everything soft, like the edges of the world were fraying and blurring together. I watched the dust float lazily through the air, the sunbeams breaking through the cracks in the wooden walls, and felt more content than I had in what felt like a lifetime. Pax hadn’t come in for days. Maybe longer. Evan had been the one to tie me down, his hands too tight, his voice too cold, but it was Paxton’s silence that spoke the loudest.