Chapter 22 Shadows Of Oaths And Bonds

• Jade
• Althea tied a tourniquet gently around my arm, her fingers pressing just firmly enough to make my vein stand out. I watched in silence as she prepared the needle, my heart thudding in my chest. She caught me staring and gave a brief, reassuring smile—one that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
• “This won’t take long,” she murmured, more to herself than to me, as she slid the needle into my arm, drawing blood. I barely felt it; my mind was already racing, tangled in a hundred thoughts I couldn’t seem to sort.