Chapter 191

SIENNA

The machines hummed, steady and cruel. Beep. Beep. Beep. Each one a reminder that Gideon was still alive—still tethered here, still mine. But God, he looked too still, too pale, his strength carved away by sterile white sheets and tubes that snaked like shackles around him.

I clutched his hand tighter, pressing my lips to his knuckles. They were cool against my mouth, but not cold—not