I sucked in a breath, cradling my fist, and for a heartbeat, neither of us moved. The silence between us was thick, too thick, broken only by my ragged breathing.
Elias's eyes flickered from my face to my knuckles and then back to my face. I tried to mask the pain, to pretend it didn't hurt as badly as it did, or at least it didn't bother me much.
Plus, the fact that I had been worried about him for a moment there made me uncomfortable. I shook my head, this was getting too much, too intense. The throbbing in my knuckles, the tension between us, my thoughts, everything.
"You should have defended yourself better," I said to him as my gaze lingered on the mark on his jaw, my was tone firm but not entirely unkind.
I took a step back, needing to put some distance between us but he reached out and caught my wrist, his grip was gentle yet unyielding. Saying nothing, he turned my hand over, inspecting my knuckles with a frown.
