"Do you know anything about tendons and ligaments," Vencian asked.
Terin held his breath. A pulse jumped in his neck, quick and uneven.
Vencian scraped the chair a thumb's width closer, as if testing how the sound sat in the room. His fingers tapped once on the sword hilt, a light touch with no rhythm behind it.
"No," he said before Terin could answer, "you don't."
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, posture loose in a way that felt wrong in the cold room.
"So let me fill you in. Tendons sit everywhere a muscle clings to bone. Calf to heel. Kneecap to shin. Biceps to shoulder and elbow. Wrist flexors. All of it." His voice stayed calm, almost conversational, though his eyes never blinked. "Ligaments hold joints together. Inside the knee, at the sides of it, running along the spine."
Terin shifted in the ropes. The chair creaked under the strain.
