The light that seeped into the room was thin and pale, painting the floorboards in gold.
Ren woke slowly, awareness returning with the dull ache in his shoulder and the faint, rhythmic pressure of another heartbeat close to his own.
Li Wei sat beside him, hair unbound, eyes ringed with exhaustion. Between his hands shimmered a strip of crimson silk, threads glinting faintly with sigils that pulsed like living veins.
Ren tried to sit up, but Li Wei caught him with a gentle touch. "Easy. You burned through too much energy last night."
Ren looked down. The serpent mark had darkened, no longer bleeding, but still warm under his skin. "Is it over?"
Li Wei shook his head. "It's quiet, not gone. The curse is tied to both of us now. If your pulse falters, mine will follow."
He lifted the silk cord. "This will bind our energy until I can strip the poison from you."
Ren frowned. "You're… tying us together?"
"Until the curse is gone," Li Wei said simply. His tone was careful, but Ren could hear the edge of fear behind the calm. "If I leave you unguarded, the hunter's spell might wake again."
He wound the silk around Ren's wrist, the texture cool at first, then warm as Li Wei murmured an incantation. The cord shimmered and tightened, wrapping itself around Li Wei's wrist as well. A soft pulse passed between them—one heartbeat, then another, aligning until the rhythm was shared.
Ren inhaled sharply. "I can feel you—your heart."
Li Wei nodded. "And I can feel yours. This way, I'll know the moment the curse stirs."
For a moment, neither spoke. The morning was quiet except for their breathing and the faint hum of magic binding them together.
Ren tested the cord. It didn't restrain movement, yet it pulled gently every time he shifted, a reminder of the invisible link that had always existed.
"This is only until you're safe," Li Wei said.
Ren met his eyes. "And when that day comes?"
Li Wei's smile was small, almost human. "Then you'll decide if you still want the bond."
The sunlight climbed higher. The silk shimmered between them, a living thread. They rose together, still tethered, moving through the first quiet morning of their shared heartbeat.