3.

​Sua slammed her palm against a vital pressure point on Rai’s chest, forcing his body to go rigid beneath her touch. She understood the venom coursing through his veins all too well; one wrong twitch from him could be fatal.

​The girl ignored the delirious, wandering words slipping from his pale lips. She pushed him flat onto the earth, her fingers swiftly tracing the ugly, gaping wound on his neck.

​“I need to cleanse this. Wait here,” she muttered, though she knew he couldn’t comply. She turned toward the sound of the rushing river, but a sharp realization stopped her. She couldn't simply leave a paralyzed, bleeding man in the open woods.

​Sua sighed, hoisted one of his heavy legs over her shoulder, and began dragging him toward the riverbank. “If a beast finds you, you're dead meat,” she grumbled, prioritizing his survival over his royal dignity.

​By the time they reached the water, the stiffness in his limbs was already beginning to wane—a terrifying testament to his unnatural resilience. "You are truly... a fascinating creature," Rai rasped. His voice was breathless, his arms still hanging limply at his sides, yet his gaze burned into her.

​“Right now, you are nothing but a dying man who desperately needs a healer,” Sua replied coldly, dropping him against a smooth, mossy boulder.

​She fetched water in a hollowed bamboo shoot, ensuring it was pristine. She didn't know the exact feverish battle raging inside his mind, only the unnatural heat radiating from his flesh. Without warning, she poured the icy water over his head.

​“Perhaps the cold will clear your clouded mind, Your Highness,” Sua murmured, a fleeting, mocking smile touching her lips.

​Sua gasped as a large, burning hand suddenly clamped around her wrist. In a heartbeat, her balance vanished. She crashed squarely against his chest, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs. The space between them evaporated, replaced by the suffocating, heavy heat of his skin. Rai’s eyes locked onto hers, dark, feral, and smoldering with a hunger fueled by the venom in his blood.

​His breath ghosted over her ear, his voice a hoarse, primal rumble. “I want you.”

​Sua’s heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She was a healer; her duty was to save lives, yet the dark desire swirling in his eyes made her want to flee. She pushed against his solid chest, but his grip was unyielding. She found herself trapped on his lap, caught in a breathless struggle, the rushing river masking the sound of her erratic breathing.

​“This isn't what you want,” Sua forced out, keeping her voice steady despite the tremble in her hands. “It's the venom speaking. It's twisting your mind.”

​Rai’s brow furrowed, a grimace of agony flashing across his handsome features as he fought the feverish inferno inside him. “And you... you can purge this fire?”

​“I can,” Sua said fiercely. “With herbs and my needles. But you must trust me and stop fighting me.”

​Rai’s lips curled into a dangerous, crooked smile. “And what will you do if I don't?”

​Sua didn't hesitate. She drove her thumb into a cluster of nerves at the base of his neck. A violent shudder wracked Rai’s frame as his strength evaporated, the feral heat in his eyes dimming into a hazy surrender. He slumped backward, panting heavily.

​“I will not let you lose to this poison,” Sua breathed, her gaze unwavering. “So be still, Your Highness, and let me do my job.”

​Rai chuckled weakly, a flicker of genuine respect cutting through the madness in his eyes. “I yield, little healer. Do your worst.”

​Sua worked with ruthless efficiency. She cleansed the wound, mashed the bitter herbs between stones, and drove her silver needles into his meridian points. The venom fought back. Rai seized, his muscles corded tight as a choked, agonizing gasp tore from his throat. He violently coughed up a pool of thick, blackened blood.

​Sua didn't flinch. She watched intently as the sickly, gray tint drained from his skin, slowly replaced by the steady, warm hue of life. His ragged breathing smoothed out. The venom was breaking.

​Relief washed over her, heavy and exhausting. She tore a strip of cloth from her own garments and tightly bound his neck. “You're lucky the rot didn't reach your heart. A moment later, and you'd be a corpse.”

​Rai remained silent, his gaze stripped of its fevered haze, now replaced by something far more calculating and abyssal. Sua double-checked the bandage, satisfied, and turned to gather her tools.

​She didn't get far.

​A strong hand caught her wrist. Sua turned, a reprimand on her tongue, but the words died as Rai pulled her down. The world seemed to tilt. Time slowed as his gaze locked onto hers, heavy with an unspoken promise. He didn't rush. He let her see the intention in his dark eyes, the terrifying calm after the storm, before his hand slid to the nape of her neck, holding her in place.

​His lips captured hers. It wasn't the frenzied, poison-addled attack from before; it was deliberate, warm, and utterly consuming. Sua froze, her eyes widening in shock. Her mind screamed at her to pull away, but her limbs felt heavy, anchored by the sheer gravity of his presence.

​Then, the heat of his touch shifted into something entirely different.

​Rai’s fingers, resting lightly against the sensitive skin of her neck, began to trace a slow, deliberate path. Sua gasped into his mouth as a piercing, icy sensation tore through her flesh. It wasn't just pain—it was a sudden, violent pulse of dark energy surging beneath her skin. She felt a foreign heat seep into her very veins, an invisible tether snapping into place between them.

​She wrenched herself backward, her hand flying to her neck. “What did you do?” she choked out, terror spiking in her chest.

​Rai watched her, a faint, enigmatic smile playing on his lips. “Making sure my little healer cannot run from me.”

​Sua’s heart pounded wildly. Beneath her trembling fingertips, the skin of her neck throbbed. An engraving was burning itself into her flesh, a mark shaped like the letter 'R', glowing with a faint, unearthly light before settling into her skin.

​“What is this...?”

​Rai leaned in, the dangerous rumble of his voice wrapping around her like a chain. “A mark of ownership.”

​The wind howled through the dark trees, a chilling omen of what was to come. And at that moment, Sua realized she might have just saved a prince... only to bind herself to something far more dangerous.