Lincoln POV
I sat on the edge of my bed, shoulders hunched, elbows braced on my knees. Maya pressed the cold compress against my chin. The chill seeped in painfully and I welcomed it. It gave me something solid to focus on besides the dull, throbbing ache in my jaw and the deeper weight in my chest.
Eran had done a number on me. My knuckles were split, my ribs screamed every time I inhaled, and my head still rang from where his fist had connected. But I hadn’t gone down quietly. I’d returned every blow, driven by the kind of raw discipline Eryx had hammered into me years ago. If they hadn’t dragged us apart, if hands hadn’t yanked me back and voices hadn't shouted in my ears, I knew exactly how it would have ended.
I would have killed him.
Maya’s fingers were careful as she adjusted th
