The afternoon light filtered through the small window of Philia's bedchamber.
Outside, the faint, distant sounds of children shouting and chasing a leather ball echoed across the courtyard, but inside the room, the silence was thick and suffocating.
Philia sat on the edge of the narrow frame bed, his torso stripped down to his thin undershirt.
Valen stood over him, holding the tail end of a long, white linen bandage between his teeth while his hands expertly pinned the clean cloth tight across Philia's ribs. With every firm pull of the wrap, Philia's breath hitched, a low, barely audible hiss escaping his clenched teeth.
"It split wide open again during lunch, didn't it?" Valen asked flatly, dropping the bandage end from his mouth as he secured the knot over the left side of Philia's ribs.
