At my thoughts, I feel a slight warm glow through the tether, and it widens my smile.

"Is your elemental okay?" I ask suddenly. "Pyrin, right? Last I saw, he was wounded."

Raith nods, eyes closing as if the exhaustion of his wounds is making it hard for him to stay awake. "He is healing. He'll be fine. Tell your elemental thank you. He saved us. Pyrin is grateful, too."

"He is welcome," Typhon says. "I approve if you wish to mount him, angry human. He is a strong mate, and he shows an acceptable level of respect toward me."

I don't dignify that with a response, but I sense a flicker of amusement through the tether. Maybe Typhon isn't as thick as he lets on.

"Leave us," Raith says suddenly.

"Uh," Ambrose says. "No offense meant, Raith, but the four of us watch each other's backs. We're not about to leave her alone with a fire."

"Even if you're more cut up than a holiday ham," Beck adds with a severe nod.

"Unless you want privacy to… you know," Mireen asks, brows raised as she looks at me.

"You can trust him. I trust him," I add, realizing that I really do. "Malakai and Serena were trying to kill him. Raith could have let Serena challenge me the first day here and had me out of his hair. If he wanted me dead, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead already." Though the fact that my friends had the guts to stand up to him makes something warm and fierce surge in my chest.

Raith says nothing, which feels slightly unhelpful, but I give him a pass since he just nearly died.

My friends exchange wary looks, but after a little more convincing, they finally agree to wait out of earshot. They won't leave the room, but they'll at least give us the privacy to talk alone.

Once they're huddled at the edge of the room watching us with distrustful eyes, Raith speaks again. "You healed me."

"Technically, Typhon did it through me. I don't think I can take credit."

Raith nods. “Typhon. The beast from Mirror Lake. Before Confluence Day, he was a rogue elemental. Pyrin can confirm that much. Mad for centuries, exiled by his kind and feared.” he lets the words hang, the implied question clear.

"Well…" I say slowly. "People change." I try to sound more confident than I feel.

That earns the faintest smile from Raith. "Rogue elementals don't. You're unbound, aren't you?" His voice is so low I know none of the nearby patients a few beds over can hear. I'm grateful for that much, at least, but his accusation makes my breath catch all the same.

Instinctively, I shake my head. "I don't know what that means." My heart thuds so loudly I'm shocked he can't hear it.