InkAndIchor
THE TETHER
Daryl Dixon is a ghost in the ruins of France. Alone, hardened, and silent, he moves through the grey fog of a dying country with one goal: keep moving. But when he finds Róisín O'Toole-a woman with silk-black hair and eyes like the Irish coast-trapped and trembling in the branches of an ancient oak, his solitary life is shattered.
Róisín is a nurse who can't save herself. Stricken with carpal tunnel, her hands are useless claws in the biting cold, leaving her at the mercy of a world that devours the weak. She's fleeing the shadow of an abusive past, looking for a way home to Ireland, and she doesn't trust the rough American hunter who pulls her from the trees.
Daryl wants to leave her. He tells himself he should leave her. But every time she flinches, every time he has to lace her boots, button her coat, or feed her because her fingers won't move, the invisible rope between them grows tighter.
In a land crawling with Burners and soldiers, Daryl's silence becomes a shield. His watchfulness becomes a cage. He starts guarding the door-not to keep the monsters out, but to make sure she never leaves his sight. Because Róisín isn't just a burden anymore.
She's his.