The first blow split her lip.
Her teeth cut into the inside of her cheek. Something hard and loose rattled against her tongue, and when she swallowed, she swallowed blood and a sliver of broken tooth along with it.
The second cracked her cheekbone. Jocelynn heard it, a dull, wet crunch somewhere inside her own head, and then the pain arrived a heartbeat later, white-hot and blinding. Her head snapped sideways and struck the wall. Stars burst behind her eyes.
Owain didn't stop.
Below them, the fiddles played on. Bright and quick, a jig for the wedding guests, and his fists fell in time with it, as though he were dancing too.
His fists came again and again, pounding into her face, her shoulders, her ribs. She felt something give way in her chest with a sharp, splintering snap. Then another. Her left eye swelled shut. Blood filled her mouth, hot and coppery, and spilled down her chin onto the ruined silk.
