Chapter 7
Seven
Ursula
“I need to know what kind of poison he used,” I said, shoving the door open. “Depending on what it is, with your diminished powers, it could cause permanent damage or knock you out cold for days.” If that happened, it was tournament over for us.
“I know,” Silas said, looking furious.
I steered him to a chair and applied pressure to his shoulder.
“You need to slow your heart rate and the poison’s progression.
” He sat, and I grabbed my bag. “That had to be Nathaniel’s backup plan.
They couldn’t kill us at sea, so the alternative was incapacitating one of us so we missed the next event and got disqualified. ”
“More than likely.”
“Do you know what it was?” I said, riffling through my supplies.
“No.”
“Symptoms?”
“Blurred vision. Numbness at the tips of my fingers. Abdominal pain.”
I leaned in, sniffing his wounds, and instantly got hit with something sickeningly sweet. “I know what it is.”
“Can anything be done to stop it?”
“I have an antidote.” I snatched up the leather pouch I carried containing every antidote I could get my hands on and quickly searched for the right one. “It’s already gotten in, but I should be able to minimize the poison’s effects.”
“And if it’s already traveled too far in my bloodstream?”
“At best? A four-day coma. At worst? Permanent blindness or paralysis.”
His eyes flashed with alarm.
Found it. I popped out the cork. “But I’m sure we’ve got it in time.” I fucking hoped so anyway. I handed him the antidote. “Drink this, all of it.”
He gave a subtle dip of his chin; his mouth was in a grim line.
He was furious and trying to regain control.
He downed the liquid without hesitation, without asking what it was or what would happen to him, then handed back the empty bottle.
I popped the cork back on and put it in another pouch, the one I stored my empties in so I knew what to stock up on, and waited.
If he was going to react to the medicine, it would happen almost immediately.
His breathing was harsh, but so far so good.
“You have more of those?” he asked.
“I carry at least two of every antidote.” I studied him, the seconds ticking by, but still no change, thank fuck.
“What are you looking for?” he asked, not missing my scrutiny.
“If we’d been too late, you’d be convulsing on the floor after drinking that. You’ll be fine.”
He did another dip of his chin, while his jaw did the thing it did when he was angry, the muscle twitching.
It didn’t happen often, even when I was giving him shit, probably because nothing caused Silas to be demonstrative, not in any overt way.
He was always in control, but right now it was easy to see he was angry at himself.
“You didn’t know what he had planned,” I said, trying to stop the self-flagellation he was putting himself through.
“I should have seen it coming.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself,” I said as I packed everything back in my bag. Maybe I was feeling charitable after the way he’d protected me in that ocean, even if it was a fucking stupid thing to do.
“It could have cost me…” His hand curled into a tight fist. “Us this tournament.”
I got his anger, but he’d be okay. Yeah, he’d have a rough night, but we wouldn’t be disqualified. “We’re still in the game, so you’re fine.”
He cursed and shoved his fingers through his streaked hair. “I can’t make another mistake like that.”
He was really worked up about this. “Okay, fine, you want me to berate you? I can do that. You know how good I am at it.” I gave his shoulder a shove.
“Hey, dickhead,” I said without heat. “You fuck up like that again, I’ll shove my foot so far up your ass, you’ll be plucking shoe leather out of your teeth. ”
All traces of anger fell from his face and his brows shot up.
“Better?” I said. “Do you feel suitably reprimanded?”
His eyes sparkled, and he grinned. “I do.”
When he smiled like that, he went from handsome as fuck to utterly devastating. I’d made a serious miscalculation. I took a step back, and Silas’s hand shot out, grabbing my wrist. His eyes softened.
I tried to pull away. “Whatever you’re thinking, angel, don’t.”
“Urs…” He clamped his mouth shut.
His expression had wiped itself clean, no more soft moony eyes, instead the whites were now shot with red, and his skin had turned a hideous pale gray with a touch of green.
I winced. “Looks like the poison’s on its way out.”
He released me, and I stepped back, giving him room as he shot to his feet and pounded for his bedroom. The bathroom door slammed a moment later.
That was gonna be messy, but he’d thank me tomorrow when he woke up and wasn’t in a coma. I stood, my body weary, something I hadn’t experienced in…forever, and headed for my own room and a long hot shower.
When I was done, I ventured back out to the common room and poked my head into Silas’s bedroom. No sign of him. I strode deeper and hovered by the bathroom door.
His groan came from inside a moment later.
“You good in there?” I called.
He groaned again.
Yep, been there. It sucked. He was conscious, though, which was a miracle and proof of just how strong he still was.
I headed back to my room and got into bed.
If I was going to be in top form for the next event, I needed to rest. Yanking one of the pillows out from behind me, I flopped back.
Nope. I grabbed the pillow again, punched it a few times, then put it back.
Still not right.
Silas coughed.
I sat up, punched the pillow again with more force.
Another groan from his bathroom, louder this time.
I flopped back onto the mattress and scowled up at the ceiling. I didn’t play fucking nursemaid, especially not for lying, cheating, emotionally devoid assholes.
Silas cursed. That was followed by several thumps and bangs, then more groans.
He looked after you when you were pathetic and weak. It’s only fair you do the same.
And I hadn’t batted an eye. At my most vulnerable, I’d trusted him without even thinking about it.
I’d lain down in that floating air trap in the middle of a monster-filled sea and gone off to sleep like a freaking baby.
Something I never did around anyone but my sisters and Lucifer.
Then I’d done it again, hadn’t I? Trusted him without thought, when we were swimming back, and I’d been too exhausted to do anything but focus on each stroke.
As much as I’d been purposely not thinking about it, he’d saved me from Nathaniel twice, keeping me clear of that fucker’s sword, that in the state I’d been in, would have surely tasted my blood, and maybe even taken my head, if he hadn’t held me under.
The memory of his mouth over mine, sharing oxygen with me, filled my head.
“Fuck,” I grumbled and shoved back the covers, snatched my bag from the chair by the door, stormed from my room into his, and yanked the bathroom door open.
He was curled on the floor by the toilet, his inked skin a deeper shade of that sickly gray green, and he was shaking hard. He blinked bloodshot eyes at me and tried to shake his head, then groaned again.
“I’m not leaving you shivering on the floor in your own puke, Silas. As much as the sight delights me, I owe you for today.”
I crouched beside him and pressed the back of my hand to his feverish skin.
He was really burning up. He was an angel, and even with most of his powers stripped, he was stronger than any other being I’d given this antidote to.
His body was working it out, burning it off at a faster rate than anyone else I’d treated.
No wonder he hadn’t passed out, his body wasn’t letting him.
I grabbed the facecloth on the counter and ran it under cold water.
“I’m f-fine,” he said through chattering teeth. “D-don’t need help.”
“Sure you don’t, you just like sleeping on the floor by the toilet for convenience.”
He growled, then coughed. “Ur-Urs, p-please.”
The male didn’t want to be seen as weak.
I understood the feeling well, but he needed my help, and he’d just have to suck it up and accept it.
I found the vial that contained a strong anti-nausea potion and popped the lid.
The scent of ginger filled the room, which was a serious improvement.
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Si, we’ve all been there.
And hey, with any luck you’ll shit yourself and I can remind you of it every time I see you. ”
He growled again, then groaned.
I held the vial to his lips. “Drink this, it’ll help with the nausea, but unfortunately won’t stop the puking. The puking is a necessary part of the process.”
He let me pour it into his mouth, like he had with the antidote.
If I felt as awful as he did right now, and I knew firsthand how fucking hideous he felt, I would’ve assumed the person who made my life hell whenever they saw me, had done this to me on purpose.
I ran the cool cloth over his shoulders and the back of his neck, and he sighed and muttered incoherently.
Not Silas, apparently. For some fucked-up reason, the idiotic fallen angel appeared to trust me as well.
Silas
I woke in my bed, and according to the huge digital clock on the wall, it was two p.m. Thankfully, we still had some time before the next scheduled event.
I’d vomited for the last time at about five a.m., and Urs had helped me to bed. I’d passed out to the feel of her body close to mine as she ran a cool cloth over my feverish skin.
My temperature had now regulated, thankfully, and despite a raw throat that would be healed completely in the next hour or so, I was back to my old self.
I didn’t usually need as much sleep as others—when I’d been an angel at full strength, I hadn’t needed any—but that poison had hit me hard, and I’d slept most of the day away.