Chapter 10 #2
The poison was affecting more than just his body.
“Hold on,” I whispered, clenching his hand so tightly he might have winced if he were awake to feel it. “Don’t give in, do you hear me? We’re all here. You’re safe. And I still won’t give you up—not for your court, not for the doubters, and definitely not for any fae poison. You’re mine.”
For an instant I thought I felt a response—a surge of lightness, a twitch of his fingers—but it was gone before I could be certain.
My fingers itched to reach out, touch his face, and smooth his hair, but I held back, and glanced over my shoulder at his family. Kira’s face was anxious, her freckles stark against her pale skin. Skye looked fierce and determined, and tears wet Morghaine’s cheeks as she stood behind me.
But it was Tairen my gaze was drawn to. She stood frozen, a half dozen paces from the bed—her frame still tall and strong, her face a granite mask. She was staring at Callum, her jaw clenched so hard it was trembling.
The former dragon queen had never been the mushy sort of mom, according to Kira.
She struggled to show emotion, or to speak of family bonds with warmth.
For so many of her children’s growing-up years, she’d been fighting to hold her people together and make a new home for them, so they’d rarely experienced her as a maternal presence.
But anyone who doubted that she loved her children would have been deeply, gravely wrong.
“I will find them,” she said simply.
She might not have said the words, but we knew—whoever had hired that assassin would pay the ultimate price. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday.
So I rose on unsteady legs and faced her. “You’ll have to get in line,” I said. It wasn’t a threat—it was a statement of intent. No one got to take out a hit on the man I loved without consequences. “Unless… you’re willing to work with me to find out who did this.”
For the longest moment of my life, she looked at me as if she’d never seen me before. As if I’d been so presumptuous, she could barely even process that I’d spoken. But then…
“Agreed,” she said flatly. “And we will talk again about your mate bond when this is resolved.”
She didn’t wait for acknowledgment or share any looks of commiseration. She simply turned and walked out of the room.
But not, I realized, because she hated me. It had nothing to do with me at all. The former queen of the dragons was fighting for composure and didn’t want anyone to know.
“The medic is here,” Kira murmured. “I’m going to go let him in, and then I’m going to call Rath. I’ll see what he can tell me about the poison and hopefully get contact info for the herbalist.”
“It’s affecting his mind, too,” I blurted out, finally feeling the tears spring to my eyes in a hot, stinging flood. “The poison. I can feel it. It’s like it’s burning away his power. Intensifying his pain. I don’t know if that will help identify it, but… I think it means we need to hurry.”
Kira stared at me for a moment, then darted away. I heard the apartment door open and close.
“We’ll find answers.” Skye moved towards me, and after a brief pause, wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me in for a hug. “Don’t lose hope. Our family is stubborn, and we have connections everywhere. This isn’t the end.”
“I know.” For a few moments, I let myself lean into her and took strength from the knowledge that Callum wasn’t merely relying on me. He had so many people who cared. So many who would fight for him.
“It’s late,” Morghaine reminded me. “And you didn’t sleep last night. You need to rest. Also, who is it that smells like blood?”
“That’s me,” I admitted. “One of the fae cut me a bit, but it’s fine. Kira said I’m not bleeding anymore.”
Skye actually rolled her eyes. “Sometimes, I swear, my cousin is as bad as her brothers. Once the medic is finished with Callum, he can take a look at you, too. Then you can sleep.”
I knew I should listen, and yet… how could I sleep?
I had so much on my shoulders. My family needed to relocate.
Kes was still being hunted, and Ethan was in danger of losing control of his magic.
I had to show up at my job and help Monique find her son.
Decide what I was going to do about the shapeshifter summons and convince my neighbors not to hate me.
Keep my kids safe and figure out what Blake was up to.
And most urgent of all…
Find an antidote for Callum before it was too late.
It was almost too much. A part of me was desperately tempted to fold under the pressure. To run from the pain and the uncertainty and the unrelenting demands.
But I knew I never would. Not today, not ever. For as long as I breathed, I would never allow those I loved to feel the way I had as a child—unwanted, unseen, unprotected. I would keep showing up until my heart gave out, my breath failed, and the last drop of blood left my body.
“I’ll stay on the couch,” I decided aloud. “So I can be here in case he wakes up. Is there someone who can sit with him for the rest of the night?”
“I’ve got it.” Ryker loomed in the doorway, his eyes visibly red. “Don’t worry. Nothing is getting past me, and I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
I nodded silently in response and knew that he understood what I couldn’t say.
The medic returned with Kira a few moments later, and after he’d examined Callum, we gathered in the living room.
“The wound is sealed,” he told us grimly, “so I can only hope that whoever he saw previously was wise enough to flush it immediately. His shifter healing will take care of the blood loss and risk of infection, so it’s really just the poison we’re dealing with.
And until we know what…” He trailed off and was silent for a moment before continuing.
“It may not even be just one thing. In many cases, a combination is used to prevent standard antidotes from working. We may need to try multiple approaches, but some antidotes are nearly as dangerous as the poisons they counteract.”
None of it sounded hopeful.
“Rath said he’s searching for the weapon,” Kira pointed out. “If he can find it, or convince the assassin to turn on whoever hired him, we still have a fighting chance. And we’ll start reaching out to every herbalist we can find.”
“And in the meantime,” the medic added, “make sure he’s never alone.
He needs familiar voices to anchor him. And if this goes on too long…
” He hesitated. “I can’t guarantee that he will be the same when he wakes up.
His mind and body will only be able to hold out for so long.
We may have to rely on human medicine to keep those alive, and if we do… ”
He was saying that the man I fell in love with might never fully return.
That his mind could be ravaged beyond recognition, leaving him a shell of himself.
And the thought of that could easily break me if I let it, but it was too far ahead.
I had to stay focused. Concentrate on what I needed to do right now.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “Can you come back tomorrow?”
He nodded. “If we haven’t found any information within twenty-four hours, I’ll have someone here round the clock.”
Before he left, at Kira’s insistence, he cleaned and stitched the wound over my ribs, instructing me sternly to either shift for healing or take it easy for a few days. I feigned agreement, though the chances of me actually doing either of those were slightly less than zero.
Once the medic was gone, we all hovered there in miserable, exhausted silence until Angelica stood up and did what she did best.
“Everyone needs to go home now,” she said briskly. “We will wait until morning to see if Vinrath or Draven are able to uncover anything. I will guard the door, and Ryker”—she shot him an unreadable look—“will stay with Callum overnight. Everyone else… out!”
Kira gave me one last hug. “I’ll text Kes and let her know the situation,” she whispered. “Stay strong, and I’ll see you in the morning.” She took Morghaine’s arm, and they filed out, followed by Skye.
And then it was just me and Ryker and Angelica sharing the silence, along with thick enough tension to make a soup.
I was too tired to care. Too broken, too scared, and struggling to comprehend everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours.
“I’m going to try to sleep,” I mumbled, sitting down on the couch and curling up with my head on the arm. “Wake me if anything changes.”
“We will.”
I sort of sensed Ryker finding a blanket from somewhere and covering me with it. Heard murmurs overhead. But even those faded quickly as I sank into a restless and nightmare-filled sleep.