Chapter Seventy-Four
KAEL
The Venomshade mist eats through the dome like acid on glass. Threads of light fissure across Jax’s barrier, spider-webbing with every hiss of corrosion. The smell is wrong—sweet, metallic, alive.
“Hold it!” I bark, but Jax is already shaking, her arms trembling with the strain of trying to keep it up. “It’s eating the veil!” she grits out. “It shouldn’t be possible.”
But I’ve already dropped to my knees.
Teddy’s lying on the ground, his limbs unmoving. “It causes paralysis,” he snarls, desperate and gnashing.
Seren falls to his side, an arm draped over his chest, her fingers attempting to trace circles on his skin, but her movements come out staccato and disturbed.
“Should’ve let Tarrakai come out for a nibble,” Ronyn grouses, already dropping to his knees.
I drop to my hands, the poison seizing control.
My eyes drift to the south again.
Bloodbonds hold the front lines, eyes bloodshot and rimmed red, ready to unleash their signature battle fury and enhanced endurance.
Aetherstrides twitch and track, guarding the flanks.
I don’t miss the Venomshades—varied weapons and tools hanging from their belts and armor. Infused with poisonous alchemy, and ready to deploy in a heartbeat.
Runewrights bring up the rear, no doubt.
That’s how Teddy’s father would’ve commanded them.
Runewrights at the back because they need to physically touch their victims to use their magic.
To crawl into their minds, to mark them with runes of control, or truth, or seduction, or whatever other fucked up things they want to do.
I try to kick, to gnash, but my body is not my own. It belongs to the poison now.
“I can’t hold it anymore,” Jax admits, voice broken and raw. She slumps to the stones, her body giving out.
“It’s okay, Jaxxy. You’ve done everything you can,” I soothe, but inside I’m a tempest.
Elyssara stands. Her skin ripples with a gentle glow.
She presses a hand to the barrier, her light burning against the poison. The glow flickers, then steadies—Starlight meeting poison.
“I— I think I can patch the holes,” she stammers, disbelieving.
“My love, I think you’re healing yourself, too,” I say, watching her light seek out the poison on her skin—a gentle wave of healing.
She sucks in a sharp breath, watching as her light seeks out the rot and extinguishes it.
“I am,” she breathes in realization. “I’ll heal you!”
“No!” I snap. “You’ll burn through your magic. You’re already using it to hold the causeway. You need to be strong for when we’re out of here.”
She looks to argue, but she’s cut off—
“They’re unleashing more Venomshade alchemy,” Teddy warns from the ground, his eyes never deviating from the Starborn ranks—from Rhyven.
“Then I’ll patch it!” Elyssara screams, voice breaking.
“To what end, Elyssara?” Jax snaps. “We have to leave here at some point when the poison wears off! Then what?”
Outside, the Starborn army advances, their armor gleaming like fractured Starlight. Their eyes are determined, their movements controlled.
Fuck.
My gut roils at them watching us struggle. Their sneering faces twisting in smug delight as we lie vulnerable on the stones. A spectacle.
“We call on Tarrakai.” I hate the words. I feel defeated—it’s our best weapon against Thalmyr. It’s our best chance of taking back Dravara. And we’re revealing our only advantage.
“I hate to say ‘I told you so…’” Ronyn mutters.
The next alchemical mist detonates on the Nullveil with a vicious hiss, singeing small holes through it.
Elyssara runs through the dome, frantically patching the holes, Lightborne magic sealing the damage.
But not fast enough.
They unfurl another blast of mist.
Another.
Until it begins to disintegrate entirely.
Teddy’s eyes fix on Rhyven before the Starborn lines. “He’s watching us.”
“Let him,” I snarl. “We’ll be the last thing he sees.”
A chorus of low, hateful grunts fills the dome—everyone still writhing against the earth.
“The plan would be very handy now,” Ronyn quips, still motionless on the stones.
“I can feel my feet,” Therion announces. “We weren’t exposed long. It’ll wear off quickly.”
“I can feel my fingers,” Jax breathes, emotions frayed.
But the Nullveil can’t hold. The alchemy is too strong.
Elyssara tries again. Desperate. Panicked.
She tries to summon her Lightborne magic but it gutters at her fingertips.
She opens and closes her mouth in silent horror. “I— I can’t feel it.”
Fuck.
“You’ve burned through your magic, El,” I explain, trying to keep my voice gentle and even, despite the panic that takes root in my chest.
Between repairing the Nullveil and searing through lines of soldiers, she’s got nothing left.
The holes caused by the mist bleed outward, joining together to form one large hole in the top of the dome.
“Duskae has no more to grant me,” she pants raggedly.
“It’s okay, my love,” I say from the ground, feeling returning to my feet. “Breathe.”
But she’s panicking.
Through the scrape of steel and the heaving of panicked breaths, another sound carries on the wind.
One I’ve heard before.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
And a smirk lifts the left side of my mouth.