Tobias
She still wasn’t awake.
Bash held Eva’s hand as Marin and Quinn worked in tandem, occasionally murmuring hushed vitals to each other, I could barely hear them over the alarm bells ringing in my ears. Phantom lay at Eva’s feet, refusing to move despite the chaos around him.
Quinn wasn’t panicking. No, she jumped right into action the second Eva fell, checking my twin’s pulse as I held her in my arms. I hadn’t been able to breathe until Quinn confirmed Eva was alive, the blue of her magic washing over Eva like a phosphorescent flood.
All I had been able to do was stare at the blood staining her chin, a fresh trickle spilling across both her cheeks into her hair.
At least I had the wherewithal to follow Quinn’s curt order to bring Eva upstairs to her room once they were able to stop the bleeding.
Now I was simply standing here, useless.
Powerless, again. Worthless and waiting for any sign that my twin would be okay.
She was my sister, my responsibility. I failed her once…I wouldn’t do so again.
“How c-can I help?”
I didn’t let myself outwardly react to the stutter that returned when my guard was down, though I inwardly cringed at the sound of it.
It was an aftereffect of those long years deciding whether it was worth the pain of using my voice.
Though it was better most of the time…worse when I hadn’t been speaking in a while, as I was prone to do.
Stress seemed to be the main culprit, and right now I was beyond terrified.
At least Quinn was too distracted to notice the stutter or didn’t care.
“Wet washcloths,” Quinn said briskly, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “Cold for her forehead, and a warm one to wipe the blood off her face.”
I hurried to obey, nearly tripping over my own feet as I returned with a bowl of warm water along with a few hand towels.
Bash silently took the cold towel from me, carefully folding it before placing it on Eva’s sweat-damp forehead.
Then he got to work wiping the dried blood from her face, his hand shaking.
At least the bleeding had stopped. That had to be a good sign. But from the pallor of her skin, the quickness of her breathing, and the fear on the two healer’s faces, I knew this was far from over.
Unease curled tight around my ribs, making my heart pound. Eva looked like the slightest thing might break her.
“She’s burning up,” Marin whispered. I realized belatedly there was an unspoken ask behind the words as shadows unlatched the windows, opening the two closest in unison. Yael lifted her hand, and a steady stream of cool night air blew past me, rustling Eva’s hair.
“I don’t have a lot of experience with disease in this realm,” Quinn said with a calm I envied. “But something about this feels off.”
Marin nodded tiredly. “You’re not wrong.
Fae can normally fight off the illnesses that plague the human realm.
This sort of reaction is rare, especially with the speed of its onset.
Which isn’t to say that there isn’t still disease here, but the magic of this realm usually keeps it from becoming life-threatening.
” Her features pinched as concern crept into her expression.
“Whatever this is, it isn’t something I’ve treated before. ”
Eva let out a small moan and the room fell silent.
Bash lurched forward, his thumb stroking her cheek. “Please hellion. Open your eyes for me.”
I held my breath, silently praying she would obey his plea. But there was only the strained sound of Eva’s breathing as her anima’s shadows pushed the damp hair back from her forehead.
Bash’s voice shook as he looked at Marin. “Is there something we should give her? Someone else who can figure out what’s wrong?”
I don’t think I had ever seen Marin look so helpless. “We could request help from Mayim. Queen Sariyah may be able to send a few of her healers with more experience fighting whatever this is. They’ll want to be notified of any potential new virus anyways.”
Quinn glanced my way. “The water magic in the Western Kingdom naturally lends itself to more healers—something to do with water’s natural resonance with healing. There’s a Healer’s Enclave there full of fae that specialize in this sort of thing.”
It was a detail I vaguely remembered being told once. Somehow, she had seen my confusion through all the chaos.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Rivan said with a firmness that told me he wouldn’t fail. He turned on his heel before running out the bedroom door. Part of me wondered if he would send a missive or run straight through the closest mirror and drag an unsuspecting healer or two back with him.
Yael cleared her throat. “We should let people know there’s no way the bonding ceremony’s happening tomorrow.”
Inwardly, I winced. Eva had spent so much of the little time she had planning this—not for herself, I knew, but for those around her.
This timing couldn’t be coincidental.
I didn’t want to put my suspicions into words just yet. Though the worse she got, the harder it was not to.
Bash blinked at Yael like he had entirely forgotten why we were all here. “Could you…”
“Of course,” Yael replied before he could even finish his thought.
“And I’ll let Dianthe know not to expect Marin and I back anytime soon.
Imyr will be in safe hands. I can take care of anything needed here, so you can focus on Eva.
” She looked over her shoulder as she hurried after Rivan.
“I’ll be right back to help cool her down. That breeze should last for now.”
I offered Bash another damp towel, exchanging it for the now soaked one he had been using. He dropped it into the bowl, blood immediately turning the clear liquid dark red.
Quinn stared at it, her teeth sinking into her lower lip—an anxious habit I remembered from our teens. I had known her too long not to recognize the look of an idea forming.
Her expression cleared, replaced by a steely resolve.
“Do you have any syringes handy to draw some blood samples? I want to run a few basic tests.” Her brow furrowed.
“I borrowed a centrifuge the last time I visited the human realm that I managed to power, though I don’t exactly have the resources of a full lab here.
My magic might help make up for what I’m missing though.
I’ll also need a throat swab to see if I can detect any pathogens, though I can fashion something myself—” She cut herself off as she realized Bash and Marin were staring at her in horror. “What is it?”
“It’s just…you’ve seen how blood and magic can be used,” Marin said slowly. “Bloodletting isn’t…it’s not a request many in this realm are comfortable with.”
I knew better than most what blood magic could do. Aviel had stolen my blood to track my sister down in her dreams. My teeth ground together at the insinuation Quinn would use it for anything of the sort, let alone that she was capable of dark magic.
Quinn let out an exasperated noise. “I’m not trying to hurt her. I’m trying to save her.”
“I know,” Bash said hoarsely. “And if it helps her, I’ll find what you need myself. But you need to be very, very careful her blood doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
Quinn’s gaze softened. “Of course.”
Eva’s breathing hitched, and Bash’s gaze immediately went to her. I didn’t miss the way his hand trembled as he brushed a stray curl away from her cheek, tucking it gently behind the point of her ear.
I turned from the intimacy of the gesture, looking back at Quinn. “Let me know how I c-can help.” Not that I knew what I was doing. “If you need a pair of steady hands while you work, or help gathering supplies, or…anything…”
My voice trailed off awkwardly, the last word pleading. I had been stuck on the wrong side of the mirror underneath Adronix, trapped in that dungeon while Aviel hunted her, and unable to help my sister far too many times already.
I wouldn’t be sidelined again.
Quinn drew her lip back between her teeth, thinking. “Getting the supplies I’ll need from the mortal realm will take time. But if that’s our only option, then we’ll just have to travel as quickly as we can.”
Riding through the Faewilds sounded like the worst sort of torture even with the canopy of trees overhead. I would do it without question for Eva. For Quinn, who I wasn’t about to let take that journey alone. Her imploring look would entice me to follow her anywhere, really.
Marin swallowed hard, looking a little nauseous.
“I didn’t destroy the syringes Silvius left behind…
or anything else for that matter, just in case it helped lead us to him.
He still hasn’t been seen since before Aviel’s death.
” A fact that lingered like a thorn I couldn’t pull free.
“I blocked off his laboratory with a ward. Maybe there’s something in there to save you the trip? ”
Aviel may have been my torturer, but Silvius’s inventions—the band that stole my magic, the mask that silenced my voice—paired with his utter indifference to the pain his experiments caused was, in a way, far worse.
It was an effort not to flinch at the casual way Marin said his name, like invoking it would somehow elicit his attention.
Unless it was already too late for that.
“He has a working lab here?” Quinn sounded as shocked as I felt. “And no one thought to tell me this sooner?”
“I was planning to have it destroyed,” Bash said, his gaze never leaving Eva’s face. “But I didn’t want to until that bastard is found, in case we missed any clues about his disappearance in his belongings.”
“At the very least, it’ll be more sterile than the setup I have in Soleara,” Quinn said hesitantly. “Tobias and I can go gather what I need, assuming it’s not too hard to get there?”
If Silvius had a hand in this, that would be the best place to confirm it. If I didn’t find anything down there, I could at least tell Quinn my concerns without panicking the entire group for no good reason.