Chapter 17
“Nova!” A voice thrums through me, riling my thoughts until everything catches fire. Am I dead? Is this darkness Morvayne’s doing? Everything is weightless, breathless. Has my soul left my body?
“Nova, fuck, wake up!” it says again. The deep tone suggests its owner is male, but my hearing is still muffled by the weight of unconsciousness.
A palm brushes over my skin, grounding me back in my body. I try lifting my hand, but only my finger twitches in response. So, I’m not dead, at least.
“Fuck, Tenebris, she isn’t waking up,” the voice cries. Each drop of desperation in his tone beads to my skin like sweat. I’m here, I want to say, but where is here? The air is too thick to be of the natural world—the darkness all too encumbering.
“It’s the toxin. We might be too late,” another voice, deeper than the first replies. I recognize their words without landing their meaning.
“No, it barely bit into her. We weren’t too late,” the first voice says. My eyes remain closed no matter how much I fight them. Perhaps I’m not dead…but paralyzed? Frozen? Fuck, have I lost control of my own damned body? Tenebris and Jace come back to me in glimpses.
“Just a drop is enough to shut down the mind, Jace. You know just as well as I what these things can do,” Tenebris says.
Footsteps crunch over rubble and the hairs on my arm pricks.
Chilled, midnight frost caresses my lips.
I recognize the scent almost instantly, and even in my near-catatonic state curse myself for it.
Jace Ashborne is a breath away from my lips. A lock of his hair tickles my skin.
“I feel breath, which means she’s still alive. It hasn’t reached her heart yet, thank the gods. Help me lower her.”
“Don’t do something stupid that’ll get both you and I killed. I will not die today, human,” Tenebris growls.
Rough hands grip behind my neck and I’m lifted with a rush of air.
“Tenebris. She will not die today,” Jace says. Fingers curl around my thighs and the world sways under wide steps. A groan rumbles at the back of my throat.
“Help me or I swear to Morvayne…” Jace’s words cut deeper than steel.
“You are reckless, human. Reckless!” Tenebris sighs.
Another set of hands, smoother and firmer, wrap around me as I’m passed from one man to the other.
My arms fall loosely toward the ground, swaying with the rise and fall of Tenebris’s chest as he tucks me into him.
His scent is ancient and crisp like the skies and stars.
Somehow, that’s comforting amidst the fear blasting its way through me.
“I’m going to try to remove it,” Jace whispers. I feel Tenebris’s muscular shoulders huff a protest, but his palm wraps over my brow. The touch is colder than Jace's and far more furious. Far more ruthless. “Just keep her still.”
“I do not condone this, Jace Ashborne,” Tenebris says, and the words are muffled as my ear presses into the swell of his chest.
“And I do not care.”
Then a cool warmth licks over my skin, landing on the tender part of my neck. Lips curl around the wound, still oozing blood trails from my veins.
My body fucking ignites. Every nerve sparks. Every muscle clenches. The world pinholes. Jace’s lips move against me with each pull of blood.
Yes, I’m paralyzed. Yes, I’m most likely about to die.
But all I feel is an all-encompassing thrill running rampant through my body.
His hands wrap around my neck, steadying me while holding me captive all at once.
I’m burning from the inside out, yet I’m hungry for the flames.
Sweet, delicious heat thrums in my veins, settling between my legs.
Jace’s lips pull back, leaving my skin desperate for more. My fingers twitch. Then my wrists. Then my arms. Reality sharpens and the air thins. I attempt words, but only a groan escapes.
“Nova…” Jace whispers. His touch brushes down my cheek, cooling the blazing inferno wreaking havoc over my skin. “Open your eyes for me.”
My eyelids flutter, responding to his voice like a lost puppy. Light seeps in and the world pours into existence.
Jace’s eyes meet mine, but something feels off. The midnight coloring is tainted with a shade of crimson, like the blood he’s taken has gone straight to his irises.
“Your eyes…” I whisper, but not loud enough for him to hear, it seems.
Concern furrows over his brow and he squeezes his eyes shut. Then, it’s gone, leaving only the star-flecked black color behind.
“That’s it. Come back to us now.”
I slip out a murmur, refusing to acknowledge the writhing, coiling tension that tightens my belly. The man just saved my damn life. I was moments from death. Actively dying. And yet, I’m squeezing my thighs together for any sliver of relief I can manage.
What is wrong with me?
“Your eyes,” I try again, but Jace’s index finger brushes over my lips, stopping the words.
“Don’t waste your energy. You’re safe. The lurkers are gone,” he says.
The waterfall blur over my vision fades, and I truly take in the clearing.
Jace’s tunic, ripped and bloody, reveals a deep gash down the left side of his chest. A handful of creatures lay limp and decaying around us, but the earth is still.
“We’ve got to keep moving, Tenebris’s magic will only hold them off for so long,” he says, wiping the blood—my blood—from his full, swollen lips. He watches me for a moment with ragged breaths. “We should go back and get you looked at by a medic.”
“No.” We’re closer to finding the guardian rider now, which means one step closer to my freedom. I’m not turning back.
“Nova…” Jace starts, but I throw my hand up.
“I’m fine,” I manage to say, but the crack in my voice falls on unconvinced ears. Jace glances at Tenebris, who simply arches a brow in response.
“Little thing, you just survived a confrontation with the deadliest of creatures on this continent. If that venom flowed to your chest, you would no longer breathe. Your heart would no longer beat. Do you understand?”
I suck in a breath and attempt to formulate a meaningful sentence.
“I’ve been closer to death than this, Tenebris. I’m fine. Really.” I raise a palm to my flushed cheek. The limb is heavier than it should be, but I stifle the grimace before my companions notice.
“Do not mistake idiocy for bravery, Nova Lindwen.” Jace’s voice darkens. “We’re going back.”
“No!” I cry, and it comes out far more desperate than I intended. “I have to do this, Jace. Okay? I’ll get checked out when we arrive in Storm, I promise.”
The King of Shadow washes his blazing eyes over me, and gods it takes every shred of strength not to squirm.
He draws in a long breath and closes the distance between us.
My heart sputters at the realization that I’m now wedged between the two most lethal creatures on the continent. Lurkers be damned.
“And you’re absolutely certain you’re alright?” he whispers.
“I’m fine.”
“While I don’t trust your judgement, our crossing sanction expires tomorrow evening,” he says, brushing his canines over his bottom lip. I don’t dare let my eyes linger too long. “Tenebris shift.”
Tenebris grunts a protest but lowers me to the ground before pacing away from us to a distant part of the clearing.
He raises his arms and I rip my gaze away, letting the dragon shift into his leviathan form without an all too curious eye.
My face blanches when I realize he was entirely nude in his human form.
Of course he is, but gods be good, my stomach drops.
“Morvayne help us all, Nova,” Jace whispers, kneeling beside me. “I’m sorry if it was unpleasant, but I had to get the venom out of your system.”
Heat erupts on my cheeks.
“You did what you had to. Thank you for saving me,” I say, my voice hoarse.
“It was my honor.” He clears his throat and a smirk twitches at the corner of his lips. Fuck that mouth. I want it on me again. Life or death, wounded or healed.
Lock it up Nova…
“I…” Pain shoots up my spine, catching the words on my teeth. The fade of my fight or flight leaves the gates open for agony to flood up my body—searing my blood until stars speckle my eyes.
“Rest now. It’s a long flight to Storm and a longer trek still.”
I nod again.
Jace scoops me into his arms, cradling my exhausted body close to his chest. We cross the clearing and approach the Blightfang.
His talons crunch in the dried soil as he lowers his back for us to mount.
The world spins and my body aches. Maybe I’m not fine, but I’ll never breathe that admission to life, not when Tenebris eyes me like I’m a spoiled meal.
We secure the discarded saddle, now dusty with a few new scuffs, back around his scaly chest and mount.