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As long as the apothecary inside hasn’t been lost, I’m willing to bet the ingredients for the antidote are in there. Then so help the woman who thought it wise to stab me.
Pausing, I rest my weight on what's left of the staircase railing, holding myself up with everything I have. The paralytic effects are coming on strong. With labored breaths, I push on. I’m already on borrowed time, resting is asking to die here.
Whether or not I want to believe it, immortals can die. We might not age, but under the right circumstances, our souls can be claimed and returned to the Soul Well. And particular monsters that were released when the prison world boundary collapsed are capable of delivering such a death.
The last thing I want is to be caught here, hunted down by the scent of my blood, like a damn wolf would a rabbit. I have to heal… I have to replace the enchantment on the wall, to clear the woods. There is no other option.
Just a few more feet…
My legs wobble and I almost tip over, catching myself on the rough stone wall. Plaster from the ceiling rains down onto me,chunks rattling along the floor. I squint my eyes shut until the dust clears, but my head only seems to swim harder, my vision blurring until the only thing I can make out are vague colors and shapes.
When my feet go numb, I know the poison is taking my extremities first. Barely staying upright, I picture Alice’s face again, desperate to focus. Her red curls. Her blue eyes. Her pale freckled skin. The snarky comebacks she likes to throw at me.
Then the image shifts. Those red curls become brunette waves, eyes turning to a deep brown with flawless, porcelain skin… pointed ears. My Jade.
I used to trace the veins on the inside of her forearm at night, as she hummed. She had such a beautiful voice… such soft skin. I adored the way she wrinkled her nose when she was being stubborn, and twitched her ears when she was upset. I could stare at the way the light seemed to paint the contours of her face for hours.
She was my everything… my heart, my soul, my world. I’ll love that woman, my Jade, long after the reapers claim my soul and send me to the well. So beautiful… and sodead.
My fingers scrape along the wall as I search for the door. I’m almost certain this is pointless. I wouldn’t be able to see to know what I’m grabbing for, even if I make it inside the infirmary.
I take another step, my body numb as my ankle twists. Then I’m weightless.
Falling…
Collapsing to the floor, my cheek smacks into the dusty marble, and my vision becomes lost in a sea of muddled colors.
I swear I hear my name, but it’s hard to tell over the roaring in my ears. A faint echo grows louder, like feet bounding against the marble floor, the vibrations tickle my skin as they grow closer.
Hands grip my shoulders hard, wrenching me onto my back. Red hair dangles above me, obscuring most of the woman’s face, but I know who it is.
Alice. The Queen of the Seven Realms.
“What the fuck did you do?” she snaps, the urgency in her voice making me smile.
“Elf…” That’s all I can get out before the darkness digs its claws into my soul, beckoning me to give into sleep.
“The elves did this to you?” She scowls down at me, hands hovering over my chest.
Magic shoots from her hands, burrowing into me with such force I gasp for air. My spine contorts into an unnatural bow, my blind eyes flaring wide open, seeing nothing but darkness.
“Stay with me, Asmo.” Alice’s voice is clearer now. “Don’t you dare die, you hear me? I’ll drag your ass back to the living by myself if I have to.”
3
Asmodeus
Coming to, my eyelidsflutter, the chilled air making my skin pebble. Stone grits beneath my bare torso, but there’s no searing pain in my middle. The only hint of being wounded comes as a steady throb in my skull.
My head lolls to the side as I blink the world into focus.
“Bout time you woke up.” Alice huffs, pacing beside the altar, hands on her hips. That voice of hers is harsher than normal, but it’s a tone I know well. Hermom tone—the one she uses when she scolds her children. “Are you going to explain why I found you on the floor?”
“I was stabbed,” I admit. Something sour coats my tongue, and I smack my lips in hopes to dilute the aftertaste of the antidote. “Poisoned.” That thought alone makes me more bitter than the taste in my mouth.
I’ve grown soft since escaping the Realm of Monsters. Who knew living in a realm where I’m no longer hunted at every turn could prove to weaken me—to weaken my mind.
“I got that much.” Small, dainty fingers skim my arm. The cool metal of Alice’s rings sends a shiver through me as she crouchesnext to my head, her bold, blue eyes staring into my soul, like she could glimpse all of my secrets there. “How didyou,of all people, get stabbed with your own dagger?”
