Whilst the healers arrived fast, it wasn’t fast enough. Three of them enter in a rush, their hoods drawn, arms filled with salves, vials, and spell books. The oldest begins muttering the diagnostic spell, her fingers twitching above Daisy’s forehead whilst one of the books flies open, pages fluttering by in a blur before landing on a page. Another one hovers near her chest, checking her pulse with a trembling hand.
“She’s fading,” she mutters.
“Her soul is tethering,” the oldest whispers. “We can feel it slipping. The overdose reached her bloodstream far too long ago.”
She looks me in the eyes, stepping away from Daisy.
“Mortal healing methods take time; we no longer have time?—”
“Then make more time,” I growl, standing so abruptly the chair flies backwards. The room stills, and the eldest healer lowers her head.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. We… we do not think there is anything we can do for her.”
No. Those words don’t belong here. My hand lashes out before I can even register it. The healer gasps as I grab her by the throat, lifting her off the ground with one hand.
“You were not summoned to tell me what you can’t do.” I snarl.
“P-please—” she chokes, heels scraping against the stone as she dangles, eyes wide with fear.
“You were summoned to fix her.”
“Kor,” Aran says, his voice now shaking. “Please, she’s an elder?—”
I twist. There’s a sharp crack, and the room goes silent. The healer’s body slumps in my grip, and I drop her to the floor like trash.
“Get me someone who can help,” I growl, stepping toward the others. “Now.”
They don’t argue, they just scramble, Aran’s eyes wide. He has been my assistant for many years, but not once have I ever killed the help. I can feel my sanity slipping, the darkest parts of me taking over as a vibrating feeling pulls from my core, directly towards the mortal girl half dead on the bed.
I sink onto the edge of the bed, my breathing ragged, my eyes not straying from her face. Daisy’s body lies pale and motionless before me, and I can feel it—her soul flickering like a candle in a storm. Each second, it grows dimmer; each second, she slips further from life. I don’t know why that idea makes somethingtwist in me. It’s not grief or fear. It’s something else, something darker.
Her lips part—but no breath follows. Not yet. You do not get to leave like this. I take her hand in mine, and it’s ice cold.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I whisper. “You hear me, little flower? You don’t get to die.”
Why? I don’t know. I just know that I won’t allow it.
“I swear to every god above and below,” I breathe, voice low and shaking. “If you leave, I will burn this entire fucking universe to ash.”
The healer finally arrives,one even older than the last. She has silver hair, is half blind in one eye, and smells like parchment and old ink. Unlike the others, she doesn’t tremble when I meet her eyes.
“You know mortals?” I ask, voice low and ragged from exhaustion.
She nods at me, looking down at Daisy. “Better than most, if not all.”
I follow her eyes to Daisy’s body, her soul still flickering.
“She’s dying,” I snap. “You can’t let her die.”
I can feel my temper rising all over again, the emotions causing me to feel even more drained.
“She won’t. But if you want her to live…” she pauses, placing a hand just above Daisy’s chest, not quite touching her. “I have to place her in a coma. A deep one. Mortal methods won’t work fast enough, and immortal methods will only kill her if not done slowly and carefully. Her soul needs time to root itself again, her body time to purify itself.”
A silence stretches. I can feel how tense my jaw is, my wings twitching with each grind of my teeth. I take a slow, deep inhale through my nose. “Do it.” I say.
She nods, and I step back to give her room. My pulse hammers through my ears as she starts the spell to place Daisy into a coma, her face seeming to look more relaxed than before. But just as the spell stabilises, the summon hits me, the magic tugging at my spine with enough force to make me flinch. Fucking Hell. Whoever wants me, wants me desperately. They must be using every possible avenue to get me to them. I nearly ignore it. I’ve ignored worse. But the energy feels familiar. It’s an energy I have felt around Daisy before. Fuck.
I rip through the veil,materialising into a shitty apartment. I land in the middle of the circle like a storm wrapped in flesh, wings half-unfurled and my eyes burning with pure fury. The two mortals are surrounded by incense, chalk circles, and what looks like a poorly translated print out from a summoning book I had personally banned in three other realms. How the shit did they get their hands on that?
