It tore through his back like liquid fire, every nerve screaming—that strange living corruption within her twisting insidehimnow. He felt as they thrashed, clawing to burrow deeper into her flesh. The air left his lungs in a hiss, his hands clenching so hard his nails bit into his palms.
“Drae.” Esmyra’s head lifted weakly, her lips parting. “Give it back to me?—”
“No,” he cut her off. “Not for a second.”
Her back was a ruin of torn skin and smeared red. Blood poured in dark, glistening rivers, spilling over her sides and soaking the quilt beneath her, each drop making his gut twist tighter.
Every instinct screamed to shove Jenli away from her, to stop this before she drained the life out of her, but he forced himself to stay rooted.
Jenli dug deeper and his body jolted. He could feel her every movement as though her hands were insidehisspine. Something sharp scraped bone—fucking Irah, he couldhearit—and then a jolt of torment shot down his legs. If he wasn’t already kneeling, he would’ve easily collapsed by now.
A rawness clawed its way up his throat, and he thought he was going to scream. It swelled in his chest, desperate to break free as the sensation threatened to tear him apart, but he swallowed it down with everything he had.
If Esmyra heard it, if she knew just how much pain it caused, she’d worry and likely lash out to get him to stop. And he refused to let her carry even a fraction more than she already had.
“I’ve got the shard!” Jenli screeched.
“Hurry!” Jak bellowed from across the room. Several footsteps sounded on the stairs then. “Get the fuck out of here! The lot of ya!”
The crew must’ve finally come to investigate.
“Fuck,” Esmyra muttered.
The moment Jenli’s fingers clamped around the shard, something in Draevyn tightened, bracing himself for the final blow. When she pulled, it was as if barbed hooks were being dragged through each of his vertebrae, scraping every nerve on their way out. His breath locked in his chest as he thought he was about to lose consciousness.
But then it suddenly broke.
Draevyn’s vision blurred and slowed as he watched the shard get torn free with a wet, sickening snap. The pain didn’t vanish all at once, but ebbed in waves, each receding pull leaving him lighter. The thrashing under his skin eased, until all that was left was a subtle throb and the dizzying relief that it was finally over.
Jenli’s voice cut through the haze of his thoughts. “Draevyn! Your blood is needed to heal her, or it will expand once more.”
His head snapped up, heart hammering in his throat as he climbed to his feet. The shard lay discarded, slick and glistening in Esmyra’s blood on the table beside her, but the black veins remained.
Draevyn ripped a dagger free from his hip before dragging the blade across his palm. Blood welled instantly, bright against the steel. “It’s almost over, Wildfire.”
He pressed his bleeding hand over the wounds carved into her back. His blood seeped into them, mingling with hers in a sickening warmth as it dripped down her curves.
Take it, he begged in his mind.This needs to work. She needs to live.
His jaw clenched as he poured every ounce of will into the act, as if force alone could make her body accept his offering.
For a breathless moment, nothing happened. Then, finally, the black veins began to pull back, retreating to the sight of the wound before dissolving into nothing.
“Holy fucking Irah,” he breathed.
“What’s happening?” Esmyra asked as she tried to peer over her shoulder.
Neither Draevyn, Jenli, or Jak were able to answer her as they all watched, wide-eyed.
The remnants of the curse lifted from her flesh in small plumes of smoke before her skin began to knit together beneath his hand.
Relief hit Draevyn so hard it was dizzying, but he didn’t move, not until every last tendril of darkness vanished. Only then did he allow himself to let out a breath. Blood still dripped from his palm, his hand trembling where it rested over her spine.
Jenli wasted no time, sweeping over with a clean sheet and draping it gently across Esmyra’s shoulders, covering her bare body. Together, she and Draevyn eased her to sit upright as Jak rushed back over to the three of them.
“Is it really over?” Esmyra swallowed. “Are they gone?”
Jenli nodded, eyes scanning the back of the sheet now stained with both of their blood. “The curse retreated and your skin is mending.”
