Gray tries to steady me. “What is it?”
“I…” I feel dizzy now. My chest is starting to hurt, clenching tight. And I still have that sweet taste of grange on my tongue, making me sick—
My mind travels back to that day with Uncle Jim in the clearing. That overly sweet smell.
It stops your heart and then you die.
“Heartroot,” I wheeze before everything goes black.
Chapter 47
I wake with a loud gasp. Pain explodes in my head when a blinding white light pierces my eyes, and my pulse quickens with panic. It takes a moment to register that I’m in a hospital bed.
How did I get here?
The last thing I remember was celebrating Mako’s birthday. Dancing with Gray.
And then…nothing.
I try to sit up, but my body feels too heavy, my brain still disoriented.
“Hey,” urges a familiar voice. “Hey, don’t move. Let me help you.”
My mind continues to race, grasping for answers, until slowly, the jumble inside of it starts untangling and clearer memories form. The pressure in my chest. The impossibly, frighteningly fast heartbeat. The wave of dizziness and then—
“Your heart stopped.”
My vision starts to come into focus.
I see Gray’s worried green eyes peering down at me. He’s holding my arm, trying to stop me from sitting up.
“Your heart fucking stopped, Wren.” Anguish thickens his voice, and his face is paler than I’ve ever seen.
“How…” I try to clear the fog. “How am I here?”
“I carried you down after Fiona restarted your heart. We were lucky she was still there. Usually she leaves parties early.” He grips my hand. “We ran some tests, did an echo. Your heart seems good as new.”
“But it stopped?”
“Four minutes,” he says, and his voice cracks. I feel the raw emotion emanating from him. “You were dead for four minutes, just…gone. We weren’t sure if Fiona could fix you.”
Shit.
I blink a few times, trying to make sense of it all.
“I felt dizzy, and my chest was hurting, and…that’s all I remember.”
“Before you lost consciousness, you said the wordheartroot.I thought maybe you were just delirious, but…” He gives me a grim look. “You think you were poisoned?”
My heart is racing again. I can’t believe itstopped.I was actuallydead.
“Did you run a tox on me?”
“No, just the cardios.”
“Can we run one now? Without anyone knowing?”
His eyes blaze with anger. “You really believe someone tried to kill you?”
