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Chapter 25
“Snow?” Shadow said, his hands threading under the small of my back, lifting me to his knees. “Shit, not you, too.”
Thank the sea god. Who had let Shadow out of his confinement? Had he not swallowed the poison, too? Did the resistance possess an antidote?
He pressed his forehead to mine, his warmth bleeding into my icy skin, chasing away some of the cold. With all my heart, I wished to touch him back, for us to be alone again, for our heated passion to clash once more.
Damn Grimm. I’d tried to warn the stubborn fool. This was his fault for locking me up. And the guard’s fault for not passing on my messages. How many others had been affected by their ignorance and refusal to listen?
Another individual bustled into the room.
“No.” Phantom’s voice.
By the miracle of the sea god, how was it the both of them remained unaffected by the pie?
The back of Phantom’s hands ran gently across my cheek. A memory of the kiss we’d shared in the cave flashed in my mind, leaving my heart aching to repeat it.
“Wait,” Shadow said, pushing Phantom aside. “Give me some space.”
Green bloomed in his eyes. Claws sprang from his fingers, which he placed on my neck, digging them into my flesh. Everything was numb, and I couldn’t feel a thing.
“What are you doing?” Phantom asked.
“Draining the poison from her?” Shadow’s nail pierced my skin, and blood trickled down my neck.
Lowering his lips to my cold flesh, he sucked the blood from my veins. Despite my immobility, every nerve set alight from his touch. He repeated the motion a few times, then sat up, staring at me, as if waiting for something to happen. I tried to move, but I was still suspended in the spot. Except my mind reeled from the effect of him.
“Nothing’s happening,” Phantom said.
Shadow hung his head, taking my hand, warming it between his. “I’m sorry, Snow.”
Why had I not died yet? My heart still pumped, albeit slowly. Air drew in and out of my lungs. But nothing else moved. Was this my stepmother’s sick idea of a joke? For us all to lie here, helpless. Panic pumped through me. How long would the rest of the affected resistance and I be stuck like this? If we couldn’t eat or drink, we’d perish.
No! This was not how I was going to leave Haven. I still had to avenge my father! Get the collars off the panthers. Save the shifters from my stepmother’s clutches. Put an end to that witch’s evil plans by destroying her.
Someone else entered the room, his light and quiet gait and that sexy, spicy smell telling me it was Flare.
“What did you find?” Shadow asked.
“Most of the resistance is frozen in some sort of spell,” Flare replied, confirming my suspicions.
A poison-based spell?Flipping hell.Kiss the idea of saving Shadow and Flare from their collars goodbye. And I’d never get the chance to rescue the shifters. Had my stepmother known of the resistance’s plans and sent the poisoned apples to stop them? What if she could see the resistance in her mirror the way I’d witnessed her plans in mine?
“We need a witch to fix this,” Flare said.
At this news, Phantom took my other hand, dotting the back of it with soft kisses, prompting a twitch in my toes. Skin on my arm prickled from the warmth slowly spreading through me.Sea God.Something was happening to me, the numbness abating, allowing a small flick of my finger.
“She moved,” Phantom said, showing Shadow and Flare my hand before cupping it again and laying another kiss upon it.
In response, I wriggled my thumb, and Phantom let out a hoarse laugh. After a few moments, I was able to stroke the side of his hand.
“The poison’s affect is wearing away,” Flare said, standing in the doorway, as if he dared not come closer. “Maybe we don’t need the hoodoo after all.”
I squeezed Phantom’s hand, resenting Flare’s constant reference to hoodoo. Voodoo priests in the southern tips of Tritonia practiced that kind of dark magic. Sure, my magic possessed a dark element to it. But it also had a light component. Not to mention, it was strange and unusual—probably one of a kind if only two mirrors with those kinds of powers existed in Haven. That meant my stepmother and I might be the only two capable of wielding it.
Flare’s presence in my room confused me. We weren’t exactly friends. Sure, we’d hung out on our mission to remove his collar, even chatted over the fire, making some progress on the not-hating-each-other front. But that wasn’t enough reason for him to be here. Was he present because of his previous friendship with Shadow? Or was he there because he held some regard for me? He had defended me against the hunters. Calmed my panic attack. Flirted with me on more than one occasion. Whatever his reason, I appreciated him being here for me. Something told me there was more to him than I currently understood. If only I could peel back his tough outer layer.
Shadow rested the edge of his hand on my forehead, and a spark zapped between us.
