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The notion that we were about to slice him open from head to toe still rattled me, but we didn’t have time to think of another solution. Uma had already secured a large, clear beaker with tubing on either side, and she’d placed it on the bedside table between my cot and Gaige’s. Tearing off my tunic, I climbed onto the bed. Crisp sheets crinkled beneath my weight, and I held out my arm.
“Do it.”
Grabbing a piece of Gaige’s torn shirt, Uma tied a tight bandage around my bicep. Then, with a practiced jab, she stuck a needle into the crook of my inner elbow. Not a breath later, she carefully glided a slender tube into my open vein, and blood began to ooze toward the beaker.
“Ozias, the extract,” Uma murmured without looking up from my arm. He snagged a small green vial from one of the open shelves and, at her behest, uncorked the stopper. I gagged at the pungent, acrid aroma of spice and fermented vegetables. Uma shot me a threatening glare, rendering me immobile while she taped the tubing into place and removed the bandage on my bicep. My insides twisted into knots as my throat bobbed, and tears stung the back of my eyes.
Ozias dumped the entirety of the extract into the beaker between Gaige and me, and the fetid scent only worsened. Our beasts sneezed and pawed at their noses before padding across the room to curl uptogether against the farthest wall. Despite their distance, their gazes were intent, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they’d remain here until Gaige awoke.
“Disgusting,” Calem muttered, his face parchment-pale. Raven had pinched her nose and was staring at the nauseating container housing my blood and the extract in wide-eyed horror. Ozias, Uma, and Kaori apparently had iron senses. None of them flinched, and Uma had already moved on to Gaige’s arm. Once she’d fastened his tube in place, she checked to ensure the beaker was high enough for gravity to aid in the transfusion. The moment my blood started to flow into Gaige’s arm, she dusted her hands over him.
“Now for the hard part,” she said.
I would have traded a year in an enclosed space with no fresh air and nothing except mimko extract instead of what I witnessed next. I’d seen lacerations before. The sight of blood and gore hardly fazed me. But watching Uma swiftly lance Gaige’s inner arm from wrist to shoulder tore at my insides in ways I never anticipated. The urge to protect him, to leap from the cot and wrench the blade from her hands, was so visceral I hardly recognized it. Rationally, I knew she was helping. But I hated the wet kiss of the blade against his skin. The sudden gush of blood as it poured from his wound and splattered against the metal bucket.
Kaori had inched closer to watch, and she frowned at Gaige’s wound. “We’ll need to do more.”
“What?” The alarm must have sounded in my voice, because Ozias sidled closer and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s worse than we thought.” Kaori pushed up the sleeves of her flowy tunic. She nodded to Uma, who moved the full bucket to the side and replaced it with an empty one. “The poison has thickened his blood, making it impossible for it to flow freely. We’ll haveto force it out.” With deft fingers, she clamped her hands down on either side of Gaige’s upper arm and squeezed.
Thickened globs of green-black poison squelched out and dribbled to the floor, followed by another rush of blood. My vision swam, and I pressed my head flat against the pillow. There were too many smells clashing with each other. The sharp lemon of the room, the metallic tang of blood, the fetid extract, all compounded by the sickening hint of rotting flesh.
Calem excused himself, and I heard him vomit just outside the double doors. Raven was quick to follow, her gait stiff and awkward as she speed-walked out of the room. Part of me wished I could’ve done the same, but I was tethered to Gaige—and not just because of the tubing between us. Nothing could have pried me from his side in that moment. I needed to know he would make it through this. I needed to know that we weren’t slicing into him for nothing.
I just need him.A shiver raced over my body. Whether it was due to the lack of blood or the unrelenting compulsion to ensure he was safe, I couldn’t say; but that soft acknowledgment was far too dangerous. So I buried it deep and forced myself to focus on the sounds of the bloodletting and prayed that maybe, one day, I’d be strong enough to utter those words to him in person.
And that he’d live long enough to hear them.
Kaori, Ozias, and Uma worked for hours, each one taking turns wringing the poison from Gaige’s arm like a soaked rag. Finally, when his blood ran clean, I signaled to Felicks and had him seal the wound on Gaige’s thigh and arm. He obliged, and then I sent him back to the beast realm for some much-needed rest. The medical room was a war zone, complete with sloshing buckets of blood tinged a strange green color. Drenched towels littered the floor where they’d attempted to mop up messes along the way, but the repulsive odor of it all still hung in the air.
After draping a fresh sheet over Gaige to hide his bare skin, Kaori left in search of Raven. Uma, too, excused herself, stating she’d return shortly and not to mess with the tubing. It’d still be hours yet before I’d passed enough blood to Gaige for him to regain consciousness, so Ozias made a quick break for the kitchen and returned with food and water.
We ate in silence as I stared at Gaige. Damp curls clung to the muscles of his neck, but thankfully the veins were free of poison, their color now their normal blue-green hue. A sheen of sweat glistened against his pale skin, but there was a pallid pink tinge to his cheeks. With each predictable rise and fall of his chest, my own breathing normalized. I hadn’t realized how shallow my inhalations had become, how much tension I’d been holding in my lungs throughout the entire process. Exhaling deeply, I felt every muscle in my rib cage loosen a fraction.
“He’ll be okay,” Ozias finally said. He’d been watching me carefully, only choosing to speak once our plates were clear.
“I believe that now,” I murmured. I went to adjust my glasses and faltered. I still hadn’t replaced them. Fortunately, I had a spare set in my room. “I’m just glad that’s over with.”
Ozias rolled his head from side to side, stretching the space between his shoulders. “What about you?”
“I’m fine.” I settled deeper into the cot, and the exhaustion I’d been fighting hit me with the force of a beast. Weights tugged at my eyelids, but I forced myself to stay awake a little longer. To keep Gaige in my sights just a bit more, just in case. “I’m just fatigued from all this. We haven’t slept in days.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Ozias reclined in his chair, and the wood creaked beneath his weight. Like me, he’d forgone sleep to ensure Gaige was safe. There were bags beneath his warm, brown eyes, but the weariness in his stare felt different somehow, like aparent who was stuck watching their child endure far too much hardship. Too much pain.
“What is it, then?”
“I’m just ready for you two to quit dancing around each other with blades in one hand and roses in the other. You don’t need either of them.”
I blinked, the action like sandpaper scraping against my eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Ozias sighed and stood slowly, giving my leg a parting squeeze. “Maybe my analogy is off—you know I’m not great with words—but you’re supposed to be the smart one. Figure it out.” With that he exited through the doors out into the halls of Cruor. I glanced at the sleeping forms of Okean and Rook as I considered Ozias’s words.
Blades and roses.My focus shifted to Gaige. Sleep teased my senses as I turned on my side, careful to keep my arm propped up in a way that my blood continued to flow. With my hand dangling off the edge of the cot, I could almost graze Gaige’s fingertips. Hisunglovedfingers. I burned to feel his hand in mine, but I didn’t dare bridge that gap. Instead, I called on my shadows and allowed them to curl in my palm. It was a poor substitute for what I really desired, and the normally soothing feel of their icy touch only irritated me. Without much thought from me, the tendrils shifted between a glittering, ink-black blade and a budding rose. Truly, I wanted Gaige to have both. Yet as I mulled over Ozias’s words, I closed my eyes and let the shadows disperse. I knew he was right—I didn’t need either. All I needed was his hand in mine, and that was the very thing I couldn’t allow myself to have.
THIRTEEN
GAIGE
