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I started to argue until the naga took a collective step toward us, spreading out into a menacing half-moon of imminent death. I inched backward, not sure how I was supposed to get to Oliver without also getting impaled on a snake man’s blade. The closest one on my right saw my hesitation, and he launched forward with a strangled hiss, dagger held out in front of him to attack. I had a brief second to panic before a giant feathered wing smacked into my side, launching me off to the side in a crumpled heap in the dirt.
Aura used the distraction to her advantage, launching into the air toward the green bastard with her razor-like talons. She speared him clean through, easily a head and shoulders above his height, his body stuck on her menacing knives. She flapped her wings hard, launching a few feet into the air. The muscles in her legs bunched together as she tensed, and a disgusting, wet, ripping sound had my gut churning as she tore him in half, his innards splattering the ground. She shook off her feet for a brief second before she launched herself at the next one. The naga had completely forgotten about me and all rushed to attack the enraged pagu while she cut them down one by one with savage precision. I took advantage of the chaos, hustling over to where Oliver’s prone form lay.
The Fae was in bad shape, his clothes in tatters and small slices all over his skin, the edges oozing a disgusting dark sludge. His chest rose and fell erratically, and his skin shone, slick with sweat, as a fever raged inside him. Those knives were coated in poison, without a doubt.
“What do I do?” I muttered to no one, not sure where to even begin helping him. I looked behind me to see Aura was almost finished with her battle, her feathers soaked in crimson blood. She was incredible, equal parts vicious and deadly. Another reminder to never get on her bad side.
“Rowan,” Oliver wheezed, snapping my attention back to him as relief poured into me at seeing him awake. His eyelids fluttered as he struggled to remain conscious, a slight moan coming from deep in his chest.
“Those knives are poisoned, aren’t they? Do you have an antidote?” I slapped his cheek lightly as he started to drift off, hoping I could get enough information from him that would save his life. I didn’t know if Fae healed the same way shifters do, but it sure didn’t seem like it.
He met my glance for a second with glassy eyes before they rolled back, a seizure taking over his body, violent and sudden.
‘Turn him on his side,”Aura commanded, coming to a soft land next to me. I quickly gripped his arm and pulled, heaving him onto one side with a grunt of effort. We were right on time, and a few seconds later, he vomited on the floor.
“What do we do?” I asked her, concern eating away at me.
‘Naga venom is deadly, killing those infected within hours. They mix it on their blades with iron dust, a deadly combination. Normally, we’d use an anti-venom, but in a pinch, it can be cured directly from the naga. By eating a fresh heart. Go get one.”
Gross.No shortage of those here.
I stood, running over to the gruesome remains of what used to be our attackers, homing in on one whose guts were spilling from a gaping hole that opened from his throat to his navel. Nausea pulled at me, and I swallowed, hoping I could get the heart and save Oliver without puking my guts out.
The knees of my jeans squelched in blood as I kneeled in front of the body, plunging my hand into the chest cavity before I could think too much about what I was doing. The naga anatomy was surprisingly familiar, helping me to locate the heart with no problem. Aura’s claws had done a number, the ribcage easily separating under my frantic guidance. I wrapped my hand around the heart, which came away with little resistance. Bile rose in my throat as I tried to think of anything but what I was currently holding. It was small enough that I could hold it in one hand, but I cupped it in both anyways, the slippery texture unsteady against my skin as I carried it back to Oliver, now still but breathing.
I stared from him to the heart. If I just put the whole thing in his mouth and he didn’t chew, he was going to choke, and that wouldn’t help this situation at all.
‘Squeeze it into his mouth. That should be enough for now until we can get him to our healers.’Aura watched my struggle with impatience.‘Hurry. We need to move before more of them come.’
I winced as I held the heart over his mouth, using one hand to hold it open. My fingers tightened as hard as I could, and I gagged at the feeling of the heart bursting underneath my fingertips but held steady as the rivulets of blood dripped into his mouth. Chunks of meat and gore pooled in his throat, and I breathed a sigh of relief when he swallowed on reflex. Immediately, the sludge oozing from his wounds started to slow.
‘That’s enough,’Aura called to me, shifting down until her head was bowed in front of me in invitation.‘He will live. I will take you to my home, and after that, you must leave.’
I wasn’t going to argue with the killing machine, so I mounted her after a few moments of struggle, relaxing my hold a little when I felt her magic grip me into place. I looked at my comatose companion lying on the ground, pink already starting to come back to his cheeks. There was no way he would fit on her back with me, not like that. “What about Oliver?”
‘I will carry him, of course.’She surged into the air, hovering over him with her mighty talons. I thought they were just for stabbing, but she impressed me with her agility as she cradled him gently between them instead, the claws long enough to carry the unconscious man.‘Try not to annoy me. It’s a three-hour flight.’
ChapterFour
One thing they don't tell you about flying is how freakingcoldit was.
By the time we landed in the pagu's village, my teeth were chattering, and I was pretty sure my eyes were only still open because they had frozen that way. Their dwelling wasn't what I had expected. Well, not that I was really sure what type of house a giant murderous bird would live in, but I was thinking of a tree. Or a nest built off the skulls of their enemies.
Instead, they lived surrounded by cliffs and steep drop-offs. An entire village existed, filled with modest stone huts and aged structures. There were plenty of pagu that roamed about, but much to my surprise, people milled about too. Most of them were tall and slim, with elongated ears and striking features I'd come to recognize as Fae. Some of them bore striking black tattoos, stretching over their exposed skin like midnight spiderwebs. All eyes turned to me, whispers breaking out as we dropped in front of a larger open-faced hut with cots, vials, and a cauldron off to one side. It was like a witchy hospital.
A harried-looking Fae with blue hair popped out, running to meet Oliver, where he was unceremoniously dropped on the floor by Aura when we landed. I was bent over him, and she nudged me over hard enough to knock me over.
"Move," she ordered—completely unnecessarily, given she'd moved me herself. She held her hands out in front of her, hovering over Oliver's body.
"What are you doing?" I questioned, but she didn't respond, her entire being focused on the man in front of her.
'She'shelping him,'Aura said, and by the way the girl's eyes darted up, I realized she could hear her too.'Pulling the remaining poison out will help him heal much faster than waiting for the medicine of the naga heart to work its way completely through him.'
The girl swirled her hands in front of her, and I watched in awe as the green sludge that still coated Oliver's wounds started to shake and then rise. More green essence floated out, Oliver giving a weak whimper as the poison was magically pulled from the gashes. After a few silent moments, no more poison escaped, and she urged the floating putrid ball into a small pouch she held at her hip.
"He'll be fine in a few hours. Great thinking with the heart, Aura." She nodded tersely to the pagu as she stood, a movement of begrudging respect. She grinned suddenly, her cobalt hair cascading like a waterfall down her back. She was pretty, in a scary, don't-fuck-with-me kind of way. "And now I have a healthy resupply of naga venom for our next raid."
"Raid?" I asked her, unable to stop myself. She looked me up and down, her monolid eyes focusing on me for the first time since I'd arrived. They lingered on my hair, and remembering what Aura had told me earlier, I knew it was because of the color.
