This Is A Timer

Fin tried to mindlink Elias with no luck.

An agonizing minute passed when Fin's mindlink flared open with a jolt. Aeron's voice came fast, tense.

Aeron: Alpha, where the hell have you been? We've been trying to reach you for forty-five minutes. Is Jax with you?

Fin didn't waste a second.

Fin: Jax is here. We're with Nova. She's been stabbed.

Aeron: Stabbed?

Aeron's voice went razor-sharp.

Aeron: By who?

Fin: Riven Ashbane. 

He let the name land like a verdict.

Fin: The blade burns on contact. I need a portal. Now. 30 miles south and 13 miles west of the training arena.

Aeron: Copy.

While Fin waited, he turned to see Jax, still crouched by Nova's side, his face pale with horror. Jax's hand was wrapped in a torn strip of fabric from the cloak, and even that hadn't helped.

The cloth was smoking.

Nova whimpered weakly, her breath catching as the wound pulsed with something unnatural.

"What the hell is this?" Jax snarled. "Why can't we pull it out."

He gritted his teeth and reached for the blade again, ignoring the pain.

Wrong move.

The cloth caught fire mid-tug, disintegrating between his fingers. His palm sizzled. He yanked his hand back. His skin was blistered. Burned. And the dagger hadn't moved a goddamn inch.

Fin's voice was a growl. "Don't touch it again. Not until Aeron gets here."

He looked back down at Nova. Her body was still. But her brow twitched. She was still fighting.

Fin clenched his jaw, every instinct in him screaming to fix this, now.

Jax looked at her, brows furrowed. "The cold will kill her faster than the blade will."

"I know. Get her back in the water, until Aeron gets here," Fin ordered. 

Jax stepped back into the glowing spring, carefully lowering Nova back into the warmth. Her lips quivered. Her skin was still far too pale.

Her forehead rested in the crook of his neck. 

Meanwhile, Fin reached out again.

Fin: Elias. Prep a room in my private wing for Nova Moonveil. We want discretion. Plan for poisoning and hypothermia.

Elias: Fuck... how?!

Elias paused for a second.

Elias: Yes, Alpha. On it.

Fin looked up. 

A soft crack split the air and a portal unfurled beside the spring. Aeron stepped through, hooded, robed, satchel already open.

His gaze found Nova.

Half in Jax's arms, half submerged in golden water that shimmered unnaturally.

He went still. His usual composure cracked into stunned, horrific awe.

"Well. That's new," he said flatly, already moving toward her.

"She's not healing," Fin said immediately, standing as Aeron approached. His voice was sharp, clipped, a command disguised as a report. "The water turned gold and healed us. But her stab wound won't close. She's been bleeding for over thirty minutes."

Aeron snapped back into motion. "Keep as much of her in the water as possible. The second we remove the blade, lower her again. We're buying seconds here."

Jax lifted her from the spring and laid her gently onto the snow, only her legs left submerged to the knee.

"Let's hope she stays unconscious," Aeron muttered, kneeling next to her.

His hands moved fast drawing sigils in the air that glowed white-gold.

A thin magical sheen settled over Nova's wound.

Aeron's breath hitched.

The veins around the blade were darkening and spreading. Thin black tendrils moving beneath her skin, pulsing rhythmically, as if alive.

Fin crouched beside him. "What is it?"

Aeron didn't answer immediately. His eyes were fixed on the blade like it was a puzzle he hated solving.

"She's not burning," Jax said. "Why didn't it hurt her like it hurt us?"

Still nothing from Aeron.

He reached into his satchel, pulled out a glowing clamp etched with ancient sigils, and set it beside her.

"Aeron," Fin growled. "Talk."

The mage finally spoke, voice toneless, clinical, chilled at the edges like frost on a scalpel.

"It looks like she isn't burning, but trust me, the pain she is in is worse than what it felt like for either of you."

He gestured at the creeping veins and dropped his voice low. "This is forbidden magic. Designed to torture the victim."

Fin went still. "Expand on that. Now."

"This isn't a cursed blade. This dagger is reinforced with magic fueled by soul sacrifice.

Jax's eyes darkened. "Tell me you're not about to say what I think you're about to say." 

Aeron met his eyes. "Mother and child. It's the most vile magic that exists."

"Riven Ashbane is a sick bastard," Jax said through gritted teeth.

"If he wanted her dead," Aeron said. "The blade would be three inches to the left. This was deliberate restraint. Which is worse."

He exhaled. "No. This is a timer."