جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 100

ATHENA I watched one of the healers separate the black petals of winterbloom with shaking fingers while another crushed frostroot into the steaming mixture beside him. There were too many people around the preparation table, too many hands reaching for bowls and measuring spoons, and every time somebody moved between me and the flower, I had to resist the urge to shove them aside and do it myself."How much longer?" I demanded.The oldest healer didn't bother looking up. "As long as it takes to prepare it without killing him.""He's already dying.""And rushing me will make him do it faster."I hated that answer mostly because he was right. Behind me, Azai made a strangled sound.I turned immediately.He was curled on his side in the centre of the enormous bed, his wet hair plastered against his neck and shoulders. We'd already poured three buckets of cold water over him because his core kept overheating while the rest of his body froze. The contradiction had baffled two hea

AZAI By the time the healer brought the stone bowl to my mouth, I could barely keep my eyes open. The rotten smell reached me first. I gagged. Athena slipped an arm beneath my shoulders while Taka supported me from the other side. I tried to pull away. "Yes, I know. You hate me." She adjusted her grip carefully. "You can execute me when you can sit up without dying." Even now, they were fucking irritating. The healer raised the bowl. "Slowly. He has to keep all of it down long enough for the winterbloom to reach his core." Athena's amusement disappeared. Her hand moved to the back of my neck and steadied my head. The rim touched my lips. I swallowed. Cold spread down my throat. It wasn't the ordinary cold of water or winter air. This felt alive, burrowing through my chest as another mouthful followed the first. By the third, my stomach was contracting, but Athena held me upright until the healer tipped the last of the black medicine between my lips. "Keep it down," h

AZAI The silence became unbearable after everyone left. I had ordered them out one by one.Ellian first. Dain after him. Athena had argued until I threatened to have her carried out. Taka stayed longest, watching me from beside the door with that irritating way he had of seeing things I didn't want seen. Eventually, he left too.I lay flat on my back and stared at the ceiling. Dain's voice wouldn't leave my head.He had given me so many fucking names.Some had died. Some had vanished. Some were still alive and had been too terrified to speak because Kairos had spent years making sure they believed nobody was powerful enough to stop him.My claws pushed against my fingertips. Nothing happened.I tried again.My wolf stirred, furious, but my body refused him.I couldn't shift. Couldn't stand. Couldn't wrap my hands around Kairos's throat.I couldn't even cross the fucking room without my legs trembling.A growl tore out of me. I grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it. It landed t

EMBER When the darkness threw me back into the room, I stayed exactly where I was. My head was pounding hard enough to make my vision pulse, and something warm ran from my nose to my lip. I wiped it away with the back of my hand and stared at the blood without really seeing it.Azai found me.The thought kept circling through everything else. Kora was alive. Taka woke up and remembered Razan cutting him. Dain survived. Ellian was free. Even Athena and the tiny impossible heartbeat hidden inside her were all still there, waiting somewhere beyond these walls.A shudder passed through me, but beneath it something warm stretched slowly through my chest.Nivara.I closed my eyes. She was still here. Her presence was faint compared to what I felt with Azai inside my head, but it wasn't gone anymore.I almost called for her. But then, footsteps passed outside my door.My eyes opened.I lay down immediately and pulled the blanket around myself, curling towards the wall before the foots

AZAI Kora nearly knocked me back onto the bed. “Papa!"Pain dug into my ribs when his small body crashed into mine, but I wrapped both arms around him and held on.Dora stood near the door with Athena, watching us quietly. She had brought him back less than five minutes ago after receiving Athena's raven, and Kora hadn't stopped talking since the moment he saw me."You were gone," he accused into my neck."I’m here now, pup.”"Mama gone too." That one hurt differently.I pulled him back enough to see his face. “Mama is coming home."His eyes widened. "You found her?""Yes,” I croaked.Kora's face crumpled with such sudden relief that I pulled him against me again before he could cry."She knows you're safe," I murmured into his hair. "Mama sad?""Very.""I’ll hug her."A laugh slipped out of me. "I think she'll like that.""And kiss.""She'll like that too.""And tell her no crying."That would probably be less successful. I rubbed his back slowly, feeling the steady beat of his