“I assume you found it,” said Attes.
My gaze shifted to him, then returned to Poppy. The flickering behind her lids had slowed. “Yes.”
“I’m guessing I don’t want to know where.”
“No,” Kieran ground out. “But let’s get on with it.”
I placed my hands on my knees, my gaze fixed on Poppy as Attes walked around us and knelt on my other side.
“Where is it?” he asked quietly.
“On her chest,” Kieran answered.
“Of course,” spat Attes. “Fuck.”
I didn’t look at him as I spoke. I didn’t trust myself to do so. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“Other than you losing your shit during this? It shouldn’t.” He paused. “I’m going to have to touch her.”
A spasm of raw power rolled through me. “No.”
“Casteel,” the Primal began.
My fingers pressed down. “I’ll do it.”
“Youcan’t.”
“You might want to rethink that,” Kieran advised as my fingers stopped pressing down and began to tap. “Because there’snothinghe can’t do for her.”
Did he honestly believe that?
Clearly not. But I kept that to myself. Now wasn’t the time.
“There’s nothing to rethink,” Attes whispered harshly. “He cannot do it. Neither can you.”
I took a deep breath.
“Care to explain why?” Kieran shot back.
“Remember when I said I knew how to prevent it from burning straight through her?” Attes raised the strap from his shoulder and laid the satchel behind him. “It’s something I can do.”
Kieran shifted closer, his head lowering. “You’ll need to go into detail,friend.”
“Do we have time for that?” Attes snapped.
I slowly lifted my gaze from Poppy and met the Primal’s eyes. Whatever he saw in my stare caused him to shift back. “Yes.”
That muscle in his jaw ticked in unison with my fingers. “The blood will burn through my flesh first, dampening its potency enough to not go too deep into hers,” he said quickly and quietly.
Kieran lurched on the other side of me. “You’re going to…?”
“I’ll gladly let it burn through my flesh,” I said.
“Do you want to lose all your fingers?” he shot back.
My lips spread into a closed-lip smile. “I’ll still have five more.”
“And your hand and likely your entire arm?” the Primal retorted. “Because that’s what will happen. The draken blood won’t just eat away at your flesh. It will destroy muscle and bone. You willing to do that?”
