I have to hide her. I have to get her into stone. Into shadow.
“Move.” But my body does not obey. “Move!”
My entire being protests as I gather her up. It takes every shred of strength I have to move. Muscles tear. My vision swims, the world dissolving into washes of heat and color I have never seen before.
I stagger toward the tunnel mouth.
Every step is agony. My knees buckle, but I force them straight.
Keep her safe.
Must…keep her safe.
I stumble into the tunnel. The darkness welcomes me, but it does not stop the burning.
I make it ten paces. Twenty.
A side tunnel. One leading back to the clan. I lurch toward it, and my vision goes white. The pain in my groin spikes, a pulse so intense I nearly drop her.
I crash into the wall of a small alcove, sliding down the stone, my legs finally giving out.
I curl around her, shielding her with my changing body, pressing her face into my chest even as my body splits and reforms.
“Safe,” I project. “I keep... safe.”
The darkness rises to meet me, filled with stars that match the ones blooming on my skin.
And then I know no more.
Chapter 17
A VERY SPECIFIC KIND OF PAIN RELIEF
MIKAELA
Icome back to the world coughing.
My body convulses, lungs heaving to expel the last of the hot, bitter water. It burns my throat, tasting of copper and rot, but I am breathing.
I am alive.
I slump back against the stone, gasping, waiting for the pain. I wait for the fever to rage, for the cramps to double me over, for the exhaustion to drag me back down.
It doesn’t come.
Instead, a strange, electric hum vibrates beneath my skin. My heart is beating with a rhythm that feels stronger, heavier than my own. I feel…charged. Like I’ve been plugged into a generator.
I blink open my eyes.
The darkness of the alcove is broken by a faint, dying light.
“Sarven?”
He is curled around me, a massive, protective wall between me and the cave entrance. But he isn’t moving.
I push myself up, my hand landing on his chest.
He burns.
