“Snare Urchin," she repeats, “I, I read about them last week in that library book you keep teasing me about. Their spines, they release venom that paralyses Threads. Squeezes them until they shut down. It always starts at the feet, then climbs. If it reaches your lungs, your heart, you’re already—” She cuts herself off, shakes her head, keeps yanking at my boot. “And the taste, that sour-metal taste. That’s how you know.”
The pounding in my chest rises, pulsing behind my eyes now. What? No, I can’t die here. From a fucking urchin. Not after everything. Not after deciding to go back. The answers are waiting. If I die now, all of this—Ashvale, Rhiann, everything—it was for nothing.
Both boots are off now, as Ezzy scrambles over my legs, eyes darting, hands everywhere. “It’s in you. Ithasto still be in you, stars, we need to find it before?—”
“I don’t understand, how the hell would I have an urchin spine in me? The ocean’s days away.”
Ezzy shrugs as she keeps looking. “Don’t need the ocean. Urchin’s a delicacy at the Innerlands. Someone with access to a kitchen, or the right connections, could’ve used the discarded spines.”
Shifting up from my feet, Talen moves to my left, sleeves already shoved back. His hand catches mine before I can pull away, turning my wrist over, eyes scanning like he’s looking for something under the skin. I warm under his touch, but the next thought sends a cold shiver straight through me.
“So... you’re saying someone poisoned me?” My head struggles to keep up as Bren joins the search, three sets of hands moving over me like I’m a map they’re all trying to read at once.
But Ezzy doesn’t answer. Doesn't need to; I can already see the lineup—Ryven, Strannt, Elijah. Hell, half the Citadel would throw a party if an Outerlander like me bled out on their polished stone.
“But I would've felt it, if someone spiked me,I would’ve known?—”
“No.” Her voice is tight as she moves. “It's like a mosquito bite. Numbs the spot first. You don’t really feel it, maybe a scratch. But once it's in? It just waits. Removal’s the trigger. That’s when the real pain hits. And if it breaks off inside?—”
Bren's suddenly in front of me, lifting my right hand. His fingers tremble. “Here. This. This has to be it.”
I look down. A tiny black dot. Barely more than a pinprick near the tip of my index finger. I blink. It wasn’t there this morning. Or was it?
“Yes, yes, that’s it!” Ezzy cries.
Bren presses a thumb around the site like he’s going to squeeze it out.
“Stop!” Her voice slices through the moment, “Stop, if you snap it, it’ll splinter. Bury deeper, break into a dozen bits. You’ll never get it all. You need a blade.”
“Okay, fine, someone give me something.” Bren holds out a trembling hand.
Talen moves, and with his free hand pulls a dagger from his belt. His grip is rock-steady. “Unless you plan to cut her whole damn finger off with those shakes—let me.”
Bren bristles. “You think I’d hurt her?”
“I think you’re panicking,” Talen replies flat. “And she doesn’t have time for that.”
For a second. Bren doesn’t move. Then, jaw tight, he glances at his own hand—still trembling—and curses under his breath. His eyes flick to mine, and something shifts. “Fine.” He sighs.
I brace for Talen’s usual smug reply—some barbed comment just to twist the knife, but it doesn’t come. He just turns to Ezzy, my hand still steady in his. “When this comes out, it’s going to hurt like hell. Pass-out kind of pain. She’ll need?—”
“Hot water, I know,” Ezzy cuts in quickly, already looking around like it might spill out of the hillside. “Ummm…”
“Hot water?” My brows pull tight.
“Yeah.” She doesn’t look at me, still scanning. “Once it’s out, the numbing wears off around the site. Pain will hit hard, but heat helps neutralise it, but I don’t know where?—”
“My place’s still intact,” Bren says. “But I'll need help getting the water back on.”
Ezzy exhales. “Okay, great. Let’s go.”
But Bren doesn’t move, his eyes go straight to mine. “I’m not leaving you here withhim.”
“I need to get this thing out, now, otherwise she dies.” Talen says, eyes locked on Bren. “So you can either stand here and watch her suffer in pain once I remove it, or make yourself useful and get the damn water.”
Fuck, the look on Talen's face—serious, tight. Not his usual calm, not the mask he always wears. There’s worry there, strong enough to punch the air from my lungs. And if he’s worried… Shit, this is bad.
Silence.
