“I'll trade you.” I held up a bite.
Verin let me feed him, then made a delighted sound.
“That good, huh?” I took a bite too. “Oh, hell yeah. You've got...” I gasped.
“Elaria?” Verin asked, but then his hand shot to the table to brace himself as he gasped too.
Sharp pain spread through my body, making me go rigid. I started to slide off my seat. Verin roared and tried to catch me. Instead, his body twitched violently and he fell with me. Our chairs tumbled with us, crashing to the floor to either side of us as we fell into each other's arms. I clutched at him. Even as he shook, he pulled me closer. His jaw clenched, his face twisting into a rictus of agony, but his stare remained locked on me.
The room erupted into shouting and people swarmed around us as the Blue Dragon and his consort sprawled on the royal dais and went into spasms. Savassa was wailing, trying to pull Verin onto his back, but he was curled protectively around me, cradling me to his chest as I began to scream.
“Elaria,” Verin whispered brokenly, his voice strained. A tear ran down his cheek.
My back arched and my limbs thrummed the floor. My entire body flooded with excruciating pain—muscles cramping and veins burning. People were trying to help us but even as Verin moaned with pain himself, he managed to push people away. He growled and snarled, then whimpered pitifully.
“My son!” Savassa screamed. “Not my son, please!” She wept somewhere above us, her hands brushing back Verin's hair; he'd worn it loose for me.
I stared into Verin's beautiful eyes and managed to lift a hand to his cheek; it was wet with tears. “I love you.”
“I love you, Elaria,” he whispered and then started to spasm again. He choked out, “I regret nothing. I'd rather die here in your arms then have never known your love.”
“Being with you was worth it,” I vowed.
It became harder to breathe. It felt as if a boulder were laid upon my chest. I wheezed. Verin's breath came in short pants. He lowered his face to mine and kissed me—just a press of lips but so profound. The pain crested and receded but the constriction on my chest didn't ease. Verin's skin was taking on a blue tinge. Still, he held me and as I stared into his tear-glazed, adoring, beautiful eyes, all I could think was, compared to all the horrible ways I could have met my end, dying in his arms wasn't a bad way to go.
A shivering warmth flooded my body and I gasped, suddenly able to breathe freely again. I pushed myself up, much to the shock of the court, especially Savassa, who fell back on her ass and gaped at me. Verin had rolled limply onto his back with my movement. He stared up at me, processing my improved state, and smiled in relief even as he struggled to breathe. I pulled him onto my lap and stroked his face. Why wasn't he getting better? I had recovered, why not Verin?
Verin's eyes fluttered closed.
“Hell, no, Dragon,” I growled. “I'm not done with you yet.”
I automatically sought Kyanite, but he was gone. I'd banished him myself and in my panic, I couldn't figure out how to bring him back. But that didn't matter; I'd been a spellsinger for all of my life—long before I'd had a sliver of kyanite wedged in my neck. I didn't need music to sing; it helped but it wasn't necessary. In fact, the first song that came to my mind was a chant. “Healing Chant” by Heather Alexander.
As I started to intone the solemn entreaty to gods who were either sleeping or didn't exist, the Azure Court went reverently silent. The air trembled with magic—magic that rose from my throat and shivered across my lips. The power vibrated through me and gathered around me as I focused on Verin. I stroked his hair gently, summoning a lady of water and a beast of fire to heal my lover and make him whole again.
It didn't matter who I called upon, it was all just a way to reach my magic—to direct it. I pushed the rolling, thrumming power into his skin with my words and my intent and my savage determination that helive. The magic bowed to my will and burned away the poison surging through Verin's veins. I could see it in my mind—an inky infection that burst into light as sound waves washed through it. I sought every stain, every hindered cell, and banished the invading darkness with my song.
And as I sang, I wept.
I was afraid, so fucking terrified. Tears poured unheeded down my cheeks but I didn't release my sobs. I kept my voice steady to control the magic. I had to. If I lost this man, I would die as well. I would curl myself around his body and never move again. He was that important to me—air, water, fire, and earth; blood and body; mind and soul; all that I needed to exist. My entire world and everything I was had been altered by him—remade into the woman who loved him—and now, he was all I had. I refused to let him die, just as he had once refused to let death take me.Please, let my will be as strong as his.
When Verin suddenly gasped, sitting upright with his deep breath, I abruptly ended the chant on a sob of relief. Verin's indigo stare met mine in astonishment as the court—especially his mother—made relieved cries to mimic mine, then burst into joyous cheering. Verin laid his strong hand on my cheek, thumb brushing my cheekbone, then slid it around to the back of my neck to pull me into a tight embrace.
“You saved my life,” he whispered.
“It was only fair,” I said, my voice ragged.
Verin eased back to look me over. He wiped away my tears as we smiled tremulously at each other. We were both alive—something that, just minutes earlier, had seemed unlikely if not impossible. My racing heart started to calm and his intense indigo stare lightened to a jubilant turquoise. Verin appeared even more handsome to me now, after nearly losing him. My gaze followed the sweep of his jaw to his perfect lips, then traced his regal nose up to his exotic eyes. I laid my palms on his chest, glorying in the feeling of it rising and falling.
Verin's hands raced over me—face, throat, arms, and back—as if he couldn't believe that I was alive and well. “Are you all right?”
“I'm fine.” I caught one of his hands and kissed it. “I'm a goddess, remember? A diminished one, but still. A little poison won't kill me.”
Verin blinked, processing what I'd said, then his expression transformed into rage. “Poison. Your cake waspoisoned!”He shot to his feet and helped me to mine. Then, with an arm protectively around my shoulders, he shouted, “Bring me the chef and the food servers now! Bring me anyone who had access to my consort's cake!”
Guardsmen scrambled out of the room while the courtiers murmured and watched with morbid fascination. All but one. My gaze landed on Meilen and her wide, terrified eyes. Terrified, not merely concerned.
“It was her,” I whispered in revelation.
