I counted the weeks in my head but the days blurred together.Vok,how long had it been since I’d been inDothik? Since I’d first stumbled upon her late that one night?
“Then they started getting tired. Cold. The blood began to darken in their veins. Then came the pain. For many, many days.”
When I connected eyes with the Killup, I saw within him what I feared.
“How long does she have?” I grated.
“Without a dose?” the Killup asked. “At this stage, a few days. Maybe four. Then again, that is what happened to a Killup.Sheis human. It may be different.”
“How long have you known about this?” I growled, glaring at the Killup as Hedna subtly shifted between us. “You didn’t think to tell us about thevovicbefore this?”
My rage was misplaced. Even I knew that but it feltgoodcoursing through me. An old friend.
The Killup never even blinked. With a calmness that I knew I would never possess, he pointed out, “Killup and Dakkari are not allies.” His gaze shifted to theVorakkarof Rath Kitala briefly. “Nor are we enemies. We have an arrangement, one befitting both of us. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“We have a common enemy,” Rath Kitala reminded him, his tone gruff.
“That is true,” the Killup amended, tilting his chin down. “Which is why I am here.”
That was when I remembered. Our agreement. The one I’d made with him in that dark forest after they’d ambushed Vienne and me on my return to the horde from Dothik.
The Killup had their own poison. One that paralyzed the Ghertun the moment it entered their bloodstream and prevented their wounds from clotting. The Killup had used it onmeafter all, though I’d responded to it differently than a Ghertun would.
The Killup sought a new home, far from the eastlands. In exchange for passage and protection, they would supply us with this poison to help in fighting the Ghertun if and when war came between us.
“If you have a poison that affects the Ghertun, perhaps you have a cure for this,” I rasped. “Or know of one.”
The Killup’s gaze flickered to my female. He’d been curious about her in the forest that night. It was perhaps why he’d called off his warriors…because of her.
“If we had a cure, we would have used it to save our own,” he said quietly. For the first time, I heard an emotion enter into his voice. Regret? “She died.”
My throat closed up, my nostrils flaring.
“What do you want from me?” I asked quietly. I saw Rath Kitala’s gaze cut to mine in surprise, a frown turning down his lips as he studied me. “I will give anything to save her.”
Rath Kitala stilled as the Killup’s head cocked and he regarded me carefully.
“You want my advice, Dakkari?” the Killup asked softly, stepping towards me. Dropping his voice, he murmured, “End her suffering now before it becomes too great.”
Rage whipped inside me like a lash across my insides. I’d been whipped and tortured and used before but I would gladly experience those things again if it meantneverhearing those words from the Killup again.
“Step away from me before I kill you where you stand,” I hissed.
The Killup did as I asked, the tension spiking high in myvoliki.
“The female who escaped the Dead Mountain,” the Killup said, “was my mate, Dakkari. I watched her die a painful death because I was too much of a coward to give her mercy. I could have eased her suffering,” his voice changed, going gruffer, his gills flaring, “had I been stronger.”
I stilled.
Everyone in thevolikidid.
“We have something to ease her pain,” the Killup said after a long moment, his face unreadable once more, his voice evening out. “But there is only so much pain it can mask.”
I met his eyes.
I inclined my head.
“Thank you,” I rasped.
