The Venomshademist eats through the dome like acid on glass. Threads of light fissure across Jax’s barrier, spider-webbing with every hiss of corrosion. The smell is wrong—sweet, metallic,alive.
“Hold it!” I bark, but Jax is already shaking, her arms trembling with the strain of trying to keep it up. “It’s eating the veil!” she grits out. “It shouldn’t be possible.”
But I’ve already dropped to my knees.
Teddy’s lying on the ground, his limbs unmoving. “It causes paralysis,” he snarls, desperate and gnashing.
Seren falls to his side, an arm draped over his chest, her fingers attempting to trace circles on his skin, but her movements come out staccato and disturbed.
“Should’ve let Tarrakai come out for a nibble,” Ronyn grouses, already dropping to his knees.
I drop to my hands, the poison seizing control.
My eyes drift to the south again.
Bloodbonds hold the front lines, eyes bloodshot and rimmed red, ready to unleash their signature battle fury and enhanced endurance.
Aetherstrides twitch and track, guarding the flanks.
I don’t miss the Venomshades—varied weapons and tools hanging from their belts and armor. Infused with poisonous alchemy, and ready to deploy in a heartbeat.
Runewrights bring up the rear, no doubt. That’s how Teddy’s father would’ve commanded them. Runewrights at the back because they need to physically touch their victims to use their magic. To crawl into their minds, to mark them with runes of control, or truth, or seduction, or whatever other fucked up things they want to do.
I try to kick, to gnash, but my body is not my own. It belongs to the poison now.
“I can’t hold it anymore,” Jax admits, voice broken and raw. She slumps to the stones, her body giving out.
“It’s okay, Jaxxy. You’ve done everything you can,” I soothe, but inside I’m a tempest.
Elyssara stands. Her skin ripples with a gentle glow.
She presses a hand to the barrier, her light burning against the poison. The glow flickers, then steadies—Starlight meeting poison.
“I— I think I can patch the holes,” she stammers, disbelieving.
“My love, I think you’re healing yourself, too,” I say, watching her light seek out the poison on her skin—a gentle wave of healing.
She sucks in a sharp breath, watching as her light seeks out the rot and extinguishes it.
“I am,” she breathes in realization. “I’ll heal you!”
“No!” I snap. “You’ll burn through your magic. You’re already using it to hold the causeway. You need to be strong for when we’re out of here.”
She looks to argue, but she’s cut off?—
“They’re unleashing more Venomshade alchemy,” Teddy warns from the ground, his eyes never deviating from the Starborn ranks—from Rhyven.
“Then I’ll patch it!” Elyssara screams, voice breaking.
“To what end, Elyssara?” Jax snaps. “We have to leave here at some point when the poison wears off! Then what?”
Outside, the Starborn army advances, their armor gleaming like fractured Starlight. Their eyes are determined, their movements controlled.
Fuck.
My gut roils at them watching us struggle. Their sneering faces twisting in smug delight as we lie vulnerable on the stones. A spectacle.
“We call on Tarrakai.” I hate the words. I feel defeated—it’s our best weapon against Thalmyr. It’s our best chance of taking back Dravara. And we’re revealing our only advantage.
