I applied more pressure from my fingernail, digging into my skin.
Step. Step. Step.
The fog drew closer, threatening to suffocate me. I swallowed hard, trying not to vomit.
I dug my nail in hard enough to draw blood. But still, my clouded mind darkened.
“Almost there,” Theron muttered. He sounded a mile away. I had to strain to hear him.
The air shifted. Leaves crunched under my feet. Then, I was suddenly weightless. Theron’s wintry smell enveloped me as he carried me in his arms. I pressed my face to his chest, breathing in his comforting scent.
“We’re in the woods,” he murmured. “You’re safe, Eira.”
I tugged the black cloth free from my mouth, sucking in sharp gulps of air. It tasted cold and biting andfresh. For a moment, I thought I could think clearly again, the icy air soothing to my ash-filled lungs.
But then the heat overcame me, and I slumped against Theron’s chest. “I—I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Eira. Does Calista have your blood?”
I stilled, my eyelids fluttering open. “Y-Yes,” I whispered.
Theron’s face paled. “Shit.”
“But… she’s never been able… to call me before.” I was strangely winded, as if I’d run a mile.
“You were likely too far away when you were in Knockspur,” Theron said grimly. “She knows you’re close by, so she probably figured this was the perfect time to summon you.”
I shook my head as a strange taste filled my mouth. “This—This is different.Feelsdifferent. Look at my eyes. Are they black?” I tried blinking up at him, but my eyelids were suddenly so heavy.
Theron frowned, staring hard at me. After a moment, he said, “No. They’re still blue. But your cheeks look very red.” He pressed a hand to my forehead. “Damn, Eira. You’re burning up.”
“I don’t understand this,” I said numbly. “I—I don’t feel right. What’s happening to me?”
“When was the last time you ate?”
Shivering bones, I could barely remember my own name, let alone what I last ate. “Can’t… think.”
But Theron was staring at my upper arm, his eyes wide. My ripped tunic had slid upward when he’d lifted me. As I followed his gaze, I realized what was so shocking. A patch of sickly green spots marred the skin just below my shoulder. It seemed to surround the faint pink scar from?—
My heart jolted in my chest.
The scar from when Calista poisoned me.It was the exact place where her claws had struck me. I’d done my best to hide the scar up until this point because I wanted to avoid any questions about it.
But now, the same spots that I saw in Calista’s hand mirror were visible to me, to Theron… toeveryone.
“Eira,” Theron said, his breath shaky. “What is that?”
I vaguely recalled how Theron had burned up with a fever when the Demon Fae had poisoned him.
“This is where Calista cut me,” I whispered, my head spinning. “This is how she poisoned me.”
Theron was shaking his head now. “That’s impossible. Eira, if she cut you years ago, you would already be dead.”
My brow furrowed, and I closed my eyes. But it didn’t help. I still felt dizzy, as if I were on a rickety boat in the middle of a massive storm. “Distance,” I finally managed to say. “A-And apples. I need… an apple.” I couldn’t form the words. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to explain to him that the more I distanced myself from Calista, the less her poison affected me.
That, and the sparkwood apples helped keep the poison at bay. It had been a while since I’d eaten one.
“My bag,” I said tightly. “Please.”
