Arianna didn’t argue. Talon was lying down, his eyes closed and breathing labored.
“Stay awake,” Arianna chided.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured, but his voice was strained. Arianna found four bites along his body. Two on his arm and one on each leg. She grimaced and began pulling the venom out, quickly healing his tissues as she worked. She didn’t think venom was supposed to affect the body this quickly.
Arianna rolled up his pant leg and frowned at the burn scars on his lower leg. She swore she could feel Raevina’s wrath behind her.
“Are you all right?” Arianna asked when Talon didn’t move.
He waved one hand lazily. “Get the others.”
Arianna shifted to Raevina next, finding a bite along her side, right where her other wound had been when she’d first healed the female and earned her loyalty. Right, Raevina was accustomed to venoms. She’d said something about how the warriors in Fiadh forced their bodies to build immunity. It had sounded insane at the time.
She turned back to Saoirse, but Zylah was already working on the female, pulling out the venom with runes Arianna didn’t even know existed.
That only left—she slowly turned to face The Demon. His green eyes were glossed over, face speckled with perspiration. His skin was notably paler and his breathing was so labored, she was certain each breath felt like a thousand shards of glass carving through his body.
Despite everything he’d done, something deep in Arianna’s mind forced her to hesitate. It slithered against all her normal instincts, shoving them into submission.
Let him suffer.
Let him fade.
“Heal him.” Raevina’s commanding voice dispersed the shadows like tendrils of smoke. The female stood, wavering on her feet. “Now.”
Arianna stood as well, her hands already shaking. She had regretted not healing him once. What if those creatures burst through the flames and she needed him a second time? What if he wasn’t around to grab Ellie and something tore her sister apart the way Vairik’s feral creatures had done to Kirian?
Swallowing hard, Arianna closed the distance between her and The Demon too quickly. She knelt at his side. His eyes never left her body. In fact, they roamed over every inch of her, as if cataloging each and every scratch left by the horrendous creatures still burning just on the other side of the river.
She studied the puncture wound on his arm. That had been meant for her. He’d taken the fangs that were aimed for her throat. And if he hadn’t, would any of them even be here now?
That darkness returned, whispering with an oily presence. The creature within her recoiled. Her jaw worked. She could let it happen. If she just waited, the venom would do its job, and he’d finally be gone from the world.
“Heal him, Arianna.” Talon’s voice this time, a plea, not a command.
He deserved death, but something in Arianna’s heart told her this wasn’t the way he should go. If this creature was going to perish, then it would be by her hand, not some foul beast.
He’d saved her. He’d saved Ellie. Her little sister responded to him. Would she stop eating without his influence? Was Ellie’s life tied to The Demon’s?
“Now would be a good time,” Saoirse said. Arianna hadn’t heard her move, but the Lady of Brónach now knelt at her brother’s side, looking him over with the level of concern only family could display. She’d nearly lost her mother. They could both be orphans and not even know it. It would be cruel to take her brother from her now, no matter what he deserved.
The Demon just waited in silence, his gaze flicking between her eyes and hands. Was that distrust? Would he not beg for his life?
She straightened slightly, if his pride—Rion clenched his chest and the single agonized sound that escaped his lips had Arianna’s body lunging for him of its own accord.
Saoirse snatched Arianna’s wrist, holding just tight enough that she wouldn’t easily escape. The female’s eyes were full of pleading and anguish. “He trusts you.” Her voice cracked. “I trust you. Don’t—”
“Saoirse.” Rion’s voice was hoarse, his fists clenched. Saoirse closed her mouth and released Arianna’s wrist, but the pleading in her eyes never vanished. This female was his sister. Arianna couldn’t remember the two of them ever interacting. She couldn’t remember Saoirse ever mentioning The Demon with fondness in her voice, but Arianna saw that fondness now, accompanied by the fear of losing her little brother.
It was the same fear Arianna carried for Ellie.
“I won’t hurt him,” Arianna promised, even if the words tasted like ash on her tongue.
With shaking hands, Arianna rolled up The Demon’s sleeve. The area around the bite was already swollen, black spider web veins spreading beneath his skin. If she didn’t act fast, he could lose the entire limb.
Arianna took a breath, then gently placed her hands on his skin. She immediately recoiled when that same electrical current jolted through her like lightning. Her chest tightened, and that same irritating headache pulsed at the top of her neck.
The shadows returned tenfold, whispering and snaking through her conscious thoughts, leaving behind a substance that reminded Arianna far too much of the venom. She braced one hand at her side to steady herself. Dots swam at the corners of her vision.
