Meri ran toward us moments later, sprinting with her satchel already open, magic already thrumming in her hands as I helped her up onto Kaelith’s back.
“Help him,” I breathed, moving back enough to give her room but never letting go of his hand.
She fell to her knees, light spilling from her fingers, sinking into the shredded flesh and torn muscle. Her face grew tight with focus, with pain. She didn’t speak.
Because it was bad. So bad.
And he’d lost so much blood.
I saw her hands tremble. Her jaw lock.
No. Please, no.
Ferrula landed hard behind us. She froze beside me, her eyes locking on Jax, then on Meri.
And she saw it too.
The tremor in Meri’s hands.
The waver in her glow.
“She’s weakening,” Ferrula said under her breath. “If she can’t repair the tissue fast enough, she’ll be pulled under.”
“She’ll die with him,” I whispered.
Meri didn’t respond. She was too far gone in the healing trance.
Ferrula stared at Jax like she was watching him slip through her fingers. And then, slowly, achingly, she lifted her hand to her chest, pressing her palm to her heart.
“I didn’t think I could care like this again,” she said softly, so only I could hear.
“Then tell him,” I whispered. “Tell him you love him. I know it’s not the Dirian way, but he needs to know. Now. Before the binding ceremony. Before it’s too late.”
Ferrula didn’t hesitate after that.
She dismounted and approached us, reaching for Jax. She leaned toward him and pressed her lips to Jax’s blood-streaked ear, and whispered, “Stay with me, warrior. I will choose you.”
And in that moment?—
Jax’s fingers twitched in mine.
The soft glow around Meri’s hands began to fade, the last threads of magic slipping into Jax’s ravaged flesh as the torn tissue knit slowly back together. The bleeding slowed. His skin began to seal, pale and tender but whole.
Meri exhaled deeply and slumped forward.
I caught her before she collapsed, wrapping my arms around her trembling frame. Her breath was shallow, her body limp with exhaustion, and for a second, I thought she might pass out completely.
Behind me, Ferrula crouched and gently eased Jax off Kaelith’s back, holding him carefully as his head lolled. He groaned, but it was a sound of life.
He was still with us.
I held Meri tighter until she stirred. Slowly, her head lifted, strands of hair falling across her damp cheeks.
She blinked groggily. “I’m… on a dragon.”
I smiled gently. “You are.”
Her brows lifted in dazed awe as she looked around. “I didn’t think they let non-riders atop them.”
