The water grew eerily still, rippling softly from Cael’s swirling limbs and Xenia’s urgent splashing as she pulled herself to shore. She grunted in pain, dragging her ruined leg behind her.
Her limb was still intact, praise Anaemos. He’d never want her to suffer the same fate as him. But the deep gash in her calf bled furiously, coating the dry grasses.
“Move back farther!” Cael shouted.
Xenia lifted her head, her eyes glassy. But she nodded, gritting her teeth as she pushed up onto her elbows and crawled to the tree. She grabbed Ker and braced it in front of her, prepared for further attacks. His chest glowed with pride at her fierceness, her bravery.
The water quivered, and an open maw of sharp, white teeth appeared beneath him, aimed right for his legs.
Without a second’s hesitation, he gripped the edge of his wing and shot a blast of wind into it. The wing snapped taut and he lurched upwards.
The beast’s jaws crested the surface, its teeth slamming shut mere inches from Cael’s dangling foot.
Using carefully aimed blasts of wind into the wing-sail above his head, Cael managed to swoop down upon the creature’s back and wrench the branch free, tearing out a few scales before bobbing back into the sky.
The beast roared in pain, blood gushing from the gaping hole and staining the water a deep red.
Cael hovered above the pool, branch angled in his hand like a spear.
He had one shot.
He tucked his wing and plummeted towards the creature’s amber eye, then shoved the branch in deep with a squelching crunch.
The beast threw Cael onto the shore as it reared and bucked, sending angry waves drowning the surrounding grasses. With a final, bone-rattling growl, the creature slunk beneath the surface.
Cael stood on the bank, chest heaving, hands resting on his thighs as he watched the shadow disappear into the abyss.
A tortured moan had him rushing for Xenia. He dropped to his knees before her to examine the wound.
Her curls snagged in the trunk’s rough bark, her eyes squeezed shut. She sucked in hissing breaths through clenched teeth as her leg oozed deep claret puddles that mixed with the dusty gravel.
Cael wrapped a hand around her ankle, gently lifting her calf, and she screeched, her eyes popping open, darting and panicky.
“You’ll be okay,” he panted. “You’re going to be okay.”
Any other option was inconceivable.
He pressed his hand against the torn, gaping gash and blood bubbled through his fingers.
“Don’t suppose that salve will work on a cut this deep?” she choked out.
“No. You’re going to need something more powerful.” He used one of his fangs to tear into a vein at his wrist. “Drink,” he ordered, pressing his wrist to her mouth.
She pressed her lips shut, angling her head away. “It’s illegal.”
“And who is going to arrest you out here?” He made a show of looking around, eyebrows raised. What a time for her Sister-ly propriety to rear its prim head.
She pushed limply against his wrist.
“Just fucking drink, Xenia! It will help you heal!”
She glared at him, her emerald eyes blazing. But thank the High Gods, she obeyed.
Grabbing his wrist with an increasingly pale hand, she held him against her mouth and lapped at his blood.
“Suckharder.You need to get at least three full swallows.”
She did as he asked, suctioning her lips over the cut.
