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I didn’t know if he was lying or not—but I couldn’t imagine anything worse than an arrow covered in night nettle poison. His face was leeched of any color it had previously possessed. He looked on the verge of passing out, his wings limp around him, slumped as he was in the chair. He’d spit out the husk of the bone onto the floor, but at least the marrow would help clot his blood.
I grabbed my strongest shears. He groaned, low in his throat, when I secured them against the shaft of the arrow, jostling thewound when it clamped down. I snapped the wood, splintering it as the male flinched and the fletching dropped to the floor. It made a brightclinkwhen it hit, and I frowned when I realized it wasmetal.
“What’s your name?” I asked him.
“Trying to distract me, little witch?” he pondered, his words a little slurred.
“My name is Marion, notlittle witch,” I told him, sweat beginning to bead on my brow, and I shoved a wavy clump of my auburn hair away when it escaped from my braid. “Lean forward.”
The Kylorr’s leather vest creaked quietly when he did as I ordered. By some small miracle, the arrow had gone cleanly through, the arrowhead—also metal, I noted—poking out the back of his shoulder. I took my forceps, hooking them beneath the points.
“Your name,” I prompted…before I gave one mighty, swift tug—not hesitating because hesitation would only make it hurt more. The shaft was smooth, a great mercy. I’d seen barbed ones before.
The Kylorr bellowed, loud and hoarse, and I dropped the arrow, rinsing the wound with clean water before taking up my mortar.
“Face of an angel…soul of a demon wanting vengeance,” he told me, his gaze fastening with mine, though his eyes were half-lidded. “That’s what the villagers say about you, Marion.”
I froze, the words spearing straight through me like I had taken a poisoned arrow of my own. I didn’t think he’d meant to say them. He was half-delirious from night nettle.
“I’m trying to save your life, Kylorr,” I replied calmly, as if my throat wasn’t tightening. I blinked back the sting of tears. Even after all this time, the villagers still whispered behind my back.I didn’t know if they would ever accept me, the strange human who lived in the Black Veil.
“Lorik,” he rasped. “Lorik Ravael.”
I began to pack the wound with the thick paste.
Lorik Ravael.After all these months, I finally knew his name.
That name proved what I’d already suspected. He was a Kylorr…but he was also Allavari.
I’d watched this male at the market before.Everyonewatched him. He had an undeniable magnetism, an unparalleled draw that few ever possessed, that few might ever experience. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was magic.
“I don’t have the soul of a demon, Lorik Ravael,” I informed him.
His mouth widened, showing teeth—razor-sharp teeth that made me breath hitch. “Never said you did, Marion.”
I continued packing the seeping wound, but the keeper’s bone marrow was doing well to stop the bleeding.
Lorik hissed, his eyes closing briefly when I put pressure on his shoulder. I was hesitant about what would come next…but I didn’t see a way around it.
Shoving my wrist in front of his face, I ordered softly, “Feed.”
Lorik’s eyes flashed open. “No,” he grated, the word surprisingly harsh and quick.
“Yes,” I said, my tone edging toward impatience. “After all this work, I’ll be very annoyed if you die on me. The keeper’s bone will thicken your blood. And luckily for you, Kylorr, you metabolize blood faster than most. But you still needmoreto help cleanse the poison from you.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” Lorik said, making me frown.
“Even this might not save you,” I snapped. The words were harsh but honest. It hadn’t worked for Aysia, after all. “You’re wasting time.Feed.”
As if to entice him, I pressed my inner wrist to his lips, surprisingly soft and warm.
Lorik met my eyes. Pale blue and luminous, like the wrathweed glowflies.
“Very well, little witch,” came his strained, whispered words across my delicate flesh.
It happened quickly. His fangs flashed, elongating swiftly, twice in size what they had been. He bit down, greed and hunger evident in his eyes.
The pain was fleeting, giving way to something entirely unexpected as his venom flooded into my bloodstream.
