Page 69 of Tides of Shadows

“Of course. He lies in isolation. We do not yet know how contagious he may be. But I suppose the young Lady isn’t in too much danger after all. We’ve heard already, Lady of Water.” He looked at me with admiration. “Wonderful, wonderful. That’s exactly what we need. That’s what we were waiting for.” He started rambling.

I did not indulge his gibberish. I merely followed as he led me deeper into the wing. Cedric lay in a narrow chamber washed in pale light. Stained glass windows rose above him, depicting the earth goddess, patron of healers. The earth Elementars had always been the finest at mending flesh and bones.

He lay upon white sheets, all color drained from his face. Sweat slicked his brow, his body trembling beneath the blankets. But the red foam had ceased to stain his lips.

“Is he better?” I asked quietly.

“More stable,” the medic replied. “But I would not place much hope on it.” He turned away, shifting jars of medicine and bandages as though searching for something.

Dark veins crept beneath Cedric’s arm, extending from under the bandages. They weren’t diminishing.

“Is there a cure?” I asked.

“There is no cure.” His voice hardened. “There is no salvation.”

I caught his reflection in the stained glass.

He stood behind me and his eyes were black. Black like the man’s from my dreams.

I turned just as he lunged.

Steel flashed in his hand. I struck first, driving my foot into his chest and sending him stumbling back. I seized a heavy jug from the bedside table and smashed it against his arm. The knife clattered to the floor.

I reached for the spilled water, instinct sharp and desperate, but he was upon me in a breath. His hands closed around my throat.

I drove my elbow into his face. He did not even flinch.

He slammed me against the wall. Though he was an old man, his grip was unnatural, iron-hard. I clawed at his arms, unable to pry them loose. His sleeves slipped, baring black bracelets at his wrists.

I tried to reach for the water inside to drown him but I couldn’t, as if my power had been completely cut off. I held his hands with all my strength just to barely breathe.

“It is time for you all to rot,” he hissed, venom and devotion mingling in his voice.

I stamped on his foot with all my force and swept his leg. We crashed to the floor together. His grip didn’t loosen. My vision dimmed. My limbs went numb.

“I didn’t even have to search for you, water witch,” he rasped. “You came to me yourself.”

My hands dropped to the ground, I tried to prop myself up with his weight on my back. I felt under my touch the knife that had fallen from him.

I closed my hand on the handle and drove it with all my strength into the body behind my neck. I don’t know what I was aiming for: head, neck, shoulder, anything. But I felt resistance, blood, and warmth on my skin.

That’s what I was looking for.

I felt the grip lighten. Blood sprayed my face and a wet gurgle shuddered against my ear. I shoved his body away and kicked it as far from me as I could. I sat there, gasping, the world was tilting, the knife was sticking from the healer’s neck.

The pool of blood spread across the floor. His eyes stared at nothing.

I slowly came to myself.

What the fuck was that.

I looked at his wrists. Black stones dark as moonless night. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. No one in the Dominium wore such Elementars.

My neck throbbed. I could scarcely move it. Cedric lay unmoving, as though nothing had occurred. I forced myself upright. I needed the guards. I needed to wash the blood from my skin. When I stumbled into the corridor, other medics froze at the sight of me.

I was drenched in blood.

I found the nearest guards and demanded they summon Cassandra. The last person I wished to see, but the one who had to know. I took two steps more before my legs gave way. I slid down the wall, breath shuddering.