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I drop to my knees beside him, hands shaking as they press against his chest, my eyes wide with panic.

‘I’m fine,’ he croaks.

‘You’re not fine,’ I snap, my hand sliding under his head, cradling it like it might shatter. ‘She threw you.’

‘I’m tougher than I look,’ he attempts to joke, but I can see that it hurts him to breathe.

I press my forehead to his for a second, just long enough for him to feel me trembling.

‘You shouldn’t have gone for her,’ I whisper. ‘She’s too powerful.’

‘So am I,’ he murmurs. ‘We are ending her. Today.’

I exhale with relief as his body starts to heal. Slowly it pulls itself back together. The fire in his chest is fading, bones knitting, lungs clearing.

Around us, the battle is still raging: witches and vampires locked in a frenzy, but here, at this moment, it’s just the two of us. Bruised. Bleeding. Betrayed, but still breathing.

Together, we will fight this.

Theo’s blood is on my hands.

His face relaxes slightly as the broken bones continue to mend. My shoulders sag in relief as he returns to his normal self. He needs blood, but he looks much better than he did a second ago.

We push back to our feet as the fight continues around us, and after a silent glance at each other, we both run forward. Velistra turns to face us, a cruel, crooked smile on her face. She mutters something inaudible under her breath, and something clicks in my skull.

My chest seizes, and my spine locks. My fingers twitch violently where they’re still wrapped around Theo’s. I try to speak, to call out, but my throat tightens. My heart squeezes, as if magic has entered my system, finding my heart and pressing on it. I feel heavy and sluggish, as if someone has filled my bones with lead. My head swims and my vision blurs.

I try to move, to grab Theo’s hand again to steady myself, but my arm drags like it’s underwater. My fingers won’t close. Something’s wrong. Very wrong.

Velistra smiles, a mix between smug and satisfied at whatever she is seeing.

My knees buckle and I hit the ground. My eyes feel heavy-lidded as I force my wobbly legs to stand, my gaze swinging to Theo. His shoulders are tense, jaw muscles taut. His body vibrates with power and rage, his eyes trained on Velistra.

But then he turns and looks at Kian. I don’t recognise the expression on his face.

‘Theo?’ I rasp, trying to move to him, but my body won’t listen.

He moves fast. One second, he’s in front of me. The next, he’s across the space, slamming into Kian with a force that cracks his ribs. Cora gasps in shock, the brutal sound clapping through the air, pulling everyone’s attention. Hunter shouts something incoherent.

They’ve not only poisoned me, they’ve poisoned him too, but in a very different way. He’s become something they can use.

I was the host.

He is the weapon.

‘No,’ I whisper, dragging myself toward the chaos. My vision doubles. ‘Theo, no. Fight it.’

He doesn’t hear me. Or maybe he does and he can’t stop. Everything about him is precision and violence, like someone flipped a switch and turned him into the perfect weapon. Kian grunts, struggling to determine the line of defending himself and fighting back.

I claw my way forward. My body’s not mine anymore, just a shell weighed down by whatever poison they’ve fed me.

I can’t fight.

I can’t stop this.

All I can do is watch as Theo turns on the people he swore to protect.

I hope to God that someone gets through to him before he kills them.