I swallowed. It was as though my heart was trying to beat its way up my throat and out. “What is it?”
She held up a tiny vial, only an inch long, the top sealed with black wax. Its contents moved sluggishly around, not responding to her movement but… as if it had a life of its own. It licked the top and bottom of the vial where she held it, perhaps drawn to her flesh. As it slithered and moved, it caught the light, gleaming a dark, yellowish green.
“This”—she held the vial up and examined it—“is manticore venom.”
“Venom? You’re going to poison me? That isn’t—”
“Are you a scientist, Katherine?”
“No, but I have a brain.” The harshness in my voice and the fact I questioned her—not bravery but desperation. I yanked on the leather straps but they held fast. She was insane. Why had I sent Rose away?
I tried to contain myself, but my breaths heaved. “I’m already poisoned. You’re going to kill me if you—”
“No, I won’t. I have done the research. You yourself should know that.” She gave me a thin-lipped smile as she approached the bed. “And if, somehow, I am wrong, well, I have the antidote to manticore venom right here.” She held up her other hand, revealing a larger vial full of translucent yellow liquid flecked with gold. “I promise this won’t end your life, Katherine.”
“Is all this really going to heal me? Or am I just an experiment?”
“Can’t both be true? This has all been a path towards a cure. What happened to you was unique. My methods must be similarly… unorthodox.”
I might not trust her, but I could trust in her inability to lie. I told myself that a dozen times as she cracked open the wax seal and bent over the bed.
“Now, drink up.”
For all I knew, this might not be any worse than the other things she’d done to me. It would be fine.
And if it was bad, Kaliban would be able to scrape away the memories so it would be like it had never happened.
I opened my mouth.
She tilted the vial of green liquid. At first, it didn’t pour, throwing itself against the glass sides, but when she lowered it to my waiting lips, it twitched and dropped from the vial.
Cold.
So cold. A refreshing, iced drink.
The flavour was coppery and sour, like someone had mixed lime juice with blood… but it had none of the pleasant zesty flavour of lime. This tasted of… dank forest floors… or perhaps the rotting smell of swamps.
It writhed on the tip of my tongue, and I flinched at the strangeness of that sensation. This stuff had a mind of its own.
Eyes wide, I stared at Elthea.
“Close your mouth and swallow.”
Every single hair on my body stood on end as the stuff slithered over my tongue, growing warmer by the second.
Just this one thing. Then it would all be over.
I clenched my hands into fists and forced my lips together.
The thing snaked its way over my tongue, and now I could feel it on the roof of my mouth too. Every instinct said I should spit it out. I’d accidentally put something alive in my mouth. Spit it out.
Spit. It. Out.
I swallowed.
I gagged. Because the writhing didn’t stop once it was in my throat. It twisted, either fighting not to go down or eager to get inside me.
All I knew was that this—this was the most wrong anything had ever felt in my life.
But if it would cure me…
I choked the stuff down.
That was when the burning began. On my tongue at first—threading along the route the venom had taken. Then down my throat. Every place it had touched was now on fire.
Gasping, I strained against the leather straps. “Water. I need water.”
Goosebumps pricked my arms and sweat broke out on my brow, but Elthea shook her head. “You can’t.” She sat back and pulled out her notebook and a pen.
The burning hit my stomach, scorching now, and I arched from the bed, biting back a whimper.
“Still fighting it.” She made a thoughtful sound and shook her head as she wrote in the notebook. “I wonder what will be the thing to make you scream at last.”
“How long?” I managed to rasp between panted breaths.
She shrugged, eyes widening. “We shall see. The next phase should hit you right about…” She glanced at the orrery mounted on the wall. “Now.”
Next phase? I huffed through gritted teeth, spit flecking my lips.
Was this a fae joke? A horrible one, but the stories said they were cruel and loved to toy with— White-hot pain shot through every nerve. Chest. Back. Arms. Legs. Even my throat and face. It was like a lightning bolt, gone just as quickly.
I blew out a breath, almost laughing in its wake. Not funny but relieved. If it only lasted a fraction of a second, I could take that. It wasn’t so— Again. Brighter. Hotter.
This one lasted longer, too—a full second.
I collapsed back into the bed, eyes stinging with unshed tears.
“Almost,” Elthea murmured, watching me over her notebook as she wrote.
What a fool. What a fucking fool. That stuff crawling down my throat wasn’t the most wrong thing. This was—my body burning from inside, limbs spasming out of control, muscles tight and twitching after. And her watching like this—my suffering—was merely interesting.
It had to be almost over.
Had to be.
Another streak lanced through me, arching my back, muddling my brain until all I could do was grit my teeth and wait.
Any second now, it would disappear.
Any second.
I reached out like I could pull time to me, make it move faster.
Please. Please. Help me.
My vision hazed purple. Blood, maybe, with pain affecting my sight.
A sound came from Elthea. On the edge of my tunnelling vision, she stood and backed away.
I tried to turn and ask if it was nearly over, but my body wasn’t my own. I could only wait for the lightning lick of pain to fade.
And wait.
And wait.
Then, like someone had broken a barrel and let the contents burst out, the pain doubled, tripled, quadrupled, exploding into every fibre of my being, tearing my mind to tatters.
There was nothing. I was nothing.
Only pain and purple haze and a terrible, terrible scream.
40
Bastian
My office door flew open, ruffling Orpha’s report. I’d sent her with a group of guards to find the patrol who should’ve been checking the border of Horror territory. They hadn’t found them yet but had replaced some missing wardstones.
I frowned up from the report as Rose burst in, panting. “You need to come. Quickly.” She was already backing out. “It’s Kat.”
My whole being—maybe all of reality lurched. I tossed the papers on my desk and ran after her. “What is it?”
“She’s with Elthea and… I’ve never heard a scream like that. It sounded like she was killing her.” She shook her head as we sprinted down the corridor. “She’d forgotten her scarf… went to take it to her. But I couldn’t get in. Door must’ve been sealed magically.”
Kat screaming.
Despite our pace and the blood pumping through every part of me, my body went cold.