Page 14 of Vicious Is My Throne

“Good girl. Now work on getting his boots off.”

The freezing water bit into my skin, but I yanked off Raz’s boots, socks, and pants, cringing at his unresponsive, too pale face streaked with bands of black, the skin underneath blistering. I rinsed my hands as often as I could, but by the time Raz was naked, my hands were every bit as blistered.

“He’ll freeze out here, Tavion. He’ll die.” I glanced up at the darkening sky as the first drop of rain began to fall. “In an hour, the temperature will drop and none of us will last the night without shelter.”

“Don’t tell me what I already know. Make sure there’s not a speck of rot anywhere on him, then I’ll carry him to shore and we’ll wrap him in our cloaks.” His eyes rose to mine.

“Hurry. We have to get him sorted before Tristan returns with Zor.” But I couldn’t stop panicking at all the angry welts and blisters bubbling up all over Raz.

“Anaria. Zor’s been in there even longer. You have to get yourself together; you can’t fall apart right now. We have to be ready when Tristan gets back with Zor. Do you understand?”

I nodded, my numb fingers scraping and rubbing until there wasn’t a trace of black anywhere on Raz. I gripped his cold arm, boots catching on the slippery rocks as I helped Tavion drag him up onto the bank, then Tavion wrapped him in our cloaks. Raziel wasn’t shivering, didn’t even open his eyes as the storm let loose overhead in a crash of lightning and thunder.

I erected one of my flimsy shields, every driving raindrop beating against my magic like nails.

“Will he be okay?” My eyes drifted over to his pile of ruined clothing, his favorite coat lying there in a sodden heap completely wasted…

“Shit.” I raced to the pile and picked up the coat, black dripping from the sodden corner. “It’s got to be here,” I muttered, searching through every pocket, smearing black all over my fingers. I found what I was looking for in the inside pocket, dry and protected and undamaged, thank the gods.

“Tavion, pull this out for me. My fingers are all gummy.” I stretched the opening wide enough for Tavion to reach in and slide out the paper covered in handwritten symbols. “Put that in your pocket. Don’t let anyone see it.”

“I thought Cosimo burned this. You made a second copy?” His eyes went wide when I just nodded while rinsing off my poor, blistered fingers again.

“If I hadn’t, we would have been screwed. Not that we’ll run into anyone who can read the writing, but maybe…I’m hoping we’ll get lucky somehow. I wish I could go back in time and make Trubahn translate it for us.”

“Now that would be some trick,” Tavion murmured, checking Raz’s pulse then nodding. “He’s strong. The blisters are already healing and none of this is internal. Let’s hope we got the poison off him quick enough to mitigate the effects.”

“He breathed that darkness in,” I murmured as we traded an uneasy glance. “He was trapped in there for long enough he would have inhaled Corvus’s magic.”

“Raz is strong. His magic is strong. He’ll get through this.” But Tav’s mouth tightened as he studied Raz’s pale face.

“He’ll get through this,” I echoed, listening over the roaring storm for the boom of wings. “But I can’t help thinking…we walked right into Corvus’s trap. How close are we to Nightcairn? To Montgomery lands?”

“Not far.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Our borders are warded, which should keep this out.” But he didn’t sound convinced.

“If he ambushed us here, what are the chances that Nightcairn is…”

A horrendous cracking echoed overhead, the tops of the trees overhead whipping precariously back and forth.

Breaking. Falling.

“Run,” Tavion shouted, scooping Raziel up off the ground and splashing through the fast-running creek, the horses galloping away as Tristan barreled out of the shadows. His wings were limp, as if he didn’t have the strength to lift them one more time, eyes glazed when he crashed down, sending up a shower of dirt and rock as he plowed through the ground on his side.

He ended up rolled onto his back, an unconscious Zorander still clutched firmly in his claws.

I reached Zor first, trying to tug him free, but he was too heavy. Too tightly gripped in sharp, scaly talons. Covered in the black shiny liquid, his face was a map of angry red blisters.

“Here, let me take him.” Tavion elbowed me gently out of the way.

We worked to extricate Zorander from Tristan’s talons, leaving smears of black across the wyvern’s golden scales.

Tavion and I stripped and washed Zor down, wrapped him in Tristan’s cloak, then I watched over all three—Raz, Zor, and Tristan—on the edge of the pool of black, blighted water while Tavion retrieved our spooked horses.

He took forever to return, while I kept my magic ready in case more bugs crept out of the shadows.

But only Simon emerged from the drizzle, settling onto my shoulder, and I reached up and ran my hand over his soft head. “You need to warn Torin and Cosimo. Tell them Corvus is moving faster than we thought. They need to make preparations. Evacuate the city if needed and get everyone south to the Havens.”

With a quiet hoot he lifted off, disappearing between the trees on silent wings as Tavion burst through the bracken, horses in tow.

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