Page 84 of From Frost to Flame

He's eating it?

“Silas?” he rasped, but he didn’t react. He just kept tearing and eating the thrashing serpent. Lex’s heartbeat pounded in his ears and his body grew hot as the poison flowed through him.

Lex forced all his focus on Silas.“Please, I need help.”

He collapsed on the bridge and the world went fuzzy. He swam through a void of darkness and his family’s muffled screams. Then, icy hands held his face and cold blood hit his tongue.

When the world came back into focus, Silas was in his true form. His black eyes were pools of steadily moving ink glinting in the moonlight that shined in from the desert above. His six tentacles twitched and curled high above them. His wrist was pushed into Lex’s mouth. Lex turned his head away from the blood.

“I think I’m better for now, but I’ll need medicine soon.”

“I’m so sorry. I got lost. I don’t understand what happened.” Fear radiated off Silas and inky tears rolled down his cheeks. “I...I thought I was too late. I thought you were gone.”

“Whoa, hey. I’m right here,” he said, sitting up and pulling Silas into his arms. All six tentacles wrapped around his body possessively. “I’m alright. You saved me.”

“What in the stars was that?” Julian’s voice cut through the silent library. His family stared with their mouths open in horror. “Castor, you knew about this? That he’s...he’s...whatever he is?”

“He’s my brother,” Castor said, putting his body between them and the bridge. “We can explain.”

“Lex, get away from him,” Mora said, panicked. “He’s dangerous.”

“Don’t say that,” Castor snapped back.

“Are you delusional?” Julian scowled. “Look at him. He ate the snake alive. We know werewolves kill or whatever, but that was different! He’s a wild animal.”

A growl slipped from Silas's lips. “They’re trying to take you away from me.”

Lex stifled a gasp as Silas's tentacles coiled tighter against the wounds on his back. Anger and panic that belonged to Silas swirled in his chest and clouded his thoughts. He grabbed Silas’s hand and looked into those black eyes. “No one’s taking me away. I promise I won’t leave you, but you need to breathe. You tell me that every time I’m overwhelmed, and it helps. I’ll even do it with you.”

Three deep breaths later, Silas's eyes flickered back to stormy gray, but the inky tears still spilled in steady streams. It was as if he had a well of ink hidden behind his eyes. His tentacles loosened their grip, and he rested his forehead on Lex’s. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I don’t feel like myself.”

“That’s okay. We’ll figure this out together.” For years, Silas was the grounding force that made Lex feel safe, and he did his best to return the favor. “It’s all going to be okay because we have each other. We need to go talk to everyone before our families kill each other.”

Chapter Nineteen

Silas

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