Page 58 of Cursed Shadows 4

Half the phial, I poured down there.

It’s too much, but I would rather that than too little.

The bobbing of his throat slows until it stops.

I draw back from his limp body, slipping my hand from his face.

Ridge’s answer is instant, a weary gasp for air.

Still, he’s unconscious, lost to the poison, slumped on the cavern floor. The sweat that glistens his face is as dewy as the rocky walls surrounding us.

My fingers slip into his mouth, then tug his teeth apart. I peer into the darkness, eye up his tongue and tonsils, slightly stained with the residue of the white powder.

But he swallowed enough.

With a sigh, I draw back from him.

Before I slump against the opposite wall, I gently set down the phial, then tug off my backpack. My waterskin is small, only enough for one person, and it’s empty.

I want nothing more than to fall onto my side, curl up, and fade away to dreams. I just need rest.

But Ridge needs water to push the white powder through him faster. And my mouth is drier than Melantha’s glances.

I grab the waterskin.

I study the muddied toes of my boots.

Within them, my socks are perfectly warm and utterly dry. The quality is more costly than probably anything I own. Aleana took great care in picking them out for me. Even with all the near-drowning in the river, my socks stayed dry.

Dry socks. What a thing to notice. What a thing to be grateful for.

And I find that I am grateful.

They even stayed dry when I was filling my waterskin in the rockpool. Half of that water is gone already. I drank a lot myself, and I poured some down Ridge’s slack mouth, too.

He’s been motionless since he collapsed.

At his boots, I’m tucked up against the opposite wall, knees to my chest. I hold myself.

My brow rests on my knees.

And for the first time since I landed, who knows how long ago now, I let my eyes shut.

I let rest knead into me.

But sleep isn’t fast to find me, like it should.

Instead, my thoughts pile in my mind, until they carry with the weight of stone pushing down on me.

Daxeel…

I let his name whisper through me.

Daxeel… do you feel me?

Silence is my answer.

No sensations flitter through my chest, no unfamiliar emotions overwhelm me, no echoes of pain or rage.

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