Page 61 of Courting War
Ricinus communis
Batrachotoxin
Vaccinium
Nicotiana tabacum
All scientific names. All incredibly difficult to sound out. Kellyn knew the scientific names. He’d memorized them during class, but he just couldn’t read them. His legs went numb, and hisheart thrummed wildly in his veins. He’d never been a good reader and wouldn’t start now.
It was impossible.
Sweat dripped down his back, and his vision blurred with anxiety. His parents were right. Kellyn was stupid and useless, and he couldn’t even die correctly. Except it wasn’t his death on the line. It was his best friend’s. His best friend hated him because he couldn’t even tell the truth.
Kellyn hid everything from Emmett.
That wasn’t friendship.
Emmett stared, confused, his eyes screaming and lighting up with fear. His eyes said,butyou’re the herbalist, the botanist.This should be easy.
Kellyn sucked in a breath.
His lies filled the gap between the boys, cutting through the air like a physical thing. Kellyn wanted to tell the truth. He wanted to confess his affliction to his best mate, break down and say everything.
But he couldn’t.
The games were public.
And he was too much of a coward to tell the world about his affliction.
Emmett was going to die, and he’d never know why. Never understand what killed him—why Kellyn was so useless.
It was awful.
All of it.
He couldn’t give up. Kellyn tried to tackle one word. Tried to sound it out: Cic-ut-a . . . Ci-cut-a? Ci-vic-a . . . the letters were jumbled and mixed, and it was hard to determine if the letters were C’s, V’s, U’s, or S’s.
Even if he managed to read the word, he still had to remember the meaning, which felt like a human flying—impossible.
Kellyn bit the inside of his cheek. His veins throbbing. His breath stilling.
He was an idiot, and his best friend would die because of it.
Chapter Eighteen
THEODRA
Extremely Enraged Ex-God
POISON’S MIRROR
Death might have been preferable.
Theo’s mouth burned, and her stomach roiled. Flames licked her esophagus, hotter than an untamed wildfire. Hotter than Fire’s magical blue-ember whip. It felt like fire ants crawling and clawing from her mouth down the entire digestive tract.
It was far, far, far worse than being stabbed in the chest. At least that had adrenaline and shock to soften the blow. But this was liquid agony.
And agony was spewing out from both ends.
