Page 41 of Magic Claimed
I knew I should listen, and yet… how could I sleep? I had so much on my shoulders. My family needed to relocate. Kes was still being hunted, and Ethan was in danger of losing control of his magic. I had to show up at my job and help Monique find her son. Decide what I was going to do about the shapeshifter summons and convince my neighbors not to hate me. Keep my kids safe and figure out what Blake was up to.
And most urgent of all…
Find an antidote for Callum before it was too late.
It was almost too much. A part of me was desperately tempted to fold under the pressure. To run from the pain and the uncertainty and the unrelenting demands.
But I knew I never would. Not today, not ever. For as long as I breathed, I would never allow those I loved to feel the way Ihad as a child—unwanted, unseen, unprotected. I would keep showing up until my heart gave out, my breath failed, and the last drop of blood left my body.
“I’ll stay on the couch,” I decided aloud. “So I can be here in case he wakes up. Is there someone who can sit with him for the rest of the night?”
“I’ve got it.” Ryker loomed in the doorway, his eyes visibly red. “Don’t worry. Nothing is getting past me, and I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
I nodded silently in response and knew that he understood what I couldn’t say.
The medic returned with Kira a few moments later, and after he’d examined Callum, we gathered in the living room.
“The wound is sealed,” he told us grimly, “so I can only hope that whoever he saw previously was wise enough to flush it immediately. His shifter healing will take care of the blood loss and risk of infection, so it’s really just the poison we’re dealing with. And until we know what…” He trailed off and was silent for a moment before continuing. “It may not even be just one thing. In many cases, a combination is used to prevent standard antidotes from working. We may need to try multiple approaches, but some antidotes are nearly as dangerous as the poisons they counteract.”
None of it sounded hopeful.
“Rath said he’s searching for the weapon,” Kira pointed out. “If he can find it, or convince the assassin to turn on whoever hired him, we still have a fighting chance. And we’ll start reaching out to every herbalist we can find.”
“And in the meantime,” the medicadded, “make sure he’s never alone. He needs familiar voices to anchor him. And if this goes on too long…” He hesitated. “I can’t guarantee that he will be the same when he wakes up. His mind and body will only be able to hold out for so long. We may have to rely on human medicine to keep those alive, and if we do…”
He was saying that the man I fell in love with might never fully return. That his mind could be ravaged beyond recognition, leaving him a shell of himself. And the thought of that could easily break me if I let it, but it was too far ahead. I had to stay focused. Concentrate on what I needed to do right now.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “Can you come back tomorrow?”
He nodded. “If we haven’t found any information within twenty-four hours, I’ll have someone here round the clock.”
Before he left, at Kira’s insistence, he cleaned and stitched the wound over my ribs, instructing me sternly to either shift for healing or take it easy for a few days. I feigned agreement, though the chances of me actually doing either of those were slightly less than zero.
Once the medic was gone, we all hovered there in miserable, exhausted silence until Angelica stood up and did what she did best.
“Everyone needs to go home now,” she said briskly. “We will wait until morning to see if Vinrath or Draven are able to uncover anything. I will guard the door, and Ryker”—she shot him an unreadable look—“will stay with Callum overnight. Everyone else… out!”
Kira gave me one last hug. “I’ll text Kes and let her know the situation,” she whispered. “Stay strong, and I’ll see you in themorning.” She took Morghaine’s arm, and they filed out, followed by Skye.
And then it was just me and Ryker and Angelica sharing the silence, along with thick enough tension to make a soup.
I was too tired to care. Too broken, too scared, and struggling to comprehend everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours.
“I’m going to try to sleep,” I mumbled, sitting down on the couch and curling up with my head on the arm. “Wake me if anything changes.”
“We will.”
I sort of sensed Ryker finding a blanket from somewhere and covering me with it. Heard murmurs overhead. But even those faded quickly as I sank into a restless and nightmare-filled sleep.
ELEVEN
I woketo the sound of aggressive whispering.
“…so stop trying to blame me.”
“Did you even…”
“I did everything I could.”
