Page 45 of Above Cursed Winds

In one move, the Elemental had yanked the hard drive from the computer, gathered the photographic evidence, and secured her against his side.

When her symptoms clicked into place, she choked on a gasp. “It’s silver! There’s silver in the air, Jeremiah!”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Fear banged a heavy drum, reverberating around Jeremiah’s mind as he headed toward the exit with Zia in tow.

Using his gift, he cleared the air around them of the poison, desperate to aid her. But as she continued coughing, his horror only grew. Blood had begun to seep from the corner of her mouth, and her complexion had paled considerably.

As she wavered on her feet, Jeremiah gingerly set her up against the wall, frowning down at her as her breath rattled in and out of her shuddering frame. He desperately fought against the need to simply haul her into his arms and abandon what they’d come for.

Nothing mattered more than she did.

But even as the idea crossed his mind, she beckoned, “I’ll be okay … we just need to get out of here.”

She began coughing wretchedly, bubbles of blood welling from her throat. Her lips turned a darkened shade of red, and Jeremiah recalled Key’s prophecy just before they left.

A kiss is always a kiss, except when it’s not.

The words reverberated in his mind. At the time, they hadn’t made any sense, but now they might just save Zia.

The idea bounced around his mind until he was all but certain of it, and without asking Zia’s permission, he crushed his lips to hers. Though her posture stiffened, she didn’t outright reject his offer, too occupied with coughing.

And then Jeremiah’s gift began working.

His element responded readily. Drawing the poisoned air from her lungs, he guided the silver particles that’d lodged within her body to detach, stealing upwards at his gentle call. They moved out through her mouth and into his. As if by instinct, the silver merged into a ball at the back of his throat, hovering within him until he unlatched his mouth from Zia’s and sent them hurtling toward the ground.

Twice more he did this, and twice more, it worked.

On the third try, no silver remained, but Jeremiah was hooked. While she may have survived the poisoning, it’d been too close a call, and he needed her to be safe. Healthy.

Taking her face between his hands, he gently pressed a kiss to her forehead, trying to convey the depth of his emotion in the small gesture. She melted into him, her fingers coiling around his shirt and tugging him even closer.

“We have to leave,” he managed.

Jeremiah grabbed what they’d come for, linking his hand with hers before hauling her out of the apartment and sneering at the blinking red light above the doorframe that’d ticked off the apartment’s owner to their entry. Why they hadn’t checked for that originally was beyond him, but hindsight was twenty-twenty.

Before they’d even gotten to the base of the stairs, Zia paused, concentrated. Electricity tingled down Jeremiah’s spine, and within the next three seconds, they were weightless.

This teleport hadn’t held the subtle tang of Zia’s psychic energy. Nero’s signature was all over it—and when they appeared directly in his office, he was already standing in wait with Luna beside him. Before Zia’s knees buckled, Jeremiah swiftly secured her against his side.

“Luna, help her!”

Gently, Jeremiah deposited her in the chair before Nero’s desk, granting Luna access while still maintaining a grip on her hand.

Nero crouched beside her. “Silver?”

Nodding, Luna remained silent and continued pulsing healing power through her patient. Zia’s eyes closed, and the sound of her coughing made Jeremiah cringe. “The silver was fast acting. It—it affected me within minutes, sovereign.”

“Be still, Zia,” Nero cooed, his palm gently resting against her cheek. “Focus on healing.”

Sighing into the silence, Jeremiah caught Nero’s gaze and gestured to where he’d deposited their haul. “We grabbed the hard drive of the computer, and photographic evidence of each of the Peace Accords members. All of us have been photographed, Nero.”

Handing him the envelope, he waited as the sovereign silently regarded each of the images contained within, grimacing as the other male did.

“All of us. Especially Isaiah, they have a sinister fixation.”

“That’s disturbing on multiple levels,” Luna remarked offhandedly. “Not only because there’s photographic evidence, but because you were all photographed without your knowledge.”

---