Page 112 of Bound By Roses

What I need is Petra out of the room, but that’s not going to happen.‘For everyone to calm the fuck down.’Myself included.

‘Petra isn’t going to do that with your teeth in Teagan’s throat. Can you let go?’

‘Fuck, Abby, I don’t know. Something’s not right with her blood.’

Abby stands and moves somewhere behind me. For a moment, I think this is finally too much for her, but then I hear her hurried voice and know she can only be talking to Tess. “He says something’s wrong with her blood. It’s not working like it should.”

“Because she’s already a siren,” Tess muses, and I hear murmurs of agreement from the other two healers in the room.

“Then make it work!” Petra says as she struggles against Merrick’s hold.

I release Teagan’s neck and the skin around the puncture wounds swell immediately, stopping the flow of blood. That’s a good sign, but her scent is still all wrong. The war inside her is still waging and even with three bites, it doesn’t seem like enough.

“Do something!” Petra shouts at me again. Teagan’s eyes are open, but they’re rolled so far back into her head that all I can see is the whites of them. Her body spasms and what was laboured breathing is now little more than gasping croaks that I know aren’t bringing in enough air.

This is going to kill her.

Abby drops to her knees beside Teagan and I can smell the salt of her tears even though her back is to me. I’m killing her best friend. Even if she doesn’t hate me for this, I’ll never forgive myself for it.

‘Stabby.’

She doesn’t answer, far too focused on the writhing girl in front of her.

‘Stabby, there’s one more thing we can try.’

She swings her head to me, tearful eyes glowing with only a sliver of hope.‘Tell me.’

‘I need Jade and Aurelia. Now.’

Her face twists in confusion, but she doesn’t hesitate. “Someone find Jade and Aurelia and bring them here. Now!”

Someone runs out of the room, but I don’t see who. I can’t pry my eyes from the dying girl at my feet. I have no idea if this will work. It’s probably a stupid idea, but I’m not just going to sit here and watch her die without doing everything in my power to save her. She doesn’t deserve that.

“Why Jade?” I think it was Merrick who asked, but there’s no time to explain it because suddenly Aurelia is at my side.

“What do you need?” she asks, touching a hand to Teagan’s now pale cheek.

Abby nods to me, ready to translate. I let the words spill out of me without thinking, and as Abby repeats them, it’s as if this plan is coming directly from her. “His bite isn’t strong enough to override the siren when she’s in this form, but there’s one thing that might be. The same blood magic that cursed him.”

Aurelia’s face goes hard, and I know she understands. She and Imelda can both use blood magic, and Imelda cursed me using Jade’s blood. If it’s possible to replicate the curse, maybe that will be strong enough to keep Teagan’s heart beating.

“Where is Jade?” she asks.

“No one has seen him.” I think that was Dru.

“Does it have to be his blood?” Abby asks. She’s connected the same dots I have.

“No,” Aurelia says. “Imelda used Jade because he and Quinn share blood. Familial ties strengthen the magic.”

Familiar ties.‘Use Petra. They’re bonded by blood.’

Abby repeats my suggestion, and Petra offers her arm to Aurelia in apparent agreement.

“There is no telling what form she’ll take.”

“I don’t fucking care what form she takes as long as she lives!” Petra says, all but shoving her wrist into Aurelia's face. “Use my blood. All of it, if you must. Just save her!”

Aurelia takes hold of Petra’s wrist and lowers it so it hovers just above Teagan’s mouth. She pulls the ornate dagger from its sheathe on her hip and drives the point of it into the soft flesh. Blood trickles from the wound and drips into Teagan’s parted lips. She’s so far out of it now that she probably doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, and that’s probably a good thing. She doesn’t need to remember this.

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