Page 128 of Ash and Feather

His face was a putrid shade of yellow. Foam dribbled from one corner of his mouth. His fingers clenched and unclenched slowly, desperately, as if trying to grab hold of something thatwould tether him to this living world. The prison shackles still encircled his wrists and ankles, tight enough that the magic had carried them as if they were a part of his attire—though the chains had been seared off during the process.

I was feeling only marginally better. I’d had no choice but to use magic to get us here, but now I paid for it with a disorienting rush of weakness—a reminder that I was still recovering, still separated from Karys, still not at my full power.

Nevertheless, I kept moving, carrying Cillian’s limp body along the river’s edge, trying to decide where I would take him—and what the hell I could possibly do for him—next.

Mairu caught sight of us and stormed over, her eyes wide and nostrils flaring. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“He’s dying. Poisoned by his own kind.”

“And that’s our problem?”

“I’m afraid it is.”

“He turned Karys away when she asked for his help at Mindoth. Have you forgotten that?”

“No. Nor have I forgotten how he helped her before. And he’s given me information tonight. We owe him a debt.”

She pursed her lips.

“Karys would not want him to die.”

Her mouth opened. Closed. She gave a curt nod. “Maybe Zachar can help,” she suggested, begrudgingly. “He could put him in suspension until we figure out an antidote, and he might even be able to identify the poison they used. He’s good at that sort of thing. I could go fetch him from Nerithyl. It might take some coaxing to get him here, but he’s more likely to come than Armaros. I think the Healing God is growing tired of us…”

As she continued to rattle off thoughts and potential plans, I looked down at the burden draped in my arms.

His body had gone very still.

I jostled him until his eyes finally shot open and words trembled out: “Tell her…make sure you tell her…”

No less than a full minute passed, the seconds marked by shallow breath after shallow breath. Warmth seeped from his skin. His fingers continued clenching, unclenching, clenching, unclenching…

“That you’re sorry?” I finished for him.

He blinked once, then shut his eyes with a small sigh.

Carefully, I knelt and laid him in the damp grass at the riverside. Even when I tried to infuse warmth into his body, his skin remained pale. Cold.

The wind rattled the trees around us. The city in the distance slept on, still and dark, seemingly oblivious to its restless leaders and budding wars and palace dungeons filled with death.

Were others outside the dungeon at risk as well?

I thought of my brother, alone in his study save for his countless guards. Could all of those guards be trusted?

Who had poisoned the water?

The world felt balanced on the cusp of disaster, like one more gust of wind might tip it into catastrophe.

Mairu had fallen silent, I realized. The plans she’d been making hung unfinished in the air as she stepped closer.

“Dravyn? Is he…” She trailed off with a sharp inhale—a sound that confirmed the fear already digging its roots into my chest.

It was part of her magic, to be able to sense even the faintest energies of living things…and her expression told me she no longer felt anything from Cillian.

I tried to jostle him awake once more, but there was no response this time.

He was gone.

Chapter 31

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