Page 66 of Ecliptic

“Were you bitten or scratched?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady as Rowen helped him to the ground.

Alvar winced. “What? Why does that matter?”

“Bitten or scratched?” I repeated more firmly as Takoda peeled back the shredded layers of his clothes and armor, revealing the extent of his injury.

The wound was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was as if a shadow had been spliced into his skin, painfully and with jagged edges that seeped into his bloodstream. Even now, I could see the blackened veins spiderwebbing up his left arm.

“Bitten,” the captain grunted, his voice strained.

My heart stopped.

“I have never treated anything like this,” Takoda said, his eyes narrowing in concern as he applied a shimmering paste around the raw flesh. “We need to stop the darkness from spreading, but the noxlily salve is not working.”

“Listen to me,” I said, panic welling in my chest. “He was bitten by a Voro-Kai. They are Erovos’ newest demons. There is no stopping it. It will spread until he becomes one of them.”

Alvar’s face paled, his eyes flashing with horror. “The two other warriors . . . I thought they were dead.”

“They might be turned,” I said solemnly, wishing any other outcome for the brave soldiers.

“How do you know this?” the healer asked, his eyes widening in alarm.

“I just returned from battling them,” I said, recalling their grotesque faces and boar-ish tusks. “Rowen was there. He saw the whole thing. He can attest.”

Rowen’s eyes were heavy with sorrow. “It is true.”

“My arm,” Alvar said, his voice weak yet resolute. “Take it. Quickly, before it spreads.”

“Alvar, let me try to save it,” I choked out, knowing the risks. If I did try to heal him, I might accidentally latch onto the parts of him that were dying, and like the flower in the bathing suite, I would only kill him faster. But I had to try. I couldn’t let the war captain lose his arm.

“You have no mastery over the Light,” the war captain grunted, pain etched on his face. “We’ve all seen what you’ve done around the village. You are still a weakened mare in my eyes. I can’t take the risk.”

“Alvar,” Takoda said, his expression torn between concern and duty. “I can see the dark veins. They have yet to reach your heart, but it is spreading. If you’re sure, I will need to get everything prepared.”

“I’m sure,” he grunted, his face hardening in determination.

“No!” I pleaded.

“Alvar, don’t be proud,” Rowen said as Takoda readied the tools from his medicine bag. “Not with this.”

Alvar’s battle-worn face twisted as he yelled, “Do it!”

The air was thick with tension, and I held my breath as Takoda readied his knife.

The blade pressed into his skin, and Alvar let out a guttural cry, tears streaking down his dirt-smeared face.

“Stop!” I screamed, and Takoda’s hand stilled. “I’m not giving you a choice. Weakened mare or not, I’m going to save your arm,” I said, reaching for his hand, his dark veins bulging.

The second I latched onto his hand, darkness choked up my throat and blinded me. The death I’d been running from clogged up my veins and cut off my airways. It was overwhelming. Suffocating. Alvar was as good as dead. We all were.

“Keira, your eyes are pitch black,” Rowen yelled beside me, but I could barely hear him over Alvar’s screams and the shadows whirling around my mind. “You’re absorbing the darkness!”

The thread of death tangled around me, its tendrils heavy and rotting, constricting my throat. What was the point of living if everything was already dying? Why was I even here at all?

Consciousness felt like too heavy a burden to bear. I didn’t want it anymore.

“You must stop her,” Takoda cried, his voice filled with panic. “She will become one of them in Alvar’s place if she doesn’t let go.”

“No. Give her a chance. She can do this,” Rowen demanded firmly before his voice echoed in my ear. “Keira, find the light.”

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