Page 26 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
“Shade, can you hear me?” I shake the assassin.
A broken sound of pain rips from him.
“We need to get him to the healers,” I say quickly.
Svenn pays no mind to the dying Grimsbane. His eyes are trained on me. He is enraged, but I need to focus on saving Shade. I gather whatever blessings I can find to pass Anastarros’s healing to Shade.
“Give me that.” Svenn snatches the Grimsbane’s hand from me. His fangs glint in the soft crystal’s light before he sinks them into Shade’s wrist.
I blanch at the savagery of that rough bite but the venom will heal Shade like it did with my palm in the forest. The assassin’s hands instinctively shoot up to shove the vampire. His body starts jerking violently and I’m not sure if I should hold him down or push Svenn away.
“What’s happening to him?” I panic.
Only the silence of the tunnel and the gulping sound of the vampire’s throat answer me.
Oh gods…
He is drinking on Shade… by the mouthful. I don’t know what to do. Svenn is always in control and he never takes from me.
“Enough Svenn,” I jerk his arm.
He doesn’t budge.
Shade’s body grows weaker, his pulse growing slower and slower until I can barely hear it in my ear. Just before his heartbeat stops, Svenn peels his mouth from the assassin’s wrist, casting it away in disgust.
“Is he going to be all right?” I move closer.
Svenn doesn’t answer me, wiping blood from his mouth. His eyes continue glaring at me, his body taut with rage.
I check the Grimsbane for myself. All his bleeding has stopped, even the internal ones. He is barely conscious but his pulse is regular again, thudding firmly in his vessel. My heart doesn’t get to celebrate this relief because Svenn is looking angry enough to rip a new hole in Shade’s body.
I will listen to his ire once we are out of this place. I drag Shade’s leather vest to lift him but Svenn is faster. He drapes Grimsbane’s hand over his shoulders and hoists him up.
“Be gentle with him,” I tremble in the cold.
He ignores the request and seizes my wrist with his free hand. I teetered on my feet as he drags me along the tunnel.
The sound of our boots echoes the tunnel as we amble silently in the dark. I wonder if Shade is awake through our rough journey. I can feel Svenn seething from his march. That wrath is like a living, breathing thing looming over us.
“Are you angry with me?” I ask after a while.
He doesn’t answer.
I press my lips together and stay quiet after that. Fresh air greets us as soon as we’re out of the sewers but Svenn’s fury doesn’t fade.
“I figured out that the murderer—the monsters are using the sewers.” I try explaining myself.
“So you decide to enter the belly of the beast in the middle of the night,” he snaps.
I once climb from the gut of an actual monster in Astefar… I’m a survivor.
He narrows his eyes to me. “You just had to do it alone, by yourself.”
I have Shade, I almost say to him. But looking at the half-head assassin on his shoulder, I know I will lose this argument.
He dumps the Grimsbane on the entrance of the healing house. The acolytes and Hlaryan elves rush to help the fallen assassin. A wave of relief washes over me, knowing that Shade will be safe in their expert hands.
Thank the heavens.
