Page 47 of Savage Crown
“Okay,” he breathed in defeat. An Elite magic user would be able to pull Elia off me if needed. Everything was set. The plan was a go.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s go,” I told them both.
I held my arms out before Elia, and she looked at me like I was an idiot. A faint wind whispered through the branches overhead, scattering dull yellow leaves around our feet.
“Brynn, you are about to feel the most pain you have ever felt in your life. Are you sure you are prepared for this?”
Fear spiked through me, but I pushed it down. “I’m ready.”
Elia chewed her lip but nodded. “Then take off your cloak. We have to reenact what happened to Aunt Valkaryn. She was bitten all over her body. My mother and Godric were the ones who found her. I need access to as much skin as possible, and I don’t want to ruin your clothes.”
“Oh Creator, I feel sick,” Cassian said, beginning to pace. His boots cut restless tracks into the damp earth. The tension in the clearing snapped taut, like the woods leaned in to hear what would happen next.
‘Brynn,’Val echoed in my mind, her voice brushing the edges of my thoughts like a trembling hand. I pushed her out. I didn’t want to be talked out of this. The night air felt cold against my bare arms, prickling my skin almost in warning.
‘I didn’t just survive because I was bitten a certain number of times,’she said, and I paused, listening to her. Her tone wasn’t frantic; it was quiet, weighted, like she was opening an old scar.‘I survived because I had something to keep living for. I fought. When the venom threatened to make me go mad, I fought because I wanted to see Drake again, my family again. They anchored me to this world. You have to focus on why you want to live through this, what you are fighting for.’
Advice on how to survive? That was new. It slithered into me, threading tightness through my chest. I nodded, swallowing hard, my throat clicking.
After stripping down to my underclothes, I stood before Elia, face a mask of calm as I met her gaze. The cold wind threaded through the trees, lifting the fine hairs on my arms.
“Elia, I swear to you I will not succumb to this.”
She gave me one last panicked look before starting to shift. Her bones cracked, muscles rippling beneath her skin; the sound alone made my stomach flip. The glow of the moon pooled silver over her as fur burst across her limbs.
Cassian rushed forward then, placing one hand on either of my arms. His palms were warm, grounding. “Reconsider this, Brynn. I’ll fight with you, even if I die storming the gates of Lunaria. I’ll fight beside you and help you free the captives there and give Kaelric his crown back.”
My heart pinched at his sincerity, raw and earnest. It nearly punctured the resolve holding me upright.
“You have the biggest heart of anyone I know,” I told him. “But I have to do this.” My voice quivered only slightly, but the rest of me felt like stone.
‘Brynn! Where are you!’Kaelric’s voice bled into my mind, and I gently shrugged out of Cassian’s grasp. I could feel Kaelric’s panic like a second heartbeat under my skin. He was close. Damn, he was close.
“We have to hurry. Kaelric is coming!” I told Elia.
Cassian growled and then stepped back as Elia stood before me. She was a beautiful russet-colored wolf, her fur gleaming like burnished copper beneath the moon. And right now she was baring her teeth at me with a low growl purring in her throat, an animal warning that crawled up my spine.
‘Do not do this. I forbid you,’Kaelric commanded in my head. His voice struck like a whip, fear and fury swirling behind it.
He knew what I was doing? How? Elia? Maybe she told him to free her conscience in case I died. My stomach clenched at the possibility.
‘I love you. I’m sorry for lying, but I’m not one of your wolves to order around, so you can’t forbid me to do anything,’I told him.‘Not yet.’The thought came fierce, unflinching.
I finished just as Elia lunged for my thigh and took the first bite.
Pain exploded across my right thigh like fire injected straight into my veins, white-hot and blinding. The world snapped out of focus. I heard a howl in the distance. It was far off, but would be here soon.
Kaelric.
Elia’s wolf released my leg and then moved quickly to bite into my arm. Her jaws were sharp as iron, precise, leaving behind searing trails of venom that crawled beneath my skin.
“Oh, Hades.” Cassian stood there, arms out, blue magic swirling in his palms like coiled lightning as he watched me writhe in pain.
I screamed, brought to my knees with agony, and Elia’s wolf hesitated, her golden eyes flicking with something like horror.
“Keep going!” I shouted at her, catching her golden eyes in mine. Even through the anguish, I tried to project confidence, begging her to trust me.
She bit again, and again, and again. Quick, painful bursts, just enough to deposit venom and retreat. Each puncture felt like molten nails driving into bone. The forest around us felt too quiet, holding its breath.
