Page 88 of Infernal Secrets

His large hand curled beneath my thigh while the other tore through the tattered, blood-soaked fabric, reminding me of Zeke’s claws between my legs.

Ignoring the rising heat in my cheeks, I said, “I don’t know why it hurts so much. It’s not deep.”

Ash bent low, his nose screwing up as he sniffed the wound. “We need to get the venom out.”

“Venom?” I bolted upright. “Like a snake bite? Am I gonna die?”

“Easy,” he said, steadying me and easing me back against Zeke’s chest. “This kind of venom won’t kill you.”

“What? How do you know?”

“I recognize the smell.” When I gaped at him, he added, “We’ve trained for years to recognize the dangers we might face outside Elyrdin’s walls.”

Zeke ran a hand over my arm, lacing our fingers. “Trust us, you’re not going to die.”

“So if it isn’t gonna kill me, then why do we need to get it out?”

Ash looked down at the wound. “I don’t know how strongly it’ll affect a human, but it makes Shyrlivi violently ill within twenty-four hours.”

“It doesn’t look deep enough to scar,” Zeke said.

“No, she’ll be fine once we can clean it and treat the venom.”

The elevator light flickered again, and Zeke’s fingers tightened on mine. He’d seemed fine earlier—so what changed?

I looked up at Ash. “Where did you go?”

“What do you mean?”

“Earlier when you left us. How’d you get out?”

“I didn’t—”

With a long sigh, Zeke’s forehead dropped against my shoulder from behind. “He didn’t leave.”

“What are you talking about? You know he wasn’t here.” I twisted to sit sideways to see him better.

He shook his head. “You were asleep.”

“Oh,” Ash said, as if he understood.

I definitely didn’t.

“Is someone gonna explain to me what’s going on?”

Zeke looked away, saying, “You were having a nightmare. Probably about what happened before we got stuck in here.”

“You fell asleep after Zeke calmed down,” Ash added. “Likely an adrenaline crash.”

“Well, yeah, I fell asleep after we… you know,” I mumbled, cheeks hot. “But I don’t remember a nightmare.”

Zeke shook his head. “No, earlier. We…” He clenched his fist on the floor. “We didn’t do anything.”

“What are you saying?”

Shame pressed down on me at the thought he might be lying to keep Ash from knowing. Did he regret it?

“Do you remember how I told you I can manipulate someone’s mind?”