Burning Key

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Cleo didn't leave Adeena's side between the time Dessa, Elys, and Eamon left for the palace and when they came back. She barely looked away from her either, keeping a tight hold on her hand as she watched her chest rise and fall to make sure she didn't stop breathing. Even though she kept hold of her, her body would fade in and out of focus, something she hadn't seen before. Then again, Adeena hadn't lost control of her magic and emotions like she did either.

Milena and Archer stayed behind, keeping watch from the burned out front of the apothecary to make sure no one came inside. Cleo could hear their soft whispers before Milena peeked in on them ever fifteen or so minutes to make sure they were all right.

She got more scared after watching Adeena's body fade to almost nothing, not understanding what was happening. Still gripping her hand, Cleo shot up and leaned over her.

"Adeena?" she choked out, watching as her eyes flicked back and forth beneath her lids. "Adeena, please."

Being so focused on her sister didn't alert Cleo to what was happening out in the main part of the shop, but she caught sight of the swirling distortion of the portal through the doorframe just as Elys and Eamon stumbled in. Both of them were out of breath, the reason for it being carried between them.

Destan.

"Milena, Archer, push the second table against Adeena's," Eamon huffed.

They did it without any hesitation as Cleo watched from the other side, still clutching Adeena's hand.

As gently as they could, they put Destan's body on the table as Milena found a spare blanket and rolled it up to place under his head. All five of them stared down at him, wide-eyed and not knowing what to think or do.

"Where's Dessa?" Milena asked, looking up at Eamon and Elys.

"She was finishing up," Elys replied as he glanced up at the doorway. The portal was still steady and swirling in the main shop area, waiting to close whenever she came out of it. "She had to create a duplicate body and..." He shook his head, looking back at Cleo before down at Adeena. "She's still out."

She nodded. "I don't know what to do," she choked out. "I've never seen her like this and I..."

Cleo went silent as she saw Adeena's other hand twitch.

Then immediately reached over and grabbed Destan's.

Her breath rushed out of her at the sight.

"Anything?"

Everyone jumped when Dessa's voice boomed before she appeared, the portal closing behind her. With a wave of her hand, she cast another protective ward around the shop with little effort.

"Nothing," Cleo answered with a shake of her head. "She just...keeps fading in and out. I'm not sure what's happening, but I won't let go of her. She asked me to be her anchor, so I won't let go."

And she wouldn't, staring back down at Adeena's calm and relaxed face. Her body flickered again, but seemed more solid now than it had been in the last hour. Cleo's gaze swept down Adeena's other arm to the hand that gripped the male's lying beside her. She had to swallow down the lump that formed in her throat as she looked at Destan's body. Because that's what it was – a body. The person he'd been didn't inhabit it anymore. His tanned skin was ashen and splattered with dried blood, tear tracks streaked through the dirt on his face, and a gray, vein-like pattern covered every exposed inch of him.

But it was the fatal wound on his chest that had everyone's heart stopping.

Cleo leaned forward over Adeena, staring down at what killed the prince of Dalcaine and took him from his family and everyone else. The leather armor did absolutely nothing in blocking the devastation the blade would do.

"I need to heal his body," Dessa said softly as everyone stared at the male laid out in front of them. "Elys, Eamon, can you help me get him out of his jacket and shirt?"

Elys nodded as he moved forward, but Eamon stayed still, eyes not leaving Destan's face. Milena walked around the tables, her arm immediately wrapping around Eamon's waist as she led him to a wooden chair at a work desk pushed up against the wall. His eyes never left his brother's face, even as she sat him down and whispered calming words to him.

Archer took his place with Elys, helping him lift Destan to first take off his leather jacket, followed by the tunic he wore underneath. As soon as his chest was bare, all of them took another long moment to stare at him, each holding their breath at the sight.

The gash over his heart was worse than any of them had ever seen before. The skin was curled back on itself, blood dried along the edges. From the opening, the vein-like pattern stretched out all along his chest and wrapping around his back. He was nothing like the male they'd all seen up there on the ballroom balcony.

Dessa was the first to break from her staring, shaking her head as she stepped close to the side of the table by Destan. Lifting her hands over his body, they began to glow with magic. All of them watched as she first cleaned his body in one sweep, then began the real work of first using her dark magic to burn through the remnants of the venom in his system.

"Momma used her water magic," she explained quietly as they watched the pattern on his skin slowly begin to recede back toward the still open dagger wound. "But it only worked because...because Daddy was still alive when she did it. Completely out of it, but alive. If Destan were...here...for this, it would be undoubtedly painful."

The closer the lines got back to the wound, the slower it became. Even though there was only a small trace of venom still active within him, it was concentrated on his chest. Cleo glanced up at Dessa as she worked, seeing the beads of sweat forming on her forehead and rolling down her temples. Elys stood beside her, one hand on the small of her back for support and the other wiping the sweat away. She looked up at him with a small, grateful smile before concentrating harder.

Dessa had to take a break as soon as every gray line had disappeared from Destan's skin, though the wound and the pallidness remained. But the dagger wound was nothing to heal compared to the venom. With just one more sweep of healing magic, it stitched back together.

Cleo's heartbeat pounded in her ears as she stared down at Destan's chest, half expecting it to start moving up and down with his breath.

But he was still gone.

Dead.

Yet Adeena's hand still gripped his tight.

"Now, we wait," she whispered, nodding down at her sister. "It's all up to her now."