I don’t have time to pivot before one of its flailing legs collides with my torso, sending me flying backward toward the cave wall.
Except my back never hits the cave wall.
The last thing I see is the spider lunge for Zora, and then the eyelet closes, taking me with it.
CHAPTER 41
BLAISE
I force myself not to look into Asha’s eye as I plunge my teeth into her wrist.
It’s not that I need to taste blood to trigger the bloodlust that enables my compulsion, but it certainly accelerates the process.
She winces, but only barely before the toxins in my fangs numb the pain.
“That’s enough,” Az snaps, swatting me away from Asha’s wrist. Like he’s worried I’ll take too much blood.
I do as he says, unlatching my fangs from her skin and retracting them into my gums. Quickly, as if he’s concerned the wound won’t bind fast enough, he wraps her wrist in white gauze that turns scarlet in an instant.
“Don’t be scared,” I whisper to her, and her trembling settles a bit. I should probably feel guilty for that, for taking away her fear. It’s a reaction she has every right to possess, but guilt isn’t going to get me Nox back, so I dull it with the roar of my desperation.
“Now,” I say, “I’m going to ungag you, but I need you to stay quiet until I tell you what to say.” I reach for the gag, but Az puts out a hand, stopping me.
“Tell her to do as I say before you take it off.”
“How about you relay to me what you want her to say, and I’ll make sure it happens?”
Az shoots me an acidic glare, but he offers me the instructions, apparently not in the mood to argue.
“Okay, Asha,” I breathe. “I’m going to take off your gag, and I want you to tell the Rip to open. And then I want you to call forth the Others, so they know where to flock to.”
Asha’s eye goes wide with fear, but in them I sense no defiance.
It’s a stab to my gut to watch her comply like this.
For Nox, I remind myself. You’re doing this for Nox.
I let myself glance at him. Give myself just a moment to examine his limp body, laid out on the grass like a corpse.
But Nox is not a corpse. And I’m going to get him back.
I turn back to Asha, reminding myself that other than a wound that’s already knitting itself up, she will come to no permanent harm. Az is several awful things, but there’s no doubt in my heart that he adores Asha and would be heartbroken if anything happened to her.
That’s what I tell myself, anyway.
Slowly, I untie the gag, then pull the wet glob of scrunched fabric from her mouth. Asha grasps at her throat in relief, and that pesky guilt raps at the walls of my conscience again.
I’m doing this for Nox.
Just like Asha would do this for Kiran if the situation were reversed.
Would she? the voice inside my head asks.
Well, like Kiran would do for Asha, I suppose. And I know exactly what Kiran would do based on his reaction to the shadow siren.
Az licks his lips. “Tell her to say it.”
“You can tell the Rip to open now,” I prod encouragingly.
Asha looks back and forth between me and Az, then opens her mouth.
Except it’s not Asha who speaks.
“You foolish, selfish little girl,” says a voice as low and rumbling as an underground current. “Your compulsion might be effective on Asha, but did you truly believe it would work on me?”
A moment later, Az has shoved the gag back in Asha’s mouth. She chokes on it, and Az’s eyes widen in distress.
“I’m so sorry. This won’t be forever,” he says, stroking her cheek until he catches a tear in the crook of his finger. Then he whips his attention toward me, his eyes ablaze. “You said this would work.”
“Don’t act like bringing her here wasn’t your idea in the first place,” I snap right back.
He runs his hands through his hair, staring down at the ground.
Then he pulls a stake from the ground and shoves it into Nox’s chest.
The world shatters into a million flecks of glass, then reworks itself as Az removes the stake and Nox’s chest reknits itself, tendons and skin pulling together as if woven together on one of Gunter’s looms.
He missed his heart. Az purposely missed his heart.
