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“I agree.” Jaxus folded his arms behind his back, studying me. “I think she speaks the truth, but I don’t know how she could have seen through the shroud.”

I opened my mouth to speak and shut it again. Maybe it wasn’t wise to give them more than I had to until I knew Nyx would be okay.

“This is his mate?” the healer asked.

“It is,” Jaxus confirmed.

The healer’s eyes unfocused as he peered at me. “She is a strange one. Unusual light magic.”

“What should I do with her?” Jaxus asked Hadeon.

I tensed.

“She comes with me,” the healer said, and his tone left no argument.When the other males looked to him in question, he shrugged. “I may need her connection to him if I can’t get him replenished. Besides, she’s injured too.”

Hadeon grunted. “Have me kept informed, Jaxus. I’ll take this to the council.” He left without sparing me another glance.

“I’m sure this will cause quite a stir.” The healer laughed.

“I’ll report back, but it won’t be good,” Jaxus replied.

The healer lifted his shoulders. “They may surprise you. Magic works in mysterious ways.” His eyes glinted like he knew more than the rest of us. “Bring him to me. I’ll see what I can do. We need to detox him as soon as possible before the poison goes to his brain.”

I gasped, and my hand went to my mouth. “Could he die?”

“Any of us could die, youngling, but I won’t lie to you. He’s not in good shape. We need to treat him with swiftness. Dragon’s Bane is a potent toxin. Once it takes hold in the brain, it’s irreversible.”

They’d never told me. Not Kiera or Nyx or Kol. None of them had told me I could have died after escaping my village. Had mine not been so bad, or had they downplayed it to not alarm me? Would I have even listened?

“Silas,” Jaxus called again. “I know you’re listening.”

“I don’t have to listen to hear you.” The little boy appeared again from behind a tree.

“What have we said? Don’t trust your mind over your ears until your magic is fully awoken. Now, come over here and help me lift him.”

“Let me help you.” I stepped forward to stand next to Nyx, not sure how we would move him, but not wanting to let him out of my sight.

Jaxus laughed and nodded at Silas. “Show her how we plan to carry him.”

Silas closed his eyes and held out his hands, making Nyx elevate off the ground.

“Come with me, youngling. They wouldn’t like you wandering about,” the healer said.

“I’m not leaving Nyx,” I told him unwaveringly. As nice as they had been, they’d shown me they were hostile and didn’t want anyone in the Twelve Kingdoms to know they were here. I didn’t trust them not to kill us to make the problem go away.

“Where do you think they are bringing him?”

“I don’t know.” I took my place next to Nyx’s lifted body.

While the healer drank me in, not showing any emotion, Jaxus fought a smile, which made me feel a little better.

“Very well. We will all walk together.” The healer led the party without looking back.

“And you’re not a dragon?” Jaxus asked. “You have the attitude of one.”

“I thought you could smell it on me?” I replied. Kol and Nyx had always made it seem like dragons always knew each other.

“I’ve found that anytime I think I know something to be always true, the Goddess laughs and smacks me upside the head. The last thing I believed to be true was that no one else could find this place, and here you are.”