Page 3 of Bite The Power That Feeds

“You didn’t fail me. I’m still here.”

Fang looked at Kingsnake before he rested his chin on my thigh.

The backs of my fingers stroked his hard scales, feeling like glass. “I’m glad you’re alright…”

My wound will heal. My scarsss will shed along with my skin.

“What’s happened since?” I looked at Kingsnake again.

“We won the war,” he said. “As I’m sure you surmised.”

“Your brothers are alright?”

He gave a nod. “Yes.”

“What will happen now?”

“We’ll travel to Evanguard to broker a truce with Queen Clara.”

“That’s great news,” I said. “Then we can distribute the cure to the kingdoms.”

“Yes,” he said. “It’ll usher in a brand-new era of peace among all races.”

It’d be a whole new world.

“When you’re well, we’ll go.”

“You don’t have to wait for me,” I said. “No one’s trying to kill me anymore so…”

His eyes quickly flicked down, and he withdrew his hand from mine. “My brothers and I didn’t want to leave without you—because you’re one of us.”

The smile tugged at the corners of my lips. “You guys are sweet.”I’d always been an outsider, always standing on the very edge of every social group, always abandoned in favor of something better. But with Kingsnake, I felt like I was first choice. His priority. “I actually feel pretty good. I think I could leave tomorrow.”

He would normally tell me to take my time, to rest for several days before moving a muscle, but he didn’t do that now. All he did was stare, his emotions swirling in a cloud.

“Is there something wrong?”

His eyes flicked away, only momentarily.

When he didn’t say anything, I felt tension return to my body, felt it pull on my stomach. “Kingsnake?” I distinguished each emotion separately, like a different note on a sheet of music. Guilt. Pain. Dread.

“There’s something you should know.”

My fingers stilled against Fang’s neck. All my relief at being alive disappeared.

“I didn’t reach you in time.” Now he looked away, turning his head like my stare was too painful. “You were lying in a pool of your own blood when I arrived. Barely breathing. I defeated Ellasara as Fang retrieved Viper and the medic.” He still wouldn’t look at me. “The medic stitched you up, but he said you wouldn’t make it.”

Moments like these made my heart race…but that was when I realized I had no heartbeat. No thump against my chest. Just…silence.

Kingsnake turned quiet.

Now I was the one to look away.

He must have known I understood the situation because he didn’t speak further.

Shock. Grief. Terror. It hit me all at once. I lifted my hand to look at my skin, to see that it was paler than I remembered. There were no marks from the sun. No more sunshine kisses. I would never be able to stand directly in the sunlight again…without slowly killing myself. My soul had been sacrificed to create this hollow shell of existence.

“Sweetheart…” He must have seen the despair heavy in my face.