Page 85 of Hexbound

Well, the only other option is to leave her here to be devoured. Which was not an option at all, not with that low moan growing louder as the flesh constructs shuffled toward them.

But neither was getting the woman to Bishop. Verity needed a Healer, and she needed to go somewhere she knew well, to increase the chances of this working. By herself she might risk a blind jump, but not whilst carrying someone else.

The image of her room at the Crows formed in her mind. It was her base location, the one place she could always find, ingrained as it was in her consciousness, in her body. Power tingled through her as she drew in as much as she could handle, and locked her arms around the older woman in preparation.

She just hoped that Mercy was there.

And that Daniel Guthrie wasn't.

Verity hit the floor hard, her entire body stretched and raw in places. She felt certain someone had punched her in the sternum, driving the breath out of her, and the very thought of summoning her powers at the moment made her want to retch.

But it had worked. Hadn't it? She'd carried Lady E's weight the entire time, feeling it pulling at her, growing heavier with every microsecond.

A gasping wheeze brought her back to herself. Verity scrambled to Lady E's side, the Chalice tumbling abandoned to the timber floors that she knew so well. Its magic had cut off abruptly during the leap, the link to Horroway vanishing. "Lady E?"

The woman couldn't answer. Sweat soured her hair and she gasped faintly, her fist clenched against her chest.

No time to lose then.

Verity dragged a pillow off her bed and stuffed it under Lady E's head. "I'm going to get help. I promise I won't be long."

She dragged herself to her feet and nearly went top over toes as her knees quivered. The leap had taken more out of her than she'd imagined.

Steps echoed in the hallway outside the bedchamber she used to share with Mercy. Verity froze, slipping the small knife she kept up her sleeve into her palm.

The door opened—

And Mercy slipped inside, shutting it behind her so swiftly that the light barely penetrated.

"Sweet Jesus, Verity, what are you doing here?" Mercy hissed, wearing her familiar boots and trousers. "If Daniel realizes you're here...."

He'd have her right where he wanted her.

Verity shook the thought away. "You felt me?"

"I do ward our rooms," Mercy replied, then her gaze fell on Lady E's crumpled form and she strode warily to the fallen woman's side. "What happened? Who is she?"

"Angina, I think. Can you heal her? Can you stop the attack?" Verity hovered over the pair of them as Mercy reached out and pressed her fingertips to Lady E's chest. A faint blue glow surrounded her hand.

"Verity, she's dying." Mercy withdrew her touch with a flinch.

"No. No, she can't." Bishop would be devastated and God blast the old harridan, but Verity had begun to like her. "Can't you do something? You can heal. I know you can heal—"

"I can heal cuts, scrapes and broken bones," Mercy shot back, "but not this." Her eyes grew vague as she lost herself in the inner workings of Lady E's heart. "It's so complicated and I'm not entirely certain what to do. There's... some kind of blockage and it's stopping the heart from pumping blood through it. Plus, there's some bleeding there, as though the muscle has torn."

Lady E gasped, her face turning a most alarming shade of gray. But somehow she managed to lash out and catch Mercy's wrist. "Patch it... up." Those dark eyes flickered toward Verity. "Get me... Bishop."

"Can you do that?" Verity asked, taking a step back and hovering indecisively. With the lock of hair that she carried she could find him and travel there, now that she wasn't burdened with another.

If she had enough strength left in her.

Mercy frowned, that blue glow widening around her hand. Lady E sucked in a sharp breath as Mercy set to work. "I'm trying to stop the bleeding," Mercy muttered. "Stop pacing. You're distracting me."

"I'm—"

The door thumped open. "What have we here?" Betsy demanded, backlit by the light in the hallway. The old procuress's eyes narrowed with triumph as they locked on Verity. "Trespassers by the look of it."

Darting a glance at the forsaken Chalice, Verity took a step toward it just as Betsy lashed out with the braided whip she carried at her side. Verity flickered out of the way, landing near the window, but Betsy was ready for her and the whip cracked across her cheek with a brutal lash of fire.