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Rhys’ angry voice drifted through the space around me. Moisture beaded on my brow and nape, dripping down as I struggled to grip the silver slivers scattered throughout her body. Worm-like threads had embedded in her system, interwoven throughout it. The odor of cleaners burned my nose as I inhaled slowly, then released through my mouth. Pounding started at the door and window, forcing a groan from my lips.

Closing my eyes, I allowed the soft, erotic song of silver drown out the angry men outside the room. Within my mind, I envisioned each silvery strand, plucking them with my fingers one by one. Gripping each thread with my magic, I tied each one of the largest strands into knots, ensuring it couldn’t escape the rope I knitted. It was tedious and time consuming.

Time wasn’t on my side. It wouldn’t take Rhys long to summon assistance to remove the runes I’d placed. It meant I had to work fast and use the time I had to save Nyota’s life. Time management wasn’t my forte, either.

As if I stood at one end of the tunnel and he at the other, I heard him shouting for someone to summon Talia, the head of the witches. I’d expected him to do just that, though. Talia would easily unravel the feeble runes I’d decorated in my blood over the door, wall, and glass panel.

Tightening in my stomach caused a soft sob to burst from my lips. My muscles cramped with the magic releasing from my soul. Moments turned to minutes, then time ceased to have any meaning. Carefully, I plucked and pulled at each strand of powerful silver, one by one.

A skilled surgeon, one with butterfly fingers playing the strings. I mentally created a loom, placing each piece through the notch. The soft, seductive hum of silver turned into a discording sound, slowly punching into my eardrums as the taste of metal flooded my mouth. Inhaling the bitter, sharp tang in the air, I swallowed past the heat encompassing my swaying frame.

Uneven breaths left my lungs in short, shallow pants as the muscles in my thighs cramped. A churning in my abdomen sent grief seeking to take root in my chest, stealing the air from my lungs. Tears pricked my eyes, then slowly ran in rivulets down my cheeks.

I couldn’t stop now, nor would I. Life could be fickle, but then so, too, was love. Rhys wouldn’t ever look at me or Bullet without seeing Nyota. If she died, he’d hate me. At least, he’d hate me more than he already did.

The thought of him looking at our child with grief or anything other than love caused a hole to rip into my soul. I didn’t want any relationship he had with Bullet to be tainted.

Rhys wouldn’t love me, ever. That was clear. I was part of the past that he wanted to eradicate from his very being. The anger he exposed was part of that. It wasn’t his fault, but it also wasn’t mine.

My knees wobbled as my strength waned, forcing me to hold onto the bed as Nyota let out an ear-piercing shriek. Contorting in pain, moisture trickled from her temples, soaking her hospital gown in sweat.

Holding onto the side of the bed, I heard hushed feminine whispers from beyond the door. Nausea swirled through my center as I tugged on the threads, slowly recalling the silver from Nyota’s system.

I hadn’t had the foresight to realize the silver wouldn’t wish to leave until the host died. It fought against me, pulling back as my head swam with wooziness. Saliva flooded my mouth as I fought the need to vomit.

“Remington, you have to stop now,” Talia’s soft, chiding voice flooded inside my head.

A strangled laugh left my lips. “If I stop, I’ll die. If I succeed, I may very well survive. Failure will result in death, as will stopping.” Using my right hand, I wiped the sweat away from my forehead. It came away soaked with perspiration.

My knees shook with the threat of depositing me on the floor. The room spun in my vision, yet I refused to stop. Failure wasn’t an option. Neither was conceding defeat. Closing my eyes, I yanked harder, seeking out the tiny wisps of silver that broke away from the threads.

It fought against being removed. Hard.

The moment a Silversmith infused silver with our magic, it became an organism. Each Silversmith’s silver enhanced something unique to their genetic makeup. Mine was liquid fire. The same fire that currently burned throughout Nyota’s entire form.

“Open the door, Remington. I won’t fucking lose you, too. Not like this!” Rhys pleaded, but I attempted to shut him out. Shut everyone out. “Don’t do this. I can’t fucking lose you or our child.” The desperation in his tone yanked my heartstrings.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as the room slowly spun around me, steadily whirling faster with every moment, increasing the twirl of it in my vision. “I’m sorry I let you down again, Van Helsing.”

The sound of fluorescent lights exploding filled the room as, one by one, lights burst throughout it. Next, a metallic chemical odor burned my nostrils as the putrid scent of mercury was released into the air. The room darkened, the only light flowing in from the hallway corridor.

My hair floated around my head, glowing with strands of silver threaded throughout the locks. Veins of wispy strands of silver flowed from my fingertips, revealing the connection to the silver within Nyota.

A soothing humming started from outside the room, flooding it with magic that added power to my waning strength. I felt the arms of the coven fueling me with their magic and adding grit to mine. Arms slipped around me, eliciting a soft cry from my parted chapped lips.

“I’ve got you, Love. Let us help you.” Rhys’ raspy timbre sent a ripple of stamina and silent strength rushing through my veins.

“You can do this, Sunshine,” Cole added firmly, a hint of respect entering his tone.

My eyes closed as my power grew as the witches pushed their magic into me, forcing it straight to the very center of my soul. The entire room grew violent as my magic ripped the strands out, piece by piece until only a few tiny shards remained.

Nyota’s screams of pain were deafening. They pierced my ears like ice picks, repeatedly being forced into my brain through my ear canals. My knees bent as sweat coated my flesh, plastering my shirt over my abdomen and lower back.

Talia stood on the other side of us. She watched as I fought to remove all traces of the poisonous silver from Nyota’s system. Rhys shivered against my back, more than likely, feeling every ounce of pain I felt. He’d touched me before I could warn him from doing so. Not that I could’ve formed coherent words at the moment.

Pain shot through my middle until I shrieked along with Nyota, both flooded with agony. Rhys’ hold on me tightened as Nyota tossed and turned, sitting upright as her body buckled repeatedly, seeking escape from the pain. Slamming back on the bed, she began twitching and seizing as I dug deep into her circulatory system, seeking the tiny silver slivers hiding within her body.

“Stop her now or I will, Rhys. She’s killing her!” Arryn’s dark, somber timbre announced.

“Touch her and you’ll feel every ounce of pain she and your sister do at the moment,” Talia hissed, her tone loaded with warning. “She’s not killing her. Remington’s removing the silver from Nyota. She’s doing it at a great cost to herself.”

“Find a way to get Remington out of that room. Alive,” Rhys ordered, a tremble in his tone. “Talia, I can’t lose her.”

“Pray to your gods she’s strong enough to succeed, then. All of you,” she warned in an ominous tone.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Cole demanded in a low growl.

Tsking sounded before Talia responded. “It means get on your knees, boy. What do you think it means?” she scoffed as feminine laughter resonated throughout the corridor.

I forced my mind to push out the voices and people in the hallway from my thoughts. Concealing magic was costing me too much energy. Releasing the hold that I held on to it with, caused the room to flood with blinding light before it evaporated, bathing the room in darkness.

The putrid scent of phosphorus assaulted my senses as the gasses released into the air. A soft breeze started, carried by the magic of witches outside of the chamber. The hair on my arms prickled at the sheer magnitude of power they circumvented together.

In the darkness of the room, silver light erupted as my magic revealed the thin, wispy strands of the precious metal I removed from Nyota’s twisting, pain racked form. Her screams pierced my hearing, stabbing deeply into my eardrums as the fiery hot silver was forced from her form.

The thin, twirling vines slowly pulled from her flesh at several places at once. Each one twisting into the air as it left her flesh, dancing between her flesh and my fingers. One by one, I tied the strands of thread into knots, as if creating a thick rope with the delicate metal.

“That’s something you don’t see every day,” Talia commented. Her statement made my stomach twist painfully. “She’s very powerful, Rhys. More powerful than even her mother was.” The awe in her voice sent a ripple of tension forming in the air.

“I know she is, Talia. I’ve always known. She’s not her mother.”

“You’ve finally noticed that?” she chided, softly laughing as he swore beneath his breath. “If I were you, boy, I’d lend her your strength. You are her protector. Correct?”

Rhys made a strangled sound of exasperation before responding. “You know I am. I’d give her it all if it meant she’d survive this foolishness.”

More soft chuckling sounded before she instructed him. “She doesn’t need it all, Van Helsing. Remington only needs a little of your resolve and strength to survive this. If you want her to survive, I’d do it now. She’s faltering.”

She wasn’t wrong.

I felt my entire body burning with the effort it took to continue removing the silver. Sharp pains stabbed in my middle, causing tears to prick my eyes. Talia was right. I was going to fail in retrieving the silver from Nyota’s internal organs. Tears and sweat both ran down my face, neck, and chest. The camisole and shorts I wore clung to my flesh like a second skin.

“How?” the single word sounded strangled, as if he felt the danger I’d placed myself in viscerally deep. “Tell me how to do it. I can’t lose her.”

“Reach for her through the connection you share,” Talia instructed in a calming, soothing, motherly tone. “Once you’ve found it, figure out which one is connected to her soul. The moment you’ve found it, send your power through it to her.”

I’d figured it would take more time for him to discover which thread connecting us was my soul. It didn’t. Within seconds, power rushed through me, forcing my hair to whoosh into the air as my entire body filled with warmth.

I felt more powerful than I’d ever felt before. The pain lessened as I jerked on the silver still threaded throughout Nyota’s system, demanding it retract and return to the source. Me. All at once, it shot at me, wrapping around my hands violently.

A new pain started as the silver burned its way through my flesh, attacking me. A scream bubbled up in my chest before exploding through the room. My knees buckled before slamming against the floor. For the first time in my life, I felt the heat of my silver, as it assaulted me as if I were a foe.

“What the fuck? What is happening to her?” Rhys’ tone filled with panic.

Talia made a strangled noise, as if Rhys was choking the life out of her. “Recall your magic and unhand me, Van Helsing! I am here beneath a vow of protection!”

Wrapping my arms around my middle, I whimpered as my vision doubled before failing me. Darkness swallowed it entirely as my stomach roiled then forced bile up through my throat as my head slammed against the floor, removing all coherent thought.