PHIN

n-scaled dress weighed me down like armor, its cold biting into

dim candlelight cast long, distorted shadows

belonged on ancient coins. But it was marred. Horrific, glowing red veins spiderwebbed across his

d automatically. Beneath the smell of sickness and stale air, I detected something el

illness. It

and pressed them gently against the pulse point on his neck. I need

sn't just a spark; it was a jolt of lightning, a searing heat that shot up my a

he poison's rot, I caught it. T

was

ity, the "comatose" man's eyes snapped open. They weren't blue or brown or gre

ing man, his hand shot out. It wrappe

ns. My back hit the hard mattress, the iron scales of my dress digging painfully into my

y whisper that was terrifyingly familiar. "R

ssly at his iron grip, fighting

eins on his skin glowed faintly, giving him the

he asked, his grip tightening fractionally. "

ld, razor-sharp survival instinct. I had survived my st

hands drop to my sides, my bo

his black eyes at my sudden surrende

"If I... wanted to kill you..." I gasped, my voice raw.

en degrees. His murderous intent, so palpable a moment

s searching my face, looking for th

red marks. It's not an illness. It's not a curse. You've been poisone

arring in his eyes. His greatest secret, the charade he had mainta

hysical proximity suddenly suffocating and intimate. "

istant drumbeat beneath the roar of adrenal

er of us moved, locked in a dea

mber door rattled violently from the outsi