“Hawthorn berries and Ladon venom,” shouted Jack. “Doesn’t feel so good, does it, my friends?”
Orion whirled. “You stay the fuck away from her.” His voice boomed off the walls, like the knelling of a dark god. “If you harm her again, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born. I am a nightmare the likes of which you cannot even comprehend. I will burn this place to the ground and make you choke on the smoke, and then I’ll rip out your lungs, Jack.”
“Not with the venom in you,” he shot back. I could tell he was attempting mockery, but his voice was shaking, ruining the effect.
I fell to my knees, horrified to hear the sound of footfalls upstairs. We were about to be trapped in here between Jack and the rest of the demon hunters.
With a wild snarl, Orion barreled toward Jack and pushed him against the wall. He pressed his forearm against Jack’s throat, pinning him hard. Jack’s face turned as red as the leaves outside.
“Stay away from my queen,” Orion growled.
Jack dropped the gun, and his legs kicked at the air.
I had no idea how Orion had found the strength for that, as the Ladon venom felt like it was corroding me from the inside out.
“Go, Rowan!” Orion was shouting, but it sounded hazy to me. “I’m right behind you. Get it out of here!”
I staggered past the two of them, my mind whirling as I reached for the door.
Orion had trusted me with this grimoire, and I was going to get it to safety. Distantly, I heard Orion and Jack shouting at each other, but my senses seemed muddled, like the poison was eating at my brain. I narrowed my focus to getting the book outside. I leaned against the door, then knocked four times until it gave way.
I fell to the ground outside in the blinding sunlight, where the air smelled of death. I clung to the book as I felt a pair of strong arms scoop me up, and then the wind rushed over me.
I leaned into Orion’s chest, and every bone in my body sang with agony.
Now, there was only the feel of my nerves splitting open, and the rest of the world faded away.
*
Male voices pierced the air around me. I was going to be sick. I rolled onto my hands and knees, and vomited onto the dirt.
“Rowan!”
I looked up to see Legion’s face before me, blurred like the world was smeared with Vaseline.
“Rowan,” he shouted again, crouching beside me. “I need to know what they poisoned you with.”
I fought the urge to throw up a second time and tried to cast my mind back. Jack had told us what it was…
“Ladon,” I muttered, leaning back on my heels. Gripping my stomach, I lay on my side. But no position was relieving the pain, no matter how much I shifted around. “Ladon venom. And hawthorn.” I fell onto my back in the dirt. “Where’s Orion?”
*
An arm curled under my neck, and I looked up into Legion’s face looming above me. He was holding a cup to my lips, one that smelled of pine needles and berries.
“Open, Rowan,” he said gently, cupping the back of my head. “This will help.”
The scent of it nauseated me, and I wanted to puke again. My mouth felt dry, fiery.
“Open, Rowan,” said Kas. “It’s medicine. It will make you feel better.”
He reminded me so much of my mom right then that I only wanted to please him, so I took a sip of the viscous, earthy liquid, and drank it down. It tasted like dirt and leaves—but the effect was almost immediate.
Whatever it was, it washed away the corrosive pain, soothing my muscles. Slowly, my vision started to clear, and the nausea settled in my stomach. My limbs shook, but they didn’t hurt.
I looked up into the concerned faces of Legion and Kas. At last, I was strong enough to sit up, and I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth.
But something still felt wrong, and my heart thumped wildly with panic. Fear still gripped every muscle in my body.
I looked around me as I realized the source of the fear. “Where’s Orion?”
Legion shot a confused glance at Kas. “I don’t know. We were trying to get you to safety as quickly as possible.”
“We weren’t waiting around for him,” said Kas.
“You got the book, Rowan!” Legion passed the grimoire to me. “You won.”
“Wait.” I was scrambling to keep up with their conversation. “Orion’s still there?”
“When you said you were trapped,” Kas went on, “I thought it would help to light a fire, because the two of you would survive it, but—”