And furiously.
Kieran spun toward me with a curse.
He was too late.
Snapping forward, I grabbed the Primal by the front of his tunic. Fingers tightening around the soft fabric, I slammed him into the wall, cracking the stone. “This could kill her?”
His eyes filled with eather, becoming orbs of pure silver. Essence poured into the veins beneath, lighting them and the scar up. His lips curved into a tight smile.
It was a warning.
The only one.
His palm connected with my chest, sending me flying backward. I hit the wall with a grunt, the impact still rattling my bones as I landed on my feet.
Attes stalked forward.
Kieran growled, his flesh thinning as the shadow of fur began to sprout.
“If you don’t want to spend the rest of the day mending broken bones,” Attes warned him as the veins in his cheeks glowed with eather, “don’t even think it.”
Seeing that Kieran was definitely thinking it as he started to crouch, I straightened.
“That was your one shot,” Attes hissed. “Blood or not, you won’t get another.”
I forced a laugh, even though it fucking hurt to do so. “You sure about that?”
“Fates, you are—”
“Charming and captivating?” I suggested, relieved to feel the pain lessening already.
Attes’s steps faltered. “You’re so much like him,” he breathed, voice strained and cracking on the wordhim.
My brows snapped together. “Like who?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he stared at me in that strange-ass way again. Like it pained him to do it. He blinked, and his expression smoothed out. “I didn’t say this would kill her. The other was mortal.”
Kieran halted. “You couldn’t have elaborated?”
I took a breath, hearing my ribs crackle inside. Fuck. It felt like my chest was half-caved in.
“Did he give me a chance to do so?” the Primal shot back, the eather slowly receding from his veins.
“You could’ve spoken faster,” I retorted, twisting my neck to loosen the muscles.
Attes’s head whipped toward me, and he did another strange thing. The fucker laughed. It was quick but deep. “My apologies,” he said without a touch of remorse. “What I was trying to say is that was my only knowledge of such a possession. Thisshouldwork. And it won’t kill her.”
I noticed the way he took a deep breath. “But?”
“Can you control yourself if I answer?”
“Just spit it out,” Kieran said. “Delaying it will only give him time to do something idiotic.”
I ignored that comment and repeated, “But?”
“But,” Attes said, adjusting the satchel so it rested against his hip, “it will hurt her.”
I took a breath. It felt like icy fire in my chest.
