Chapter b121 /b

    bValencia /b

    09

    I had opened my mouth to argue, but then a loud bang made us all look to the sideb, /bspecifically the King’s bed.

    He had been lying in the bed without any movement when I walked in, but suddenly he seemed to convulse.

    My eyes went wide as I saw him throw his pale hands out and start to thrash not just his blegs /bbut his entire body against the bed.

    I had not noticed the Crone holding his mouth open with one hand and pouring something in it with the other.

    But his hand pushed her away, and she was flung onto a nearby wall, crashing down the vase and her vial.

    I and Killian went to stand near the bed while the Crone pushed herself back on her feet and roared instructions.

    “Guards, hold him down!”

    I watched in horror as the doors opened, and the fleet of guards came running inside.

    Meanwhile, the King’s body arched violently against the cushions, arms thrashing bas /bthough some invisible hand was pulling his strings taut.

    The goblet Martin had dropped earlier rolled across the floor, nging against stone, but no one moved to pick it up. All eyes were fixed on the bed where the King of Elorin was fighting for breath.

    At first, Loyd and two guards tried to hold him down, but he was able to push them all away just like the Crone.

    “Hold him down!” The Crone barked, her voice edged with panic.

    I staggered closer, heart pounding in my ears.

    His lips frothed, and his eyes rolled white. Meanwhile, the Crone and Elder Amara bhastily /bpulled out a few herbs and started grinding it into a paste.

    “What are you doing? Just give him the herb as it is!” I let out a panicked bcry/b.

    I had wasted precious seconds trying to do the same with Killian, and I bknew /bbhow /bhorribly ill

    b7:10 /bbFri/bb, /bbSep /bb5 /b

    timed it bwas/b.

    El 55 vouchers

    The King wasn’t young bas /bKillian nor strong. In fact, only now did I truly look at him.

    His body seemed like a bare shell, just skin sticking to the bones. His eyes were hollow and sunken, while the skin was hanging limply down his body in a few ces. His hair had thinned a lot too.

    I had seen him just a few weeks ago. At that time, he had not appeared to be so sick or dull.

    That meant his condition had deteriorated rapidly in the past few days.

    While I was wondering to myself, I felt a hand grab my elbow and turn me aside.

    “Are you out of your mind? Do you know how concentrated the Wilder root stem is? Do you have any idea how lethal it could be to give a seizing patient the direct stem without mixing it with some ash powder first?”

    Nina was gritting her teeth and staring at me with hatred.

    Killian was at the King’s side, and Nina had pulled me aside when he wasn’t looking. But I didn’t even want to bother arguing with Nina.

    So I simply tried to ignore her, but she kept rambling on something. I started to get angry and wanted to shut her up, but then I noticed something from the corner of my eye.

    My gaze snapped to the King’s chest, and at first I thought it had been a trick of light.

    But then I saw it.

    The hand.

    ck–veined. Spidery. Crawling across his chest, just like in my vision.

    I gasped in shock and tried to point at it while watching the scene unfold in front of me with abject horror.

    That hand seemed to roam around a little as if undecided of which direction it wanted to go.

    It pressed down over his heart, the skin beneath it paling, twitching as though struggling against its grip.

    The King had just been twitching and thrashing earlier, but the hand pressed down on his heart, and the King stopped moving altogether.

    What the hell?

    7:10 bFri/bb, /bbSep /bb5 /b

    The Crone screamed. “Yes, yes, the potion is working. Make more of it! Quick!”

    What?

    Did she not see the hand? Did nobody else notice it?

    65 vouchers

    Because everybody seemed to take a breath of relief when she said that. Maybe it was just me who was seeing it.

    But that didn’t mean I would let it do whatever it wanted.

    I tried to move forward, but Nina stood blocking me, so I gritted my teeth and shoved her hard across from me. She went flying into a nearby wall, but I didn’t wait to watch.

    I ran forward, pushing past guards and the priestesses to…I was not sure what bI /bwas going to do.

    But I wanted that hand gone.

    “What are you doing?” Elder Amara asked me as I put both my hands on the King’s chest in an attempt to grab the arm.

    But then it recoiled back as if sensing me.

    “Go away!” bI /bscreamed at it and the shadows flowing out of it like a thick, dense smoke stopped abruptly.

    It whispered the same dread I’d heard in my

    dream. Not yours. Never yours.

    My blood went cold. If I did nothing, that hand would drag him under.

    “No,” I gasped, stumbling forward. “No!”

    “Stay back,” Nina snapped. “Haven’t you done enough? And who are you talking to? You are the one who should go away.”

    She was quite persistent when it came to me, it seemed.

    But I couldn’t give her even a lick of attention.

    Without thinking, I reached out and pressed my own palm against his heart.

    The cold mmed into me like a tidal wave.

    For a heartbeat, I couldn’t breathe. The world tilted sideways, smoke and voices and fire blurring into nothing but the icy ckness flooding up my arm. I thought it would swallow me whole.

    b7:11 /bFrib, /bbSep /bb5 /b

    :

    The Crone screamed. “Yes, yes, the potion is working. Make more of it! Quick!”

    What?

    Did she not see the hand? Did nobody else notice it?

    b75 /b

    E55 vouchers

    Because everybody seemed to take a breath of relief when she said that. Maybe it was just me who was seeing it.

    But that didn’t mean I would let it do whatever it wanted.

    I tried to move forward, but Nina stood blocking me, so I gritted my teeth and shoved her hard across from me. She went flying into a nearby wall, but I didn’t wait to watch.

    I ran forward, pushing past guards and the priestesses to…I was not sure what I was going to do.

    But I wanted that hand gone.

    “What are you doing?” Elder Amara asked me as I put both my hands on the King’s chest in an attempt to grab the arm.

    But then it recoiled back as if sensing me.

    “Go away!” I screamed at it and the shadows flowing out of it like a thick, dense smoke stopped abruptly.

    It whispered the same dread I’d heard in my dream. Not yours. Never yours.

    My blood went cold. If I did nothing, that hand would drag him under.

    “No,” I gasped, stumbling forward. “No!”

    “Stay back,” Nina snapped. “Haven’t you done enough? And who are you talking to? You are the one who should go away.”

    She was quite persistent when it came to me, it seemed.

    But I couldn’t give her even a lick of attention.

    Without thinking, I reached out and pressed my own palm against his heart.

    The cold mmed into me like a tidal wave.

    For a heartbeat, I couldn’t breathe. The world tilted sideways, smoke and voices and fire blurring into nothing but the icy ckness flooding up my arm. I thought it would swallow me whole.

    Then instinct screamed–push it back.

    I had no spell, no words, no magic tomand. Just raw, desperate will. So I shoved hard with everything inside me. I fought that ck hand and whatever cursed magic it was using.

    The hand recoiled. It wavered, twitching like a shadow resisting the light.

    My chest ached as if I’d been impaled, but I pressed harder, forcing it back, back–until it unraveled like smoke and vanished into the air.

    The King convulsed once more, his body jerking violently beneath my hand. And then suddenly a few hands pulled me away from him.

    “Guards, get her away!” I heard someone scream and realized it was Martin.

    “Nooo!” I shrieked and tried to fight the guards, but Killian was beside me in an instant, trying to calm me down.

    “Breathe, you are okay, everything is okay.”

    But it wasn’t.

    “His breath has steadied.”

    The Crone’s voice cut through the room, making all of us go still.

    At first, I couldn’t believe my ears.

    My eyes flew to the King, and I could see him lying peacefully once again, not attempting to thrash anymore.

    And the hand? It was gone as if it had never been there.

    Killian came forward, looking hopefully at the Crone.

    “Is he going to be okay?”

    The Crone wiped her hands with a handkerchief and mumbled.

    “For now, yes. But we will keep him under observation for the night. So, I request all iof /iyou to

    leave so that he can rest.”