on his forehead. “You know it’s poison, right?”
I shook my head. “That would explain the skull-numbing pain.”
“We have to get out of here.” His leathery wings snapped out, spreading nearly the entire width of the corridor. He cradled me against his chest, and my stomach dropped as he lurched forward.
The scene blurred around me, and I clutched onto the undershirt peeking through Talon’s jumpsuit. His wild mountain scent was the only thing keeping me conscious. “Hayden,” I muttered.
“He’s not here.” He spoke the words like a curse. “He and Logan…” He shook his head, his jaw clenching. “It doesn’t matter, I’ve got you.”
My lids drooped no matter how hard I tried to keep them open. My lungs burned, each breath I pulled in a struggle. It felt like a pygmy giant was sitting on my chest. My eyes closed, and my mind drifted as I began to lose the battle.
“No! Azara, wake up!” A harsh sting streaked across my cheek, snapping my eyes open. “You have to stay awake.”
My flitting consciousness receded once again despite my best efforts. The next thing I remembered, a sharp odor wafted up my nose. Muffled voices swam around my head, but they sounded far away.
“This should help with the pain.” A female voice spoke near my ear.
I strained to place the semi-familiar lilt, but the stabbing pain drowned everything else out. Something sharp pricked my arm, and my lids jolted open.
A heart-shaped face surrounded by shiny auburn hair hovered over me. “Come on back to us, Azara.” The woman sat back, and my eyes focused on her pristine white uniform which was an exact match to the walls of the small room. A familiar dark shadow blotted out the sterile white.
Talon stomped over, a raging storm streaking across those enigmatic silver irises. After raking over me, his scathing gaze flickered to the healer. “Any improvement?”
She placed her fingertips on the inside of my wrist and frowned. They felt like ice against my heated skin. “Slight, but not significant.”
He muttered another string of curses and jabbed his fingers through his hair.
“I told you it was a long shot.” She shrugged, and her lips screwed into a pout. “There’s not a single full-blooded angel in Block One?”
“Not a one. And by the time Hayden and Logan get back…” His words trailed off as his eyes met mine.
I tried to follow their conversation as best I could, but a heavy fog weighed me down. On the bright side, the pain had almost vanished—or was that bad?
Talon grabbed a chair from the opposite side of the room and dragged it beside the bed. The harsh screech reverberated across my mind, sharpening my dulled senses. He sank into the seat and stretched out his arm. “Just do it, Fiona.”
“Are you sure? You know what could happen—”
He cut her off with a growl. “I said do it.”
The healer moved fast, too fast for my tired eyes to follow. The glint of a blade caught my attention, but I was too dazed to be afraid. When she slid the dagger across Talon’s arm, the breath caught in my throat. I tried to scream, to say something, but my lips were numb or maybe my entire body was.
Fiona’s lips began to move quickly as she muttered words in an oddly familiar language. Thoughts of my grandpa, Garrix, flitted to the surface before vanishing in the murkiness. Her tempo increased and the smoky, charred scent of magic filled the air.
“Open your mouth, Azara.” The healer’s chilly hand moved under my chin, and she tilted my head forward.
I tried to unlock my jaw, but my mouth wasn’t cooperating. Talon’s big fingers clenched my chin and tugged it open. He must have seen the panic in my eyes because his expression softened, and the ghost of a smile hitched up the corner of his lip. “You’ll feel better once you have this, I promise.”
Fiona poured a foul-tasting liquid into my mouth, and the thick concoction slithered down my throat. If I’d been able to, I would’ve gagged. Once she was convinced the nasty potion went down, the healer released me, and my head lolled back onto the pillow.
Talon’s chilly hand moved from my chin to my forehead. My incoherent thoughts vaguely remembered him always feeling warm so why was he so cold now? He swept a few stray strands behind my ears, his frosty touch sending a wave of goose bumps over my feverish flesh. “Get some rest,” he whispered and settled back down in