replied as he tapped Orion's cheek. "It's poison," he cursed a moment later.
Fear swelled in my chest. "What do we do?" I demanded. "We have to do something."
Sorrell cursed again as he stared down at Orion's slack face. Through clenched teeth, he took the front of Orion's shirt and ripped it open to reveal his chest. More black spiderweb veins traced down and collected over where his heart was.
"See how his veins are black?" Sorrell asked. I nodded. "There are only a few things that can do that to Fae, and humans don't know about them, which can only mean this was done by another Fae."
"Tyr," I breathed.
The dark look that crossed his expression would have fucking terrified me had it been turned my way. As it was, I knew the cause was the name I'd just uttered. "Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "That would be my guess."
"So, what do we do?" I asked. "How do we help him?"
He bared his teeth as his eyes settled on Orion's chest, glaring down at the lines in his skin. The longer he went without saying anything the faster my heart raced. "Sorrell?" I tried again. "We have to try."
Finally, he hissed out a breath and shut his eyes, shaking his head. "We can try to boost his magical energy so that his body can fight off the poison on its own," he said.
"Okay, how do we do that?"
"It's dangerous," he replied. "That's the issue. For a poison this concentrated, it'll take an enormous amount of magical energy. More than either of us have. And even if we're successful, I can't very well carry both of you out of here."
"Then let me do it," I suggested. "Just to get him up and moving."
"It won't get him up and moving," Sorrell replied. "It would take both of our energies and some just to wake him, much less get him on his feet."
"Well, we have to try!" I snapped. "Just tell me how to do it. If we just leave him like this ... he'll die, won't he?"
After a brief, tense moment Sorrell cursed again and nodded. "Fine. Fuck. Okay. It's—difficult to explain. It's usually something a Fae learns as they grow up and master their magic, but you haven't."
As if I needed another reason to feel sorry for myself. I shook that thought off and pressed my hands down on Orion's chest. "Just tell me what to do," I ordered.
"Keep your hands there," he said, watching me. His gaze flickered from where my fingers rested, pushing harder into the black veins spreading over Orion's body to his face. "Close your eyes and reach for the power you have inside—every Fae in existence has a well of it. It's inside. For me, it's like a long dark lake of water and ice. To pull power from it, I need to focus on moving it with my mind. Lifting it and breaking the glaciers over it as they sink further and push my power back up with it. For each Fae, though, it's different. It may bring to your mind a different image, but start there."
I closed my eyes and tried to picture what he was describing. Try as I might, though, the image of a lake of ice and water never came. Instead, I found a glowing sun, burning bright and hot in the center of my core. I waved my imaginary fingers over it and though it felt warm to the touch, it didn't hurt me. The darkness around it pressed against the sun, making it smaller and smaller—pulling it away from me. I knew I couldn't let that happen. If I did, my magic would never come and Orion would die here in this crumbling stairwell of a prison tower.
Shoving myself forward, in my mind, I fought my way back towards the sun, and just as my fingers reached out and grasped it—the darkness gave way to a blinding light. "Yes." I heard Sorrell's voice in the back of my mind. "Just like that."
I felt my whole body grow warm as I brought the sun closer and cradled it to my breast. "Now, will it into Orion's body," he said. "Let it fill you and then push it outward, through your palms."
I did as he said, letting the warmth of the sunlight fill my body—letting it overpower me and grow even stronger until it became too much. Then I began to push it. I shoved it forward, feeling the tingle of awareness