en

urned suffocatingly thick, c

sharp jolt through my skin. His breathing was rapid, shallow, and ragged, his che

Widow's Tear*, had ignited a violent immune counterattack against the lingering infection. But in a body with a shattered Dragon

ntroducing foreign compounds now would react with the res

ling was my

rest in the adjoining ante-room, I remain

al, desperate battle aga

r, without pausing for a single second, I plunged cloths into the icy water, wrung them out with raw, aching hands,

as so intense that the cold towels

nd blistered from the freezing water. In the suffocating gloom of this hostile fortress, an overwhelming wave of isolation threa

he heavy basin over to the side table

onds, my back was

the room, a faint, almost impercep

rustle of coar

d easily have been mistaken f

austed hands trembling under the weight,

orward-and froze

my throat. My heart

slipped from my

AN

with a deafening, ringing roar, sending waves of icy wate

nk. I couldn

in the flickering candlelight, Bo

molten gold-the pure, untamed gaze of an ancient predator. Cold, sharp, and razor-fo

aming. He was

as a

tching every singl