Chapter 155

Avery

The world had narrowed to the weight of Ryker's body across my lap and the slow, stuttering rhythm of his heartbeat through our bond.

*Too slow.* Like a candle guttering in the wind, each pulse weaker than the last.

My hands pressed uselessly against the wound in his chest, blood seeping hot and sticky between my fingers. The runestone's poison had turned his veins black beneath pale skin, s