Chapter 55 The Poison Within
The healers cleared the hall quickly. No one wanted to stand too close to Lena. Not when the black markings crawled across her skin like living shadows. She lay trembling on a pallet near the center. Her breaths sharp and ragged. Every exhale carried the faint smell of iron and smoke. As if something inside her burned from within.
Amanda stood frozen at the edge of the room. Fingers pressed to her own shaking hand. She could still feel the cold pulse of corruption she'd touched when she first knelt beside her sister. The memory clung to her like frost.
Derek stepped in front of her. Blocking the view. His jaw was tight. His shoulders rigid. "You are not helping her."
"Derek..."
"No." His voice snapped like a whip. "She betrayed you. Betrayed us. She worked with the very people trying to destroy this pack. Let her face the consequences."
"She's terrified," Amanda whispered.
"She knows fear now because the darkness she played with finally turned on her." He moved closer. Lowering his voice so the others wouldn't hear. "She made her choice. You don't owe her anything."
Amanda looked past him at Lena's shaking form. The girl who once mocked her. Belittled her. Stole every scrap of affection they both fought for. But that wasn't what Amanda saw now. Not the spoiled daughter. Not the rival. Not the threat.
She saw a woman more afraid than she had ever seen anyone.
Something inside Amanda twisted. "If I turn away from someone in need, even her... I become what she was." Her voice steadied. "I won't let darkness change who I am."
Derek's eyes narrowed. "And what if helping her destroys you?"
"Then that's a risk I choose."
"Amanda..."
She stepped past him before he could grab her arm.
Silence swallowed the hall as she knelt beside Lena.
The black markings pulsed. Veins of shadow stretching toward Amanda's hand like hungry roots. Lena flinched. Eyes widening at the sight of her sister.
"You... came back." Her voice cracked. "Amanda, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
The apology hit harder than the fear.
"I'm not here for apologies. I'm here because you're hurting."
Lena shook her head violently. "No. Don't touch me. It wants you. It wants..." Her body convulsed as another wave of corruption spread along her ribs. She screamed. Clutching her sides. "It showed me everything! The army. The plan. You can't win! It's too strong!"
The markings writhed as though feeding off her terror.
Amanda didn't hesitate. Her hands moved to Lena's shoulders.
Derek cursed and took a step forward, but Cassius held an arm out. "Let her try."
Amanda closed her eyes and reached for her gift. The familiar spark lit inside her palm. Warm. Almost gentle at first. A soft glow spread through her fingertips.
Then it hit her.
A wall of cold blackness slammed into her. A force so sharp it nearly tore her breath away. It felt like being plunged into ice water while something clawed at her chest from the inside.
Amanda gasped. Fingers trembling.
The corruption fought back viciously. Like a living thing refusing to be expelled.
Lena screamed again. The markings flared. Amanda's vision blurred.
A voice, dark, whispering, wrong, slipped through the edges of her mind.
Little light... so bright... so breakable...
Amanda jerked. Nearly losing her balance. The corruption surged again. Climbing up her arms in tendrils of shadow.
"Amanda, enough." Derek's voice strained. Rising with panic.
She didn't stop. She pressed harder. Trying to drown the cold with the warmth of her gift. Her breath came fast. Her hands shaking violently.
"Come on," she whispered. "Let go."
Another surge of darkness shot upward. Slamming against her spirit with brute force. Amanda choked. The room tilted. The corruption wrapped around her wrists like hands trying to drag her under.
Derek moved.
He grabbed her waist and yanked her backward with a strength that tore her hands free.
Amanda collapsed into him. Gasping. The shadows recoiled. Snapping back into Lena's body with a hiss.
Lena shrieked. An awful, raw sound. And then went limp.
The hall fell silent.
Amanda pressed a trembling hand against her chest. Trying to breathe past the burning ache under her ribs. Derek held her tightly. One arm around her waist as if afraid she might fall again.
"What were you thinking?" His voice cracked despite his anger. "It nearly consumed you."
"She needed help."
"She needed punishment." His hand trembled where it rested on her back. "Amanda, that thing inside her reached for you. It wanted you. I could feel it."
She swallowed hard. "I know."
Cassius approached Lena cautiously. Examining the markings. They pulsed faintly beneath her skin. Like ink with a heartbeat.
"She has been marked. The Nightbringer isn't just corrupting her. It's using her as a conduit. It can see through her. Hear through her. Everything she sees, it sees."
A cold ripple passed through the room.
Derek's jaw clenched. "Then she can't stay here."
Lena stirred. Her cracked whisper broke through the tension. "Wait... I have to tell you something."
Derek stiffened. "Don't listen to her..."
But Amanda stepped closer.
Lena's eyes filled with tears. "The eclipse... it isn't the only threat."
Amanda's breath caught.
"There are three seals holding the Nightbringer. Lucian's death broke the first. When Derek was cursed, the second weakened. The third seal..." Her voice faltered. "It breaks when a prophesied pair breaks. Either through death... or through the destruction of their bond."
Silence struck the hall like a blow.
Amanda felt the words sink into her bones. "It's not trying to kill us. It's trying to make us distrust each other."
Lena nodded weakly. "Fear. Doubt. Suspicion. That's how it wins. That's how it gets free."
Derek's hand tightened around Amanda's.
"You think I would ever turn against you?" His voice was low. Fierce.
Amanda looked at him. And despite everything, fear whispered along her spine. Because the Nightbringer didn't need to kill them.
It only needed to poison what they had.
Before she could speak, Lena's body went rigid.
Her back arched. Her fingers clawed at the ground. The markings flared violently. Veins of black light tearing across her skin.
Amanda stumbled back.
"Derek..."
"I see it."
The air thickened. Heavy and wrong. The torches flickered wildly as if struggling to stay lit.
Lena's eyes snapped open.
They glowed a deep, unnatural red.
Every muscle in Derek's body tensed. Warriors reached for weapons. Cassius whispered a prayer no one had heard in centuries.
Lena rose slowly. Too slowly. Like something else was lifting her. Her mouth twisted into a smile that did not belong to her.
When she spoke, her voice was layered. Human. And something far deeper beneath.
"Too late, curse-breaker."
Amanda froze.
"The seeds are already planted. Doubt. Fear. Suspicion."
Derek stepped in front of Amanda. Shielding her.
Lena tilted her head. "Your precious bond will shatter from within..."
Her lips stretched unnaturally.
"...and I will feast on your failure."
The torches died in a single breath of darkness.
And Lena's body fell limp to the floor.