ATASHA’S POV


    “For now, he needs rest,” I said, and set my palms on his chest.


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    The wound fought me. Heat pulsed under the gauze, and the edges tried to seal, then tore open again with a wet sound. I pushed past the surface, found the ce where the poison sat, and pulled. It came in threads, fine, dark, and gritty, clinging to the vessels like burrs. I drew them out a strand at a time into the basin Mendez held ready. When thest flecks lifted, the heat dropped. The bleeding slowed to a steady ooze and then to nothing.


    I closed the vessels and left the skin half–knit so we could watch for any return. Almost immediately, his breathing evened. Color crept back into his lips. He would need hours to finish healing, but the poison was out.


    Mendez exhaled. “Can you describe it for the record?”


    “Yes.” I wiped my hands and looked at the basin. The residue had already dulled, like ash in water. “It binds to blood first, then crawls inward. It goes for the organs, heart, liver, lungs, before it worries about skin. When the body tries to heal, it reacts. The more you heal, the harder it eats. That’s why his wound kept reopening. This is highly dangerous for werewolves as we have faster healing abilities.”


    Mendez nodded, already reaching for the ledger. “Delivery?”


    “Arrow head carried it,” I said. “Not metal or wood. It dissolved on contact after it did its job. The thing is, I have no idea what is it made out of. The poison held to the vessels and lined the edges of the tear. It felt like fine grit and resin. Bitter taste in the nose, like pine tar and old iron.”


    He wrote fast. “Mechanism?”


    “It rides the healing response,” I said. “When tissue starts to knit, it releases heat and eats the new growth. It forces a fresh bleed and drives the damage deeper. If you suppress healing for a short window, you can slow it, but you still have to remove it. It doesn’t wash out on its own.”


    He nced up. “Time to fatality?”


    “Hours,” I said. “Less, if the target is ordinary. His body bought him time. Most people wouldn’t have made it to me.”


    Mendez tapped the basin. “Anything else?”


    I hesitated. “When I pulled it, it fought back. Not a reflex, it almost feels like… anger.” I met his eyes. “It felt like someone was watching through it. Pushing against me. That pressure stopped


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    when I cut thest threads. I can’t prove it, but I think the poison carried a will tied to whoever made it.”


    “A named curse bound into a toxin,” he said, jaw tight. “We’ll treat it like that.”


    “Burn the bandages,” I added. “Boil every instrument twice. Seal the waste jar with salt and have Thane carry it to the ash pit himself. No apprentices touch it.”


    “Done.” He wrote as I spoke.


    “He’ll sleep,” I said. “When he wakes, keep his intake light. Broth first. If there’s any return of heat or streaking, send for me.”


    Mendez set the ledger aside. “You pulled him back.”


    “I pulled the poison,” I said. “He did the rest.” Cassian’s body is just different from the rest of us. His healing ability is far more superior. “If it was someone weaker… I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t be able to save them.” That was reality.


    He nodded. “I’ll post Thane at the door and rotate guards. I’ll also alert the ward–towers. If this came on a dissolving arrow, we have a witch within range. It is gettingte-”


    “I want to stay,” I said. “Grace briefed me on curses. This matches one. The way it pushed back felt wrong. Not chemical, but it felt like it was aware. If it fought me, it may still be looking for another host.”


    Mendez frowned, thinking it through. His eyes sharpened. “Contagious?”


    “I can’t say for sure,” I answered. “But-”


    A voice cut in from the hall. “Physician-”


    Rio staggered through the doorway, dropped to one knee, and clutched his chest. His breath hitched like he’d swallowed smoke<i>. </i>


    I moved fast, catching his shoulder before he pitched forward. “Did you touch the Lord?” I asked, already checking his pulse.


    Mendez was beside us. “He and Lucas carried Lord Cassian in. Hands under the shoulders and back.”


    “Call for Lucas,” I said. “No one else enters. Masks on the door team and let them wait outside, I will check them one by one.”


    Mendez snapped an order down the stairs. Boots immediately thudded as people rushed to follow the order.


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    “Rio, look at me,” I said. His pupils were constricted, and sweat beaded at his hairline despite the cool air. A red flush ran across his cheekbones and cars. I set two fingers on his sternum to check for heat and used my other hand to take his carotid pulse.


    Short bursts of heat rolled under my fingertips every few seconds, and they did not line up with his heartbeat. His pulse was fast but regr, the heat spikes were separate. His breathing was shallow with a faint rasp on the exhale. The skin along his corbone felt oddly gritty, as if fine dust were sitting in the vessels.


    “There,” I said. “It’s riding the vessels again, thin threads, not deep yet.” Since I was here when the poison attacked, it didn’t take too long before I was able to remove it out of Rio’s body. I let out a sigh of relief as I watched Rio’splexion be better. Then, a loud thud interrupted my stupor. I turned and found Physician Mendez on the floor, his breathing


    shallow.


    I crossed the room and knelt beside him. “Did you handle the Lord’s bandages with bare skin?”


    “I did,” he managed. “When we cut the shirt.”


    I checked him the same way, sternum for heat, neck for pulse. His pupils were normal, but a fever flush sat high on his cheeks. Short, separate bursts of heat rolled under the skin along the upper


    chest and under the jaw. The pattern matched Rio’s, just stronger.


    What is going on? I frowned as I started healing him. This one feels the same yet different at the same time. I turned towards Cassian and then towards Rio.


    Something is wrong…


    田