CHAPTER 45
AVA'S POV
The heavy iron doors of the royal healing chamber slammed shut in my face, the resounding clang echoing down the stone corridor.
“You cannot enter, Luna!” a senior healer barked, his voice tense and high-pitched with panic as he and three others physically blocked the threshold. “The King requires absolute isolation. The silver poison is already near his heart. Please, back away!”
I didn't step back. I couldn't. My boots felt as though they had been melted into the stone floor. My hands hung at my sides, heavy and stiff, coated with Draken’s blood. It had already begun to dry, flaking off my skin and staining the silver embroidery of my ruined ceremonial gown. I couldn't look away from it. Every time I blinked, I saw the exact moment the silver bolt tore through h
