The medical bay was filled with the smell of blood. I sat beside Axel's bed, watching his chest rise and fall while machines beeped steadily around us. Silver poisoning for the second time in weeks. His skin looked gray, and dark veins showed through where the silver spread through his system.
"He's stable for now," Rikka said from where she was cleaning medical equipment near the sink. Her buzzcut hair was messy, and exhaustion lined her face. "But I can't pull all the silver out. Some of it's too deep."
Eden slumped in a chair by the window, looking like she might collapse any second. Holding the Shadowshield had drained her badly, and now this. "I tried using magic to help," she said quietly. "But I'm too weak. The barriers took everything I had."
I reached for Axel's hand, threading
