A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #1)(67)

“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never felt their poison. We have some antiserum, but it is decades old. I doubt it still works. There’s nothing to cure me, Finley. Just let me go. Please, just let me finally go.”

I rapped on the door again before spinning him around. I slapped him across the face. His eyes sparked fire. Good. Anger was good.

“I will fix this, do you hear me? Our library has a book on poisons. Well, it’s mostly about trees, but it also talks about a bunch of natural poisons. There is this—”

The door swung open, the light from inside making me squint. Hannon stood there with wide, disbelieving eyes.

I stepped forward and slapped him across the face, too. Just so he knew I wasn’t a ghost.

“This guy got hurt saving my life. I need to work on him, and then you need to work on me.”

Hannon yanked me forward into a tight hug, shaking.

“We don’t have time, Hannon,” I wheezed.

He pushed me away before quickly assessing my wounds. “How bad?”

“Me? Not terrible. I can wait.”

He nodded and looked behind me. His eyes widened, and I followed his gaze. I sucked in a startled breath at the sight of Nyfain’s back. The claw marks were pure black, the skin around them torn and puffy, and black lines streaked from the wound.

My gaze shot to another injury—rough scars ran down each side, starting at his shoulder blades and running down to the middle of his back. These injuries were old, the skin almost waxy and lighter than his tanned back. Sixteen years old, I’d bet. They looked like the kind of scars one might get after their wings were shorn. That was clearly why he didn’t want to show me his back. He was embarrassed about what the curse had done to his animal. To him.

My heart constricted. Tears washed over my eyes. I barely knew my animal, and I would hate for her to be hurt like that. It would be like someone cutting off both of my arms.

One thing at a time, though. I couldn’t heal that. I could heal what was happening to him from the poison.

Hopefully.

“Hurry,” Hannon said, pushing me out of the way and reaching for Nyfain. “It’s going to be fine. Take it easy now.”

“Put him in my bed,” I told Hannon as we labored Nyfain down the hall. His movements were sluggish, and his shoulders stooped. “I need to break into the library and try to figure out what kind of poison that is—”

“The poison of a Fah Rahlen,” Nyfain said as Dash and Sable ran out of their rooms with wide eyes.

“Finley!” they said at the same time, rushing forward to hug me and, in so doing, hug Nyfain.

“It’s a creature the demon king creates from the souls of the twisted, and a special blend of his magic,” he said. “The poison is not well known.”

“You didn’t think anyone knew how to work with everlass, either. And yet…” We struggled with him through the door as coughing sounded from Father’s bedroom. “One thing at a time,” I told myself, remembering to breathe. “Help one person at a time.”

“Poor Finley,” Nyfain said, slurring. “The world on your shoulders.”

“I need to break into the library,” I repeated to Hannon as we settled Nyfain on his stomach.

“Hmm, it smells like you,” Nyfain murmured. “I’d know that smell anywhere.”

“Who is this guy, Finley?” Sable asked.

“Long story—”

“You’re looking for that book on trees that you had before the beast—” Hannon’s words cut off in a rush of emotion. I met his eyes over Nyfain. He shrugged. “I heard you talking outside. I needed to make sure it was you before I opened the door. We’ve been worried the beast might come for us.”

“Yes, of course. And yes, that book.”

He shrugged again. “I didn’t have the heart to take it back. I was hoping you’d show up and do that for me.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “Bless you, Hannon. Where is it?”

“Where you left it. On the table by the door.”

I’d clearly missed it, not that I’d been looking.

“Here!” Dash ran into the room holding three thick volumes, struggling under the weight. “Hannon, Sable, and I have been researching. The other ones won’t help you, but these might. They’re about the different kingdoms, and there is one about the demon kingdom. Hannon didn’t see any blood, and he saw tracks of the beast, so we thought that maybe he was taking you back to the demon king. We were going to save you.”

Hannon gave me a helpless look. “We couldn’t not try to help in some way.”

“True grit,” Nyfain mumbled into my pillow.

“Yes, of course.” I scowled at Hannon. “Give me that, Dash. Let me refresh my memory. It’s been a while since I read it. And here. I have some everlass leaves. Can you go set them out? I’ll need them.”

I pulled out all the leaves and grabbed the volume with information about the demon kingdom, huddling near the candle to read. It took me no time at all to find the section on demonic creatures. I remembered being mildly interested in those a few years ago. As I suspected, though, the book didn’t mention this particular breed of nasty.

“The type of poison…” I flipped through the tree book, knowing that the information on poisons was interspersed with facts about trees. The idea was to give the illusion that it was an innocuous book. I’d actually checked it out to read up on the birch, but whatever.