“No,” I shouted.

Kerrick rushed Sepp, knocked him over and sat on him, pinning his arms down. He yanked Quain’s knife from Sepp’s leg and pressed it to the mage’s throat.

“You can’t kill me,” Sepp gasped. “You need me to wake your friend.”

Kerrick paused.

Taking advantage of the commotion, Tohon’s men rearmed themselves, and Cellina joined them, now grasping Kerrick’s sword.

“Kerrick, let him go,” Cellina said with an edge of desperation in her voice.

Kerrick glanced at me. “Did you kill Tohon?” he asked.

“I missed his heart, but his injury is fatal,” I said.

He turned to Loren and Flea. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let Sepp wake Tohon.”

Which meant Quain would be frozen forever.

“But they don’t have a healer,” Loren said.

“They know how to create one,” I said, hating the words as I spoke them. “Kerrick’s right.”

“You need me to wake Belen!” Sepp cried.

Kerrick leaned on the knife at Sepp’s throat. “Explain.”

“Tohon lied to Avry about him,” Sepp said. “Belen was captured but not killed. Tohon had me freeze him in a magical stasis until he decided what to do with him. I swear!”

My insides twisted tight. The joy of knowing Belen lived was balanced by the pain of knowing Sepp still had to die.

By the haunted look etched in Kerrick’s face, he felt the same thing. Suddenly a knife struck Kerrick’s shoulder, and in a blink of an eye, Wynn tackled him. She sprang to her feet and stood between him and Sepp with her sword in hand.

Without looking away from Kerrick, she said, “The Odd Squad is coming. We need to retreat.”

Shocked over what had just happened, it took me a moment to understand. But sure enough, the faint sounds of a squad emanated from the northwest. Too focused on Kerrick, I hadn’t heard their approach.

Cellina gripped the sword tighter, then relaxed her arm. “Remember, Kerrick, just because Tohon’s out of commission, doesn’t mean the war is over. I’m just as qualified to run his army. Understand?”

“Queen Cellina?” Kerrick mocked from his position on the ground. Sitting cross-legged, he held his left arm close as a bloodstain spread on his shoulder. He gripped Wynn’s knife in his right hand.

“That does have a nice ring to it,” she mused. Then her demeanor changed. “Get up,” Cellina ordered Sepp. “Grab Tohon, we’re leaving,” she said to the soldiers. Cellina gestured toward me with her sword. “Next time, healer.”

Sepp dusted himself off and stormed off.

As they retreated, Wynn saluted me with another knife—where did she stash them all? And without warning, she turned and threw it at Kerrick. He twisted so the blade just sliced his upper right arm.

She grinned. “That was a fresh knife, Baby Face.”

Which meant the blade had been treated with Death Lily toxin. I cried out and rushed to Kerrick, ripping off his right sleeve.

“It’s not deep,” he protested. “The left one is worse.”

Ignoring him, I sealed my lips around the wound. I sucked the blood and spat it on the ground. Then repeated. He stilled, finally understanding, as I worked to pull as much of the poison from his body. Because the blade had been treated, I tasted anise along with the coppery bite of blood. I kept doing it until I no longer detected the anise.

“Here.” He handed me his flask of water.

I rinsed my mouth. “How do you feel?”

“Much better now.” Kerrick pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around me. “I’ve been wanting to do this since the moment we parted.” He squeezed tighter.

“Easy,” I said. And as much as I wished to scream with joy and lose myself in this moment in Kerrick’s arms, I couldn’t.

“We’ll figure out how to wake Quain,” he said.

I glanced over. Loren knelt next to Quain, and Flea stood nearby. He gripped his stomach and twisted his lips as if he was about to vomit.

“That’s not the only problem,” I said.

“We’ll find Belen.”

Poppa Bear. A shudder ripped through me. Taking in a deep breath, I controlled the emotions that threatened to send me into hysterics.

Kerrick leaned back to search my expression. “What’s wrong?”

“The blade had Death Lily toxin on it.”

“I figured it had been poisoned, but it couldn’t have been very much.”

I jerked away from his grasp. “It’s very powerful. A few drops killed my sister.”

He pulled me closer. “I’m sorry about Noelle.”

“The point is, you might die, and...if you do...I can’t...can’t...do it again.” Uncontrolled sobs racked my body. I clung to Kerrick and didn’t try to stop them. The tears gushed, then slowed to sniffles as Kerrick murmured soothing words.

“What’s Avry bawling about?” Quain asked.

I opened my eyes and gaped. Quain stood between a grinning Loren and a happy but still queasy-looking Flea.

“What...?” My throat burned.

“I did it,” Flea blurted. “I... There was this...weird feeling in my guts, and I just had to touch Quain, and...well, he woke up.”

“Flea, that skill’s going to come in handy,” Loren said, slapping him on the back.

Flea’s face turned green, and he dashed away to vomit in the weeds.