Until he’d slammed into a ledge so hard, it’d knocked the breath from his bruised body, and broken his arm, collarbone, nose, and ribs. For several minutes, he’d lain there, staring up at the perfectly blue sky, unable to believe what had happened. Unable to believe how much pain a single body could hold and not kill the one who felt it.

The rest of the day was a blur to his memory. He had no idea how he’d managed to climb down to his brother’s broken body.

All he remembered was sitting in the canyon, holding Keris against his chest and screaming out for help while Keris’s blood dripped down his arm. It was a nightmare that had haunted him every time he closed his eyes.

One he couldn’t escape.

A horror that burned out his blackened soul. And now he might have to bury Keris’s son.

Please, Darice, don’t be hurt…

He couldn’t take seeing someone who looked that much like Keris lying dead again. Nor would he be able to live with the guilt of it. It was hard enough to cope with the past he already had. He couldn’t stand more being heaped on his conscience.

As they drew near the caves, Hauk paused and cocked his head to listen.

Thia tightened her grip on his shirt. “Hear something?” she whispered.

Suddenly, Illyse whined and hissed.

Angling his blaster, he rushed forward, into the nearest cave. And what he found there enraged him to a level he wouldn’t have thought Andarionly possible.

In that one heartbeat, he could taste the blood he wanted to spill. Could feel its sticky texture on his hands as he choked the life out of the asshole in front of him.

Holstering the blaster, he put his arm out to catch his weight against the rock wall.

“Darice! You selfish asshole!” Thia snarled as she moved forward to confront the spoiled, petulant brat. “What are you doing?”

He jerked his chin toward Hauk. “I’m not going anywhere with him until he apologizes for what he said! He had no right to impugn my father’s honor! Unlike him, my father was a hero!”

Sumi put away her blaster before she yielded to the desire to lay open Darice’s skull with it. Had she not been so worried about Hauk, Darice’s life would have been in even more danger.

As it was…

Hauk looked like he was about to collapse and die.

She rushed to Hauk to check his fever. He was shaking to the point his teeth chattered. She forced him to sit with his back against the cave wall. The adrenaline from this had caused the toxin to spread even quicker through his system and infect more organs.

“Thia? I need you to run back and grab the root. Fast as you can!”

She went without hesitation.