There was dark magic... and then there was this.
Zero people were willing to call a spade a spade: the fuck-noises demon had almost won.
Maddox sat shirtless in the chair with the general demeanor of a bomb with a pulse. Three ribs broken. Two cracked. Internal bruising across the right side of his chest cavity. Aldric began wrapping his ribs in tense silence.
Across the room, Guinevere had been staring at the table hollow-eyed for the last five minutes when nausea hit without warning. Her body heaved so violently she pitched out of her chair, landing on all fours as she fought the urge to not throw up.
Sterling was on his knees next to her in an instant. The moment he touched her back, his gold cuff vibrated at the same intensity it had down in that chamber.
He went still, glancing down at it, then at Guinevere.
"There’s dark magic in her," he called. "It’s making her sick."
Lux was on her feet before Sterling finished the sentence.
She crossed the room in four strides, dropped to Guinevere’s other side, and pressed both palms flat against her back. Her eyes closed.
Her fingers spread. Two seconds passed. Three. Then her expression changed.
"Shit." She opened her eyes and looked at Sterling. "Hold her still."
Sterling didn’t ask questions. He moved fast, gripping her waist with both hands and held her firmly in place. "Hang on, Gwen."
Across the room, Maddox’s dragon rumbled so loudly, Aldric paused for a moment mid-wrapping.
"This is going to hurt worse than last night," Lux breathed as she unzipped the back of Guinevere’s zip suit. "I’m sorry, Guinevere."
"It’s okay, Lux. Just do it," Guinevere replied, still trying to not puke.
Famous last words. Last night was nothing. This hurt like a motherfucker.
On a scale of one to merge-level pain, this sat around a nine. A scream tore from Guinevere’s mouth before she could stop it. It wasn’t a short burst of pain either. It took longer, and the scream turned into a sob.
The dark fragments were coming out through muscle and nerve and bone. It felt like being unmade from the inside. Like something had hooked into the marrow of her and was pulling the wrong thread, and everything attached to it was tearing loose.
Guinevere gasped and panted desperately, tears dripping onto the stone beneath her.
"Easy, Gwen," Sterling said, voice calm. "Keep your body relaxed as much as you can. Tensing makes it worse."
He shifted closer, so he was directly behind her, knees pressing against the outside of hers, both hands on her waist.
"Fuck. I’m sorry," Lux said with a pained expression on her face.
The pain was deeper this time. Full sobs were coming now, ones she stopped trying to cut off. She could hear herself and she hated it.
"Push back into me if you need to," Sterling said. "I’m right here."
Guinevere did. The full weight of her pressed back into his lap. Both of his hands slid to her stomach to hold her there.
Somewhere in the background, Maddox’s dragon made another sound that resembled a pissed-off thunderstorm. His Third was behind his woman doggy-style. There was no other word for it.
Lux raised her hands about to do another when Guinevere jerked away.
"Wait."
She lurched forward and dry heaved.
"Give her a minute," Kael said, moving over to her. His nostrils flared and for a second it looked like he was going to rip her out of Sterling’s grip.
But he knelt instead and grabbed her hair, pulling it out of her face. "If you puke on me, you have to puke on Sterling too. That’s the rule. I don’t make them."
Guinevere let out a wet laugh that cut off abruptly, then turned into a sob because Lux drew another at that moment.
Her body bucked, but Sterling kept her locked in place, while Kael held her hair. She was vaguely aware that Sterling had a boner behind her and gave zero fucks about it. In her defense, she’d been screaming, dry heaving, and having dark magic ripped from her skeleton. A dick against her back barely registered on the list.

He had done this before. Held soldiers through extractions, poison pulls, curse removals. But none of those soldiers had looked up at him with Guinevere’s green eyes and whispered please.

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