Chapter 34 Caelum

• The arrival at the hospital is rushed. The car stops abruptly, the brakes screeching, and Asher is already out, shouting orders to the on-duty nurses. The emergency room feels like a chaotic scene, a mix of white fluorescent lights and the pungent smell of antiseptic mingling with the metallic scent of still fresh blood. My legs barely respond as I exit the car, as if the weight of Aria in my arms is double, triple what it actually is. Her heartbeat, which I can hear with my sharp hearing, is weak, very weak, a barely perceptible drumbeat that eats away at me from the inside.
• Each second feels like an eternity as I lay her on the stretcher. Desperation flows through my veins, along with the sound of the nurses’ voices, out of breath, asking questions I can barely answer.
• “She was poisoned with Icor Noturno,” I explain, my voice sharp, though trembling. The term seems to echo among them, their faces changing, as if a death sentence had been pronounced right then and there.