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The potion hadn’t worked. The damn potion hadn’t worked.
And now Lyris Titanborn was reduced to a harrowfiend; mindless; controlled by her masters; hungry for blood. And it was a hunger she couldn’t control, not the way he could.
Fennorian found himself pinned against the wall of the cavern. Dagr had come to get him as quick as he could once he’d realized what had happened to Lyris. The trip to Blackreach had been frantic, and now here they were in this strange underworld, fighting against her, and trying not to harm her in the process.
“Lyris!” Fennorian cried. It was all he could get out though, because she pressed her forearm against his throat, growling, teeth—now sharp—mere inches from his face. He choked, tried prying her arm off of him. This resulted in Lyris slashing at his right arm with her nails. They hadn’t turned into claws just yet, but the force behind it hurt like Oblivion.
The problem was not that he was going to die, but that Lyris was going to die. The harrowstorm would just drive her even more mad, and eventually they’d have to…
No! Fennorian wouldn’t let that happen!
With all his strength, he shoved Lyris off of him. She stumbled, was about to leap back at him as he was catching his breath, but then Dagr appeared and grabbed her around the waist from behind. The Nord Dragonknight was smaller than her, but strong, and he held on as she shrieked and flailed.
“Fenn, I think we have to—!”
“No!” Fennorian cut Dagr off. He knew what he was going to say. They couldn’t kill her!
“She’s lost!” Dagr shouted. “Look at her!”
Fennorian was going to argue more, but Lyris elbowed Dagr hard in the gut. He grunted as the air left him, bent double, letting go of Lyris.
And she went right back for Fennorian.
Fennorian was not a fighter. He never had been. He was healer . Even as a vampire he felt the need to heal the sick and the injured.
Well… maybe he could heal this. Vampirism was a disease, so maybe this odd strain of it could be healed. But how?
He had to get into her mind somehow, break through this barrier that was the harrowfiend.
Fennorian let her come at him, let her once again pin him against the wall. Dagr was choking, trying to recover.
“Lyris, listen to me!” Fennorian cried. Luckily, she hadn’t gone for his throat. He grabbed at her shoulders, holding her back from biting him as best as he could. For all he knew, he could himself become a harrowfiend. “ Listen! ”
She shrieked and growled, spittle flying. She was desperate to get to him. It was driving her mad that he was so close.
“You are not this creature! ” Fennorian yelled. “You are Lyris Titanborn! You… you are my friend! ”
Was friend the right word for this, for them?
No. Well, yes. Friendship was part of it, but there was something more . Lyris had rescued him from Tzinghalis, she’d let him drink from her to recover his strength. He’d seen her injured and vulnerable. They’d done so much together, had been through thick and thin.
“Lyris, come back to me. To me! Fenn! Your Fenn! ”
Was that… was that clarity coming into her eyes? Something clearing through the haze of madness and bloodlust?
Fennorian’s chest ached. He could feel it. He was close. So close.
“Lyris, if you come out of this I promise you I will give you everything you deserve and more!”
Dagr was approaching from behind. Fennorian looked at him in a panic, shook his head. The Dragonknight might have been ready to take out the harrowfiend that had been Lyris Titanborn, but Fennorian was not. He absolutely refused.
I’m going to have to do something completely insane.
Fennorian hoped that this would work, that his feelings were returned. If they weren’t, if Lyris didn’t feel the same way about him as he did her, they were doomed.
But Fennorian did not think they were doomed.
“Lyris Titanborn, come out of this right now and I will marry you!”
The red began to leak out of her eyes, blue trailing back in like icemelt running off a glacier. And with it, the bloodlust, the madness…
She still clung to Fennorian like she meant to tear him to pieces.
“I swear it!”
“Fenn, what are you doing?!” Dagr shouted.
Lyris stumbled forward…
And she fell right onto Fennorian. He grunted at her weight, catching her despite the fact that he expected to feel teeth in his exposed neck.
Instead, there was this rough, breathy noise coming from her. It took him a moment or two to realize that it was laughter .
“Fenn, are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious,” he gasped out. “You’re… kind of crushing me though.”
“So… tired…”
And then Lyris was slipping down the wall, and Dagr was there to help Fennorian handle her huge frame and get her sitting back against it. Luckily, the Nord had his weapons sheathed.
“Are you injured?” Fennorian asked as Lyris’ head fell to rest on his shoulder. He knew that, had she been more with it, she would never have let herself show such vulnerability to others, even her friends. From what Fennorian knew, she and Dagr had been through a lot together.
“I’m fine,” Lyris slurred. She opened her eyes to look at Fennorian. “What happened?”
Dagr sat down beside them on Lyris’ other side, groaning as he did so. “That’s a long story.” He patted her hard on the shoulder. “Glad you’re back with us.”
Lyris lifted her head, gave Dagr a weak smile. “So, are you coming to the wedding?”