My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 194: He Just Might Die II

Violet

"You don’t look well," I said, and my voice shook more than I wanted it to. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He let out a breath that might have been a laugh. "I’m fine."

He wasn’t fine!

His skin was pale, far too pale, with a greyish tinge that made him look almost like a corpse. Black veins stood out against his temples and the sides of his neck, dark and prominent, and pulsing visibly with each heartbeat. A thin sheen of sweat covered his face despite the cold, and his breathing was shallow and uneven.

His jaw was clenched tight, and every muscle in his body coiled with tension.

’No. No. No...’

"Rowan," I said slowly, my voice tight. "You are not fine."

"Just poison," he grumbled, wincing.

"Poison?" I whispered going still.

A slow dread built up along with a numbing sensation in my head. I felt so stupid for not realising sooner.

My mind raced back to the chaos. The serpent lunging at me. The creatures rampaging through the clearing. And Rowan fighting in the middle of all of it, surrounded.

He closed his eyes, his head falling back against the wall. "The serpent. And those creatures... the gravejaws... their tusks are venomous too. Scratched during the fall."

My head started to turn. Was he saying it wasn’t just from the snake?!

"Where?" I demanded. "Where were you—"

Without even bothering to finish, I reached for his shirt and started pulling at the torn fabric. He didn’t resist, which scared me more than anything else.

He was too tired to fight me off.

By the time his chest was bare, I could see that those same dark veins were not just on his face, they crawled down his neck and to the rest of his body. They branched like roots spreading through his flesh.

And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

His torso was a mess. The serpent bite on his side was ugly, the flesh around it swollen and discoloured, black veins radiating outward from the wound like spider webs. There was also a tear very close to it.

I had to press my hand against my mouth to keep from crying out.

One of those animals had scratched him right where the serpent had bitten him?!

I slightly shifted him.

Across his back and side, a massive bruise spread like a dark stain, deep purple and black at the center, fading to sickly yellows and greens at the edges. The skin there was swollen, and I could see where something had torn through. Teeth marks.

Just like the scratch on his side, the bite marks on his lower back was angry and inflamed.

His skin was also scraped raw in some places.

A wave of nausea made me feel dizzy and I trembled. My head was spiralling.

"Rowan. You need help." My voice was shaking despite my best efforts. "You need a healer, or medicine, or—"

"... be fine." His voice was weaker now, his eyes still closed. "I just need... time. For my body to process the toxins." He let out a strained breath, opening his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. "My body will... assimilate. Just need time."

I stared at him, at the black veins crawling beneath his skin, at the way his body shook with barely contained tremors.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I refused to believe it.

"And if your body can’t process it then?"

He didn’t answer.

"Rowan." I grabbed his face, forcing him to look at me. "What happens if your body can’t process the poison?!"

His eyes were bloodshot, the whites threaded with red.

He just smiled faintly. "It... will."

I looked at the wound again, at the dark lines spreading outward, at the visible pulse of his veins beneath his too-pale skin. The poison was already spreading through his system. I could see it moving, could almost feel the wrongness of it.

And we were alone in the middle of nowhere, with no supplies, no shelter, and no help coming.

And I was so scared.

What could I—

"Water." I immediately stood up, heading for the bags I had dropped.

He needs water. I should give him some at least.

"Vi..."

I pulled one of the waterskins from my bag and stilled. There wasn’t enough. I brought out the others from our things. The bag seemed to be waterproof but water still got into the bag, and one of the water skins had even burst, leaving me with four.

I took what was left to him and forced him to drink.

This time his eyes remained closed, his breath came in wet, shallow gasps that rattled in his chest, making me think I had made a terrible mistake in having him drink water. His lips had a bluish tinge, and when I pressed my hand to his forehead, his skin was so cold it was so uncomfortable to touch.

The venom was killing him.

"I am... fine," he mumbled, his eyes still closed. "Thank you."

I needed to clean his wounds. That had to help. The river was nearby, along with rushing water from the waterfall, and it seemed safe to drink.

I emptied some of the snacks from the sturdy containers in Rowan’s bag, I would use them to carry water too. I would have to wipe him down fully. After doing all that, I can worry about going to search for a healer.

I walked back to him and lightly tapped his cheek, forcing his eyes to crack open a bit. I felt a bit relieved, he wasn’t dead yet.

"I’ll be right back," I told him, my heart thundering in my chest. "Don’t you dare die while I’m gone."

He just stared at me and I looked at him frustrated.

"Say something!"

"Okay," he whispered.

I hesitated for just a moment, looking down at him. And I realized, with a clarity that cut through all my confusion and anger and denial, that I didn’t want to lose him.

"Wait for me, I beg you, please."

I stepped away from him and sped off to get some water.