Selena slowly let her power sink deeper into the king's body, her hands resting lightly on his wrist as she closed her eyes and focused, and at first she felt nothing but the chaotic pulse of his heartbeat rushing unevenly beneath her palms, then she felt something else.
something crawling like hundreds of tiny needles spreading through his veins, and the more she concentrated, the more she realized how strange and unnatural this poison truly was.
The poison did not behave like normal venom or toxins; it did not simply corrupt the blood or numb the organs. Instead, it moved like it had a will of its own, pushing through the veins in rapid pulses as if fighting back against her magic, and every time her healing energy tried to push it away, the poison twisted and forced itself deeper, like it was rejecting any attempt to expel it.
