Book Two: KOTLC One-shots and More

Heroic (Keefe POV)

The next half hour or so was...

...horrifying.

The limbium hit Sophie's system and attacked it faster than Keefe could have thought possible.

And as her pain spiked, so did her fear. Especially as her throat seemed to close off. He and Fitz were both holding her hands, and he assumed Fitz was transmitting to her--but Fitz was also whispering, "it's okay, Sophie, it's all going to be okay," under his breath.

Keefe just sent her continuous breezes, hoping she wasn't too far gone to feel them. Surely if she could feel her fear--which was growing stronger than he'd ever experienced before--then she could feel the breezes he was sending her.

He tried to convey the fresh start, the exciting new possibilities this was going to open up for her. No more taking down the wrong person. No more enemies being able to block her. She would be able to protect, to fight.

But it was scary, the way she was turning blue from lack of oxygen, even after they injected the antidote.

And when her heart stopped...

There were no words.

Even though they had all known it would happen.

It only took a few seconds for Elwin and Livvy to realize that her heart wasn't starting back.

Had they been too late with the antidote?

Elwin didn't hesitate. He moved over her and began doing chest compressions. Everyone was pressing in and Keefe was too distracted to separate the tangled emotions--especially since he wasn't in contact with anyone but Sophie--but the look on Elwin's face was set, determined, controlled.

If Elwin was afraid, it wasn't his primary emotion. That was a good sign--even with Bullhorn screaming.

Keefe hoped his terror wasn't obvious, but when he met Fitz's eyes, he saw the anguish on Fitz's face and knew he probably looked about the same.

Come on, Sophie. You can do this.

And then her heart started beating again. He looked up at Fitz again as she took a deep, rattling breath. Fitz huffed out a relieved laugh and locked eyes with Keefe, offering a small smile.

Livvy handed Elwin a sedative, and he pressed it to Sophie's lips, only giving her a small amount of it.

"That will help keep her heart rate steady while the medicines work their way through her system," Livvy explained. Keefe looked up at her, but she was looking at Grady and Edaline. Keefe shifted his gaze to see them standing there, pale and shaking with tears running down their faces. Grady had his arms around Edaline and it looked like he was holding her up.

Thank goodness the worst was over.

Finally, the physicians agreed it was safe to move her inside. Sandor stepped in--Fitz and Keefe both reluctantly letting go of her hands--and watched as Grady, Edaline, Livvy and Elwin followed Sandor into the house to get her settled in her room.

Mr. Forkle, whose eyes had turned glassy, shook his head slowly as though to calm himself. "Well," he said, his voice sounding thick. "It sounds as though we are going to need to have some sort of rotation set up to stay by Miss Foster's side while she recovers, to watch for any worrying signs or symptoms. Lord and Lady Ruewen will need to be able to get some rest and not be watching her round the clock."

Naturally, each and every one of them insisted that they would be the best for the job.

Fitz was her boyfriend and figured he had dibs.