"Your caretaker is in here," Kenric said, pulling back a curtain that had been draped across the large doorway to the room they were using as their infirmary.

Blaise was shocked to see so many beds filled with the wounded. He couldn't tell which were Dragon or Human, but it didn't matter. All he wanted was to find Daemon. His gaze landed on the last bed, and he rushed over.

He sat on the edge of the bed and took Daemon's hand between his own, gripping it tightly. Daemon was unconscious, but wore a pained grimace as though he could still feel everything. His hand was cold and clammy, and his face was pale and dripping with sweat.

"What's wrong with him? I thought they were s'posed to fix him!"

"Nurse," Kenric called, bringing an older woman to his side. "What's going on with this one?"

"I thought he was one of the ones your group brought in, Kenric. Don't you know?" She sighed, brushing her long grey hair behind her ear. "He's been cut with an Enforcer's blade."

A dark look fell over Kenric's face, and Theron sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, while Blaise eyes darted between the two of them and the nurse.

"What's that s'posed to mean?"

"Those purple blades aren't just meant to look pretty," the nurse said. "It's poison—you know that, Kenric. We've done our best to make him comfortable, but there's nothing we can do."

Theron's eyes were intense as he pulled back the bloody bandage on Daemon's shoulder. The poison was slowly eating away at his skin, turning it black, and the smell of burning flesh was almost unbearable.

Blaise covered his mouth to stifle a gag, and Kenric pulled him aside.

"Blaise, listen to me," he told him, a solemn look on his face. "It's the Enforcers' magic... They have curses and poisons, and they're able to apply that dark magic to their weapons, spreading it to anything they touch. There are many things we can heal, but some that we can't. There's nothing that can be done for him—there's no cure."

Blaise gasped, looking down at his hand. He had also been cut by the Enforcer's blade, and feared that he'd be infected too. However, when he removed the bandage, the cut was gone—there was nothing but a small thin line across his palm, barely even a scar.

Immunity to the Enforcers' poison? How very interesting.

"I don't get it..."

"What's the matter?" Kenric asked, glancing down at Blaise's hand too. "Are you all right?"

"It don't make no sense," he said, shaking his head, trying to comprehend the situation. "That guy... the one with the sword... he cut me pretty good. So, why's Daemon suffering and I ain't barely got a scar?"

"You got cut?" Theron jumped up from Daemon's bedside and grabbed Blaise's hand, looking over him with concern. "Where? You ain't hurt none."

"Look..." Blaise pointed out the thin scar where the Enforcer's blade had cut him. "How come mine's healed?"

"I've never seen anyone recover from an Enforcer's poison," the nurse said, staring in awe. "I mean... some have come back for a bit, but they always die in the end. Are you Draconian?"

"No, why? Can Dragons survive it? Can't ya give him blood or somethin'? I heard once that you can replace sick blood with healthy stuff. I'll give him my own if I gotta!"

"Can't do that, kid." Theron sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Doin' that's worse than just lettin' him be. It's ain't gonna do no good."

"You can't just let him die!"

"Listen," Kenric said, holding Blaise firmly by the shoulders. It made Blaise's skin crawl. "There's nothing we can do, Blaise. He's not a Dragon, so we can't give him Draconian blood. For one, Dragons might live a little longer when poisoned, but not by much. We don't have any higher rate of survival than Humans. Secondly, giving Dragon blood to a Human is worse than the Enforcers' poison. It would kill him in a matter of minutes, faster and more excruciating. All we can do at this point is try to keep him comfortable."

"But—"

"C'mon, kid. Stop makin' a scene," Theron whispered, his eyes scanning the room, glaring at the curious faces who had stopped what they were doing to watch and listen. "Already told ya, he's been poisoned by an Enforcer. No one's immune to it. 'Cept you, apparently."

Blaise stood there, clenching his jaw and shaking with rage as tears filled his eyes. If his fists were any tighter, his palms might have bled from how hard his nails dug into his own skin.

He couldn't believe that these people, the ones who were supposed to be the saviors of the kingdom, would do nothing for Daemon. So what if he was Human? Wasn't every life worth trying to save?

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Don't think like that, kid. Cadmus and Draconia lived in harmony for centuries. Dragons just want their freedom back—they don't want Humans to die.

"I know what you're thinking," Kenric told him, and his intense green eyes seemed to be staring straight into Blaise's soul, "but don't. If there was a cure, I'd give it to him in a heartbeat. Don't believe for one moment that I wouldn't just because he's a Human. We aren't like that. As it stands, there's just no cure for this."

"We ain't discriminating against no Humans," Theron said, sitting on the edge of the bed where Daemon lay. "We want peace as much as everyone else. That means Dragons and Humans, together, 'kay?"

Blaise refused to leave Daemon's side. He spent most of the night sitting beside the bed, tracing his fingers over the thin scar on his own hand that the Enforcer's blade had left. How could he heal so quickly from something that made everyone else suffer a slow, painful death?

You should have realized by now that you're not like everyone else. Not anymore.

He sighed, rubbing his temple. The voice that haunted his thoughts was too loud and powerful. Every bit of him ached every time it made its presence known. Was it really the missing Dragon Prince? What if it was just some demon, trying to use him for a darker purpose?

You can't be serious. What would I have to gain from lying about who I am? Do you need more proof?

Blaise hissed as his vision was flooded with bits and pieces of the prince's memories... Queen Maeve and King Anguis, speaking of their alliance to a large table, occupied by rulers of the surrounding kingdoms. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the images.

"You should get some sleep." Kenric's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he sat down beside Blaise with a tired groan, and Theron was against the wall with his arms cross. "I know what you're thinking, you know."

"You don't know nothin'," Blaise replied.

How could anything know what he thought or how he felt? Kenric hadn't been through the same suffering as him. He didn't know what it was like.

"That's where you're wrong. I've lost just as much as everyone else," Kenric told him, placing a strong hand on his shoulder.

Blaise tensed painfully. He didn't want to be touched. After what the surgeons had done to him, he wasn't sure he wanted to be touched by anyone ever again.

"My best friend is gone," Kenric said, a distant look in his eyes. "My whole family was killed by the Enforcers. My dad, my mum, and my little sister. Innocent people who never did anything to deserve their fate. I was right where you are now, Blaise, watching my little sister slip away, and there was nothing I could do to stop it."

"Sorry," Blaise said quietly, glancing down at Daemon. He was flooded with guilt for assuming that Kenric didn't understand. "Daemon took me in when I was a little kid, and I ain't never thanked him for it. He was more of a da to me than anybody. I barely knew my real da. Daemon saved me, and I ain't able to do the same for him."

"It's a terrible burden to bear, but it's not your fault, Blaise." Kenric sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, looking around the infirmary. "We were so tired of being powerless, hiding in the shadows of a ruined kingdom. That's why we created the Occultus Draconem, and why we bring others here. With the magic we've build up around it, this place is almost impenetrable against the Enforcers. It's also why we go into Cadmus, fighting back and stopping the Cleansings whenever we can. We need to end this war, and thanks to the efforts of Agni, it's not going to end easily or peacefully."

Blaise stayed quiet, turning his attention back to Daemon, and a quiet gasp escaped his lips. Daemon's eyes were open.

"Hey, Da." He gripped Daemon's arm tightly. "How ya feelin'?"

Daemon blinked a few times, but didn't speak. Then, he inhaled a sharp breath and gripped Blaise's wrist hard while he struggled to breath.

"Hey, you're hurtin' me," Blaise said, trying to pull his arm free. "Daemon, stop!"

As the nurses rushed over, Kenric pried Blaise's hand free and pulled him away, making space for them to care for Daemon. The man's chest shuddered with his loud, raspy breaths as the poison spread through his body.

His condition worsened at an alarming rate, and soon, the infirmary was filled with Daemon's pained screaming. Blaise tried to reach him, but Kenric passed him off to Theron, who kept him back.

"Lemme go!" Blaise struggled, but Theron wouldn't release him. "I gotta help him!"

"Stay back, kid. Gettin' in the way ain't gonna help no one."

"What's happenin'?" Blaise called out as Daemon became silent and still. He watched with wide eyes as Kenric placed his hand on Daemon's chest and leaning in, listening closely. "Do somethin', Kenric!"

They can't save him, Blaise.

"He's not breathing," Kenric told the nurses, and Blaise felt his own heart drop.

One of the nurses handed Kenric a syringe filled with glowing blue liquid, which he jammed roughly into the center of Daemon's chest. Blaise was so horrified by the scene that he closed his eyes, his whole body shaking. Tears burned his eyes while he listened to Kenric and the others fail to save Daemon.

"It didn't work," one of the nurses said with a defeated sigh. "There's nothing more we can do."

"No!" Blaise cried out, twisting free from Theron's grasp.

"Don't, kid!"

Kenric got up and caught Blaise before he could reach the bedside, holding him back as best he could. Blaise struggled and cried, trying to get past, but Kenric was bigger and stronger than him.

"I'm sorry, Blaise."

"No! Get outta my way! I'll save him myself!"

"Blaise, stop it! He's gone."

Listen to him, kid. Just look away.

Tears ran freely down Blaise's face as he looked past Kenric, and Daemon's lifeless eyes stared back at him. Embedded in Daemon's skin were many thin, purple lines, like veins, covering his face and body. The poison had bled into his eyes too, giving them a deep purple color, and it oozed out, running down his face like tears. It all gave Daemon a dead, demonic look to him.

The poison had destroyed Daemon from the inside, and the sight and stench of burnt, rotting flesh was more than Blaise could bear. He fell to his knees and vomited, his back shaking with sobs.