Chapter 24 · The Walls Start Breathing

"Everyone out." I didn't ask. I pointed at the door. "Now."

The camp medics froze, halfway through bandaging a soldier's arm. The guy with the arm—some lieutenant whose name I didn't know—started to argue. "But the warlord said—"

"The warlord's the problem." I stepped between him and the cot where Huo Yanzhan was lying. His eyes were closed but his jaw was locked tight, and the veins along his neck stood out like cables. "You want to be in here when he stops being able to control it?"

That got them moving.

They cleared out in under a minute, boots scraping, voices low and scared. I heard someone say "poison" and someone else hiss "shut up" before the tent flap dropped and I was alone with him.

Almost alone.

Jingchuan was still pressed against the far wall, pale as paper, staring at his brother. "Grace, I can help—"

"You can help by getting me clean water and every scrap of that yellow root we have left." I crouched next to Huo's cot and grabbed his wrist. His pulse was fast and thin, and his skin was hot enough to burn. "Go. Now.