Even now, wrecked, crying, running on the last fumes of a brain the venom had foreclosed on, Ayame's eyes found her sister's hand against her cheek, and a grin broke through the wreckage, small and victorious.
"So be it," Black Fang spoke softly. "I forgive you."
"...Sister!" Ayame's voice came out a breathless gasp, full of relief.
Then her eyes wandered. "Your hand..."
The hand withdrew.
"It was shaking~"
The tilde was back, because of course it was.
The venom could strip her composure, her dignity, her motor function, and every gram of her bratty front, but it could not reach the part of Ayame that found cracks in her elder sister's armor.
"I am conducting remedial correction."
"Shaking~"
Black Fang's eyes narrowed.
Quinlan stopped.
His hips stilled, his hands gentled in her hair, and for one merciful heartbeat the venom had nothing new to work with.
