Faye's POV
The heat drained from my palm like water through a sieve, leaving behind a cold that bit deep into my bones. My arm trembled as an icy shock raced up to my shoulder, stealing the breath from my lungs. Under my touch, the woman's heartbeat surged with unnatural force, and her spine curved away from the mattress.
Her eyelids flew open.
A flutter of hope sparked in my chest. Maybe I had reached her, pulled her back from the edge. But that hope died before it could take root. Something was fundamentally wrong with what stared back at me. Those weren't human eyes anymore. The natural color bled away like spilled ink, replaced by a ghostly white film that crept outward like winter claiming a windowpane.
Her fingers snapped up and locked around my wrist.
The strength in that grip defied logic. It crushed down to the bone, making my healing light sputter and fade. I jerked backward, but she only squeezed harder, her nails biting through my skin.
