Gav pulled. Maelor matched him, emerald light flooding in as the spike came free with a crack of compressed tissue. Serena screamed again, more ragged this time, weaker, and her consciousness was flickering at the edges, her green eyes losing focus.
Fin leaned close to her ear. "Stay here. Look at me, Serena. Stay."
Her green eyes found his. Glazed. Drifting.
"Last one," Maelor said. His clinical distance had crumbled entirely, replaced by the focused intensity of a man who understood the margin between alive and dead had narrowed to the width of his next decision. "Between the shoulder blades. The corruption is deepest here. I need thirty seconds of uninterrupted extraction after the spike clears."
"You'll have it," Gav said.
He gripped the final spike with both hands, braced himself, and looked at Maelor.
