Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Chapter 84

"Open up! Open the damn door!" Freya banged her hands on Jowe’s door, the sound echoing in the empty corridor but for a moment, no one answered, so Freya continued hitting the door. If she wasn’t controlling her strength, she would have kicked the door down.

After around thirty seconds, she finally heard footsteps. Jowe’s footsteps. He opened the door, a towel was wrapped around his waist and his hair was dripping water. He just came out from the shower.

"What?" Jowe asked, annoyed, "I was in the shower so I couldn’t answer. Why do you look so panicked? Are you...?"

"Where’s your grandfather?! I need to see him!" Freya cut in, her eyes wide with panic. "Where is he?!"

"Calm down Freya, you’re always so impatient!" Jowe scolded, his tone light, "Why are you looking for him? Did you get in trouble again?" Jowe crossed his arms, intending on scolding Freya like he always did whenever she got in trouble but Freya wasn’t in the mood for any of that at all! If Jowe wasn’t someone that could help her, she would have flung him away, she has no time!

"I’m asking you a question, Jowe! Answer me! Where’s your fucking grandfather! Where’s that bastard?!"

"Watch your language, Freya!" Jowe said furiously, his eyes narrowing. "You’re talking about my grandfather! Show some respect!"

"Respect?" Freya repeated, staring at him as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her hands curled into fists, and she took a step towards him, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "You want me to respect that bastard after what he’s done? Are you fucking serious right now?"

Jowe’s expression darkened. "That’s enough! I don’t know what has gotten into you, but you can’t come here and insult my grandfather just because you’re upset about something. He’s a senior official of the Hunter’s Guild, and you have no right to speak about him like that. Whatever problem you have with him, you can wait until tomorrow and..."

Freya grabbed both his shoulders before he could finish, her fingers digging into his skin as she forced him to look at her.

"Spare me the bullshit, Jowe!" she shouted, her voice cracking with anger. "Your precious grandfather poisoned Hunter G! Do you understand what I’m saying? He poisoned him because Zeke refused to let them conduct that fucking memory search on Ingrid, and now Zeke is dying! He needs an antidote, and if we don’t get one, he’s going to die right in front of me!"

For the first time, Jowe fell silent. His eyes searched her face, seemingly waiting for her to laugh and admit that she had made the entire thing up, but Freya wasn’t smiling. Tears had gathered in her eyes, and her hands were trembling against his shoulders.

"That’s impossible," he finally said, shaking his head. "My grandfather would never do something like that. You must have misunderstood what happened. He’s a kind and good person, Freya. Everyone in the Guild knows that. He’s respected by the other hunters, and he’s always treated people fairly. Why would he poison Hunter G?"

Freya released his shoulders and stepped away from him, letting out a bitter laugh that sounded nothing like amusement.

"A kind and good person?" she repeated. "God, Jowe, it’s honestly a pity how detached you are from the real world. You hold that old bastard in such high esteem that you can’t even see what’s right in front of you!"

"Don’t talk about him like that!"

"You know what’s even more pathetic?" Freya continued, ignoring him. "You have no idea what he’s been doing behind your back. Even before you became Hunter G’s charge, your precious grandfather had already been poisoning Zeke! Do you understand? This isn’t the first time he’s done it. Zeke has been fighting that bastard’s poison for God knows how long, and now he’s been given something that might actually kill him!"

Jowe stared at her in disbelief before his expression hardened again.

"I don’t believe you!" he snapped. "You’ve always been too quick to believe whatever people tell you. I knew you were stupid, Freya, and that you never had a mind of your own, but I didn’t think you’d stoop this low. You’ve allowed other people’s rumours to poison your mind against the one person who has always protected you, and now you’re standing here and practically accusing him of murder!"

Freya looked at him for several seconds. She wanted to shake some sense into him, to force him to understand that the man he worshipped was nothing like the person he believed him to be, but she had no time to waste arguing with someone who had already decided not to listen.

"You’re unsaveable, Jowe," she said, shaking her head. "I genuinely hope you wake up before it’s too late, but I don’t have the time to wait for that to happen."

She turned away from him and hurried down the corridor, leaving him standing in the doorway with an angry expression. She didn’t care if he believed her or not. She didn’t care if he ran straight to his grandfather and repeated every word she had said. Right now, Zeke needed her, and she couldn’t afford to waste another second.

When she returned to Hunter G’s room, she found him lying where she had left him, his body frighteningly still. The sight nearly brought her to her knees, but she forced herself to move, slipping one arm beneath his shoulders and the other beneath his knees before carefully lifting him. He was heavier than she expected, and her injured muscles protested under the strain, but she gritted her teeth and held him tightly against her chest.

"Please, Zeke," she whispered, her voice breaking as she looked down at his pale face. "You can’t do this to me. You can’t leave me like this, so please, just hold on a little longer."

She hurried towards the infirmary, nearly stumbling when she took the corner too sharply. Her mind raced through every possibility she could think of, but none of them gave her any comfort. The antidote had been switched, and they didn’t know what Zeke had injected into himself. Whatever it was, it had made his condition worse, and she was terrified that every passing second was bringing him closer to death.

There was only one thing she could think of that might help.

Ingrid.

The Star Glow Herbs are rare herbs that can cure a lot of things. Even if she had to kneel and kowtow, she would do anything. If another stalk could slow the poison in Zeke’s body long enough for them to find a proper treatment, she’d do anything. Freya didn’t know if it would work, and she hated that she was gambling with Zeke’s life, but she couldn’t simply stand there and watch him die without trying everything she could.

When she finally reached the infirmary, she pushed through the door with her shoulder and hurried inside.

"Ingrid!" she called out desperately. "Please, Ingrid, I need your help!"

Her voice faltered when she saw the bed. Ingrid was still unconscious, her face pale against the pillow, her breathing shallow but steady. She hadn’t moved since Freya had last seen her, and there was no sign that she had heard anything. The sight sent another wave of panic through Freya, but before she could despair, she noticed Nurse Maya standing beside the medical equipment while Lysander remained seated near Ingrid’s bed, his attention immediately shifting towards the person Freya carried.

"What the hell happened?" Maya demanded, rushing towards them.

Freya carefully laid Zeke on the nearest bed, trying not to jostle him more than necessary. As soon as she lowered him, his shirt shifted, revealing the blue veins spreading beneath his skin. They had become much more pronounced than before, bulging unnaturally along his arms and crawling up his neck towards his jaw. His face was almost colourless, and his breathing came in uneven, shallow gasps that made Freya’s stomach twist.

Maya’s expression changed instantly. She hurried to his side and began examining him while Freya stood beside the bed, her hands hovering helplessly over his body. She had seen Zeke wounded before, had watched him return from dangerous missions covered in blood, and had even helped him through the aftermath of injuries that would have left other hunters bedridden for weeks.

"He was poisoned," Freya managed to say, her voice shaking so badly that she had to force the words out one at a time. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she looked at Maya.

"Berthanon did it. He poisoned Zeke, and someone switched his antidote with something else. We don’t know what was in the syringe he injected himself with. We don’t know what they gave him, and I don’t know how to help him!"