Without waiting for neither Maxwell nor Vihkir, I immediately head to my quarters.

In the middle of the room lies Luenos. Panting like crazy, on the floor, he scratches at his throat.

Against Maxwell’s shouts and protests, his orders for me to cease, I walk toward Luenos and ease myself down to his level.

Throwing my crutch aside, I grab two of his wrists. “Luenos,” I breathe. “Luenos, it’s me. You must calm down.”

As my gaze falls upon his dark skin, I bite my lower lip; blue blood oozes from traces of claw marks that cover the flesh of his neck in verticals. “You’re hurting yourself, don’t you see?”

His breaths are still heavy, still pained, as he tilts his head my way. I observe the four slits on the side of his face that move in time with his chest: up, down; down, up.

Perhaps…he hasn’t heard me?

I try again.

“Luenos, it’s me, Vance.”

But it doesn’t work.

Luenos tries to fight me off.

I should be relieved, for he hasn’t yet managed to throw me across the room at maximum speed, like he should be able to.

But I’m not.

If he can’t even rid himself of me, just how weak has he become?

Praying to whatever gods might be listening so far from home, I guide the middle of his palm to my thigh. And if this doesn’t work, I think, I don’t know what will…

Luenos wraps his fingers, his claws, around a leg that should’ve been. He gasps and immediately stills before reaching for me with his three other arms.

Maxwell’s shouts fill the room once more. “Are you crazy?” he screams, taking a step forward with what I assume is the intent of dragging me away. “What if he tries to—”

I hold up a hand to stop him. “Don’t,” I say. “He won’t. I know he won’t.”

Luenos’s skin brushes mine. He rests his arms around my body. Despite my efforts to keep my feelings at bay, I tremble beneath his touch.

I shut my eyes.

I ignore the beats of my heart that reverberate across my body.

His grasp on me tightens. It isn’t suffocating, but it is close to being so. And he’s cold, so terribly, terribly cold. Luenos takes one final breath, his deepest one yet.

I gulp.

He starts to weep.

I smile. We haven’t lost him yet, I think, head rested against his shoulder. He has only lost his way.

Calming the trembles in my hands, I return his hug and leave gentle strokes across his back. “Can you hear me?” I ask him.

Luenos continues to growl, and groan, and sob; but I receive no reply.

And I know what this means, because he would never ignore me, especially not in such a moment.

“Shit,” I mutter, voice shaking as tears well up in my own eyes. “You can’t hear me, can you?”