Chapter Fifty-Five
“ F uck. Roe, what happened?” a familiar voice says beside me laced with panic. “What happened?” Gryphon repeats, his voice bordering on hysterical. I must look bad.
“I’m fine,” I say. And I am. The power still thrums through my muscles, my veins invigorate me further and keep me alert.
“Where’s it coming from?” He’s grabbed a towel and has slid onto his knees beside me. “Where’s all this blood coming from?”
“I’m okay,” I exhale a laugh laced with a breath. “I’m okay,” I repeat, still out of breath and unable to say much more I pull at the bandages I had wrapped haphazardly from my neck all the way to my chest. The blood comes away with the bandages to reveal a bright white scar stretching from one side of my collar bone all the way across my chest to my opposite armpit.
“Oh, Roe,” Gryphon says almost reverently. “What happened?”
“It doesn’t matter now. I’m fine.” I finger the raised scar, wondering at my handywork. The wound is completely closed, and left in its place is a scar that twists and curves across my chest.
Just like a vine.
He looks at me like he wants to say more but footsteps sound behind him .
“Oh good, you’ve found her. What the—” Thaddeus slips across the floor in my blood, catching himself on the table. Unfortunately, the layers and layers of cake are the only thing to break his fall.
He looks distastefully at the cake covering his hands and tries to shake it off as he takes in the scene, from the cake covering him up to his elbows to the blood all over the floor, to me, still leaning against the door frame. “Who makes a pumpkin wedding cake?” He licks his fingers but quickly wipes the rest on his pants. “It wasn’t meant to be anyways, Princess.” His pet name does something to my insides, but my body hurts too much to respond in kind. He moves toward us, satisfied that I’m no longer bleeding out, and not needing any further answers. Thaddeus says, “We’ve got to get you out of here.”
I can see the way it pains him to inhale the scent of so much fresh blood. The blown-out blacks of his pupils replace the beautiful green of his eyes. He licks once more at the icing coating his fingers in an attempt to mask the scent. He must be struggling for control, so I make quick work of rising and pulling myself together. With the help of both Thaddeus and Gryphon, we’re out the door and crossing the garden in no time. Each of them supports me as I loop an arm around each shoulder.
Thaddeus walks ahead, and I’m not sure if it's to distance himself from my scent or to keep a lookout. Perhaps both. But the shadows grow longer as the sun dips below the tallest of the hedges. I can’t help but squint into the darkness closing in around us at each little sound.