Page 137 of Devoured

“Yes. During the rite.”

Evie observes me with a cool glance. “It’s only going to get worse, Vanessa. The deaths. The madness. This is just the beginning.”

“I’m ready,” I tell her. And I am.

I want Cora to die. I want to be the one to kill her. The rest doesn’t matter anymore. Calix hating me. Sin bringing me breakfast. Even Portia’s flower crowns have stopped holding any sort of meaning. If Cora wants me to be a monster, then I’m going to be the most vicious monster she’s ever seen. I glance again at the divots in the earth. They haven’t healed themselves.

Maybe some things just can’t be healed.

“Good.” Evie sighs and leans back on the wet grass, lying down. I shift beside her to do the same. The night spins around us, the rain easing to a gentle thrum on our skin and hair. Evie breathes steadily, evenly, while I do my best to control my pulse. To keep the rot inside me from leaking out again.

I shouldn’t have lashed out at Calix, but I can’t be his friend. I can’t be anything else.

“Vanessa?” Evie murmurs suddenly.

I turn my face toward hers as she stares up at the midnight sky. “Yeah?”

She blinks, and a tear falls down her cheek. It looks just like a raindrop. “It’s hard for me too.”

45

SINCLAIR

ARIELLE SHIVERS ON MY BED, THE COVERS PULLED TIGHT around her, the wet of her tears slicking her hair to her skin. It has been twenty minutes, and she has not moved a muscle. Instead, she stares blankly at her lap and chokes on her breath.

“What’s wrong with her?” I ask.

Calix broods behind me, leaning against my door as if to guard it. “How should I know?” His words come out sharp, stilted, though I can’t understand why he’s angrier now than he was a week ago. “Can you help her or not?”

I glance over my shoulder at my cousin. “If you were poisoned, could I provide an antidote without knowing the recipe?”

“Don’t get smart with me.”

“Apologies, Cousin. Let me dumb it down for you: no. I can’t help her if I don’t know what the hell is wrong with her.”

Calix growls and kicks off the door. Stalking toward us, toward Arielle specifically, he cracks his knuckles. “I found her like this hours ago. I tried to help. I forced her to drink water. I dampened her cheeks with a cool washcloth. I even…” He clears his throat uncomfortably. “I held her hand. But it’s like she’s not in there.”

I turn my gaze back to Arielle. She doesn’t focus on anything. Her pupils are pinprick small, her lips open and trembling. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“You healed me for years. You healed Vanessa too,” Calix snaps. And there—her name breaks on his tongue. Shatters like glass.

My brows knit. Though it isn’t important in this moment, when there is a girl on my bed who does not seem to be inside her own head, I can’t help asking him, “Is everything okay? Between the two of—”

He jerks his chin, a curt movement that tells me everything I need to know.

In a handful of days, Vanessa and I will be mated. We’ll be mated, and I haven’t seen her since my mother had us choose our flower arrangements.

She avoids me in the corridors. She doesn’t come to dinner. I haven’t interacted with her since the beach, but clearly Calix has. He’s seen her, spoken to her, and they must have fought. The only moments I’ve witnessed Calix this angry have always been because of her. Months and months ago, it was because he thought she was a threat we needed to remove from our court. And now…

Now it seems that Calix can’t handle his own emotions toward Vanessa. Whatever those emotions may be.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he mutters.

“Calix—”

“Help Arielle, Sin,” he insists. “Please.”

Exhaling smoothly, I crouch in front of her and take her hand in mine. It falls limply against my palm. “Arielle?” I repeat for the tenth time.