And it is.
The vision last night showed me that.
And every time I think about it, about my brother’s body condemning him, I feel nauseous. But for Kyor to know the truth and keep it from his father would be treason. And he still hasn’t told me everything either.
Maybe love without truth is the most we can ever hope for. It’s far from ideal, but maybe … maybe there’s enough love between us that we can forget about that other part. Maybe the lies don’t matter, or maybe we can at least pretend they don’t for a little while.
There’s no warmth left in the room, and my fingers are starting to go numb. Hoping to warm them against his skin, I curl them slightly intoKyor’s side, careful not to disturb him. Thankfully, he doesn’t move. Even when I draw my head a little closer to his neck, there’s not so much as a flicker of his eyelids. He’s perfectly asleep.
The thought forms in my mind only to be snatched by another. Surely he should have felt me move a little?
My heart hitches as my sight clears on the prince. There’s no movement at all. Not so much as the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes. Just the slightest wheeze whistling from his lips. How can he make that sound without breathing?
‘Kyor?’
My gaze flies to his shoulder. The colours in the room are muted by the watery light that is still claiming the space, but muted or not, it doesn’t change what I see.
‘No. No, no, no …’ The words leave my mouth in a stream as I struggle to take another breath. The angry redness around his wound is gone. And in its place … is something far more terrifying.
Green spiderweb veins snake beneath the surface of his skin, spiralling out from the wound.
‘No!’ My head shakes and my hands tremble as I cover my mouth, trying to stop the scream from escaping. How is this possible? There was nothing there. There was nothing there!
‘Kyor, no – no, please!’ I choke out his name, the air too thin to fill my lungs. This can’t be real. How? How could I have missed it?
My mind stumbles over one thought, then another.
He wanted me to kill him. That’s what he said. If I saw the green, I had to kill him.
But how could I ever do that?
No, there has to be another way! Something that can save him. Some magic, some spell, something.
He loves me. He told me he loved me. Those can’t be the last words he ever says. They can’t be. I won’t survive it.
‘Rose?’ His voice cracks as he lies there flat on the bed, and my entire body flinches. What am I supposed to do? I have to help him, but if he’s becoming one of those things … My eyes flicker down to his nails. Deep green. Filled with the same poison that fills his bloodstream. No, no, it can’t be. Death can’t be the only choice. There must be something I can do. But what?
‘Rose!’
His voice bellows loud enough to rattle the dilapidated roof, and I jump back, but not fast enough as he grabs me by the shoulders. My eyes clench shut and my muscles turn rigid as my heart hammers against my ribs, so loud it’s as though it wants to tell me it’s the last sound I’m ever going to hear. Not the shared words of love, but my own pounding heart and the sound of my name in his poisoned throat. They’re the last sounds I’m going to hear. My last memories of him.
‘No, no, no!’ My eyes remain squeezed shut as I shake my head, feeling the pinch of his grip as he rocks me again and again.
I should have kissed him longer.
That’s all I can think as silent tears slide down my cheeks.
I should have kissed him longer.
‘Rose!’ Kyor – or the Rotting who’s taken his place – shakes me again, but I refuse to open my eyes. I refuse to let the last thing I see be the man I love turned into a monster.
The gasps of my heaving sobs fill my chest.
He’s gone and he’s going to take me with him.
I don’t want to die. I want to save William. I have to save William. But I don’t know how.
‘Rose!’ This time he shakes me with such a jolt that my eyes fly open. ‘Rose, my love, I’m here. You’re okay now.’
