Page 102 of The Cannibal

I shrugged. “Here and there.”

“Blood straight from the body?”

I lifted my shoulders in defense. “I did,” I admitted, but I wasn’t keen on explaining the circumstance. “On Silas, a few times.”

Phoebe did her best to hide her grimace, bless her soul.

“You’re overexerting yourself,” Luka said, “and malnourished. Do you think you can handle human blood if we did it in very small servings?”

“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up before they landed at my sides, flinching when a twinge of my abdomen acted up. “No one has been very helpful in figuring out feeding.”

“Well, you’re never keen on accepting help anyway.” He stood. “Your head hit the table, so don’t be alarmed by the stitches.” As he spoke he checked his timepiece, then clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I’m late, I’ll let Silas know while we are out.”

I refused to look at him. Then I heard the door close.

The ringing in my ears had finally subsided. The light from outside was nearly gone, the last sliver of red being swallowed by the oncoming dusk, reflected from the building windows across from my room.

“How do you feel?” Phoebe asked.

I glared at her, but based on her expression, she knew the answer was obvious.

“If there’s anything I can do⁠—”

“Leave.”

She bit her lip, lowering her gaze awkwardly. Even if it was reluctant, she did as I asked. Every step she took was unsure, but she made it to the door eventually, and at last I was alone.

I threw the towel from my head to the floor, groaning when I felt the soreness of my scalp. When I slipped my thumb into my hair to touch the rough edges, the wound was already mostly healed. A human may have taken a week to get to this point. The wonders of Viperic regeneration.

With much effort, I got to a sitting position, closing the buttons of my combinations as I examined the room for my day clothes.

I pressed the pads of my feet to the floor. Suddenly it was like starting from the beginning again. How I found myself in such an insufferable loop, I may never know. Sometimes life’s friction means I’m headed down an important path that no others dared. That is what I chose to tell myself as of late.

The post of the canopy bed became my first support, then the nightstand. I used the wall to inch toward the bureau. With determination, I managed a house robe. It was a bright red with red spider lilies depicted along the bottom and the drooping sleeves. I didn’t realize exactly how many extra clothing items Phoebe bought for me with my initial order. All shades of red, from burgundy to striking vermillion.

No slippers, I needed the stability today.

The journey outside my room was a steady one. There was no rush to where I was going, but it was taking more energy than I thought.

“Alina?” A voice behind me.

“Leave me be.” My face was becoming hot from effort and mortification. I thought most would be in their rooms or at dinner by now.

An arm looped around my waist and took one of my hands.

“I won’t leave you be, but I also won’t steer you away from whatever you’ve set your mind on,” Sidney laughed.

“So you will steer me to John?” I looked up at him.

Sidney nodded, already letting me lean my weight on him.

“Is he well?” I asked. We made it down the stairs one by one. Between his grip on my hand and my own on the railing, I was already more confident in my steps.

“You can ask him yourself.”

“Of course.” I pushed out a breath, the soreness of my body beginning to make itself known.

He led me down the corridor, I could hear people on the first floor gathering for their meals already, but all was quiet up here once we left the stairwell.