Page 60 of Shadows in Bloom

“Have you ever heard of Hemlock? It’s a flower–no, a weed, really. Clusters of pretty little white flowers and bright green stems speckled with the most beautiful shade of purple. But its looks are deceiving. It’s one of the most poisonous plants in the UK–maybe even the most toxic. Just touching it can be deadly, and to ingest it…well, that’s fatal.”

His eyes widened, the pieces falling into place, and I nodded.

“It was in the wine. The wine you were all too happy to drink and to help yourself to more of. It’s been slowly making its way through your system, paralysing you from the inside.”

“You…you monster.” Gathering every part of his remaining strength, he spat at my feet. “I should have killed you while I had the chance. Raped your dead body, just as I did with my wife.” Coughing, he lunged forwards, but he was too weak, collapsing on the ground.

“Maybe I am a monster,” I said softly. “But you are the most evil man I’ve ever known. You are our Chosen, and tonight, you will pay.”

Florin darted forwards, flinging both his knives at once, striking the Chosen’s kidney and groin with unerring accuracy. To my left, Ollie stepped forwards, giving Florin a wide grin as he threw his own knife straight at the Chosen’s thigh. Distorted screams tore from the Chosen’s throat as the knives embedded themselves in his flesh. Blood instantly bloomed from the wounds, a shocking crimson against the faded grey pallor of his skin.

Skipping over to the Chosen, Florin retrieved the knives, blowing me a quick kiss. Straightening up, he tapped one of the bloodstained blades against his lips.

“Hmm. Where next?” He cocked his head. “Here?” He slid the flat of a blade across the Chosen’s cheek, and then twisted it, a line of bright red following the path of the knife as he dragged it downwards. “You bleed so prettily.”

The Chosen screamed again, and that decided his fate. Flicking one of the knives out, Florin stabbed it straight into the Chosen’s windpipe, his screams turning into a gurgle, and then there was silence. Rivulets of scarlet ran down the Chosen’s throat and onto his body, and Florin moaned at the sight.

Then, it was a frenzy of blood, savage and wild, other cirque members striding forwards, and the snarling dogs bounding into the circle with their teeth bared, joining the fray.

When it was all over, blood pooling on the earth beneath the Chosen’s remains, and the cirque members were disappearing in twos and threes and even fours, caught up in the bloodlust that put them into a sexual frenzy, I lowered myself to the dirty ground.

A tear trailed down my cheek. But it wasn’t a tear for him. It was a tear for those whose innocence had been lost, thanks to his depravity.

“It’s over, and you will never hurt anyone again,” I said.

Rising to my feet, I turned my back on the body. I lifted my gaze to meet Amélie’s, and she held out her hand, her lips curving into a tiny smile.

When I reached her, she tugged me into her, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m so proud of you. You’re so strong, Hemlock. So fucking strong.”

“Hemlock?”

She nodded, her smile widening. “Mmm. Only a few in the cirque earn a new name, and most don’t want it. But you…if anyone has earned it, it’s you. You’re not that scared little bird anymore. You faced your demons and conquered them. You’re incredible. What do you say? It’s up to you, of course, but you deserve this. Tonight is both an ending and a new beginning.”

I had no words, shocked to my very core as her words stripped me bare and remade me. She had seen into the deepest part of me and known exactly what I needed. As she said my new name again, it was as if the final strings tying me to my past had been cut. I was free.

Our lips met in a kiss, and as I lost myself in the delicious, slow slide of her mouth, I was suffused with a happiness I’d never known before.

“You’re right,” I said when I drew back to breathe. A smile curved over my lips. “I earned a new name, and I claim it as my own.”

Amélie returned my smile before pulling me into another kiss.

I truly was a new me, reborn and remade on this night.

I was no longer Wren.

I was Hemlock.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW…

So this is where our story ends.

It began with a little bird and ended with the blooming of a new flower. Beautiful and delicate, wild and deadly.

The cirque continues on, moving from town to town, delighting and entertaining those lucky enough to come into possession of a ticket with extraordinary masked performances.

As for those Chosen to lay eyes on the faces behind the mask…well, they’re the unlucky ones. But justice must be served, and so the work continues.

Welcome to the Cirque des Masques.

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