Page 172 of Beast and Remedy
“Liar!” she screams, pushing her chair out and pointing her finger. “You’re always lying and hiding everything!” She slashes her hand accusatorily at everyone. “You’realllying!”
“Marian,” I breathe, my heart breaking.
She was in such high spirits today.
I rise, lifting my shaky hands in surrender, with the hopes she will not flee.
Her face pinches and distorts, pain and agony fighting over which to mold to her and remove all her sunshine and light.
“Don’t youMarianme!” she seethes, rage blasting through her stiffened posture, contrast to the tears streaming down her cheeks. “This is your fault! Everything is always your fault! Why did you have to be the one to do this to me!”
I halt, my knees wobbling from the sheer weight of her fury.
No matter how much I want to run over and wrap my arms around her, fear paints the image of her pushing me off my horse.
Then the depiction switches, altering to a moment where her lifeless gaze stares up at the ceiling of her bedchamber, and I cover her eyes, closing them for the last time. And when I pull my hand away from her, it’s drenched with a deep, sticky red liquid.
So. Much. Blood.
I swallow down that horrifying visualization, casting it so far within the depths of myself with the hope it will never resurface.
But the blood.Herblood.
So. Much. Blood.
Marian’s calm voice surrounds me.
I need you to breathe.
I inhale, needing to remain vigilant. But I can’t release my breath as I take her in now.
Scorn grips her like a vise, the infection slowly ripping her away from our friends. Our family. Me.
I can’t lose her. I can’t!
“She did nothing to you,” Beau’s calm voice states, and I spare a glance at the light illuminating him.
Marian straightens, sneering and readying to launch her wrath at another person. “You don’t know anything.” She flashes her teeth like she wants to bite Beau.
“I know you are hurting and are troubled,” he says, rays of light shimmering along his skin as he rounds the table, moving with grace toward Marian.
To my surprise, she doesn’t move. Rather, she looks like she wants to challenge him to a duel.
“Is that what your stupid power says?”
“It’s what your body tells my magic.” Beau closes the distance and takes her hand. “I see the darkness of the virus clouding your mind and the abyss of pain threatening to drag you under each time I heal you.”
“So, don’t heal me,” she snarls, trying to free herself from his grasp.
But neither Beau nor his magic relent. Gradually, his power seeps into Marian’s flesh, her veins illuminating as light travels up her arm, past her chest, and toward her scalp.
With a soothing, steady voice, Beau says, “You deserve to be healed. You deserve to have that abyss and darkness vanquished forever from you.”
She inhales sharply, body going rigid as he channels more magic into her. Her eyes drift closed, and she relaxes bit by bit until a faint glow emanates around her and Beau.
The brightness surrounding them lasts until he recalls his power, cutting my sister off from the only healing source thathas kept her with us this long. And when she opens her eyes, she immediately lowers her head.
Leo pushes out from his seat, going straight to her side. “Marian?”
