Page 210 of Beast and Remedy
But I painfully sever myself from him, holding his stare as I curtsy.
“I love you, B. Happy name day.”
I don’t wait for his acknowledgment, my head falling as I rise and take my leave.
The musicians resume playing, no one understanding how every step I take from the man I love wrecks me.
Ruins me.
I sacrificed it all to give our world a chance. A cure.
But now I’m the one left infected with a withering heart and decaying soul.
And the only remedy that could ever heal me will never be found in a book, or letters, or research, and ingredients.
I traded being cursed as a beast for being cursed for a life without love.
A life without Beau.
The realization settles deep in my bones, my eyes stinging the more that revelation carves itself into my chest, slicing me repeatedly. It poisons my heart, pollutes my soul, and hacks away at what little of me remains.
Fighting away the heartbreak as I sift through the crowd, I try to find my sister, Jules—someoneto force my heart not to long for what it wants.
Relief floods over me when a sweet and youthful person squeaks. I swallow down my pain, clearing my vision as I peer up to Sybille’s loving and gleeful eyes.
“Vi!” She beams, and I can’t help my small smile.
“My dear friend.”
She hurries toward me with open her arms but second-guesses herself. She peers to her mother conversing with King Vinzent.
I regard the two monarchs in curiosity.
“They’re good friends,” Sybille comments.
“Like you and me?”
“We’ll be better friends than them, especially given all we’ve done for each other!”
I chuckle. “You’ve been more of a help to me than I you. Your foresight clued us in on the cure, for which I’m eternally grateful to you.”
Sybille gapes. “Y-You did?”
“Yes! Don’t you remember?” I ask. “You told me about using the healer’s blood.”
“Both bloods?” she clarifies, and my heart sinks.
Both? What does that even mean?
What if…Marian.
Shit, did the tonic only work temporarily? Is it going to unravel her slowly like last time or drain her from the inside out before I even have a chance to fix it?
You should have known you’d fail, Vi.
I push away my damning thoughts, needing answers, and squeeze Sybille’s hand. “What do you mean,both?”
Her brown doe eyes, full of love and concern, sharpen at my hold on her.
