Page 43 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

“Sleep for now, little wolf. I will protect you tonight and we will talk in the daylight.” He bundled me into his arms before I could protest, carrying me from the chair to his bed and tucking me beneath the blankets. The Soulshade cat eyed us, moving to stretch along my side as soon as the blankets were drawn back up.

I closed my eyes against the burning tears. I should have fought him, should have demanded he return me to my room, but I could not bring myself to turn away the comfort of being cared for. Bundling myself into the blankets that smelled of him, I could already feel myself drifting, the nerves finally wearing off as he’d slowly brought me down from the emotional high. I doubted he was even aware he’d done it, but I would not question it. I’d failed my brothers and had failed at my last hope.

There was nothing left to lose, and if I could gain just an ounce of comfort from Tallon, I would take it greedily.

Lips pressed gently against my forehead, and it was a struggle to keep my eyes closed and not surge up and demand that he press that same kiss to my lips, to my neck and to the rest of my body, to make me forget everything but his touch. His breath was warm against my forehead, fluttering my eyelashes. “Sleep well, little wolf.”

ChapterTwenty-Two

The taste of metal flooded my mouth, hot rivers of blood running down from my nose. It was thick and coated my throat, cutting off my air. I coughed, struggling to sit up and clear my airways, but my arms gave out as blood flew from my lips and I felt the spatter land on my cheeks and neck. The blood continued with no reprieve and the coughing quickly turned to gagging. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t swallow.

My mother’s hands ran along my shoulders, helping me struggle up to sitting, all the while I still coughed and gagged and choked on the blood filling my mouth and throat.

“Shh, shh, Odyssa,” she murmured, rubbing her hands along my back. “Don’t fight it.”

I couldn’t have fought it even if I wanted to. Blood continued to pour down my throat, and then the panic began to set in. I could not breathe. My hands tightened on the scratchy quilt, one managing to reach up and claw at my throat, grasping and squeezing as if it would clear the thick fluid from my airways.

My stomach felt hot, twisted and wrong, and my mother barely had time to dart out of the way before I was retching, vomiting up the blood I’d swallowed.

Everything burned; my eyes and my throat most of all. Blinking back the tears brought by the violent expulsion, I kept one hand on my throat and the other reached for my mother, for any comfort.

Her hand grasped mine. “I am here, Odyssa. You are a fighter, dear girl, but you need to make a choice. You cannot keep lingering here in the in-between; your brothers need me to return to them.”

My mind swam, vision dotted by dancing black orbs. What did she mean? I shook my head, trying to clear out the bloody haze and think. A cold rag swiped across my forehead and then the rest of my face.

The cold left and my mother’s hand returned. “Live or die. You must decide soon.”

My entire body trembled.Die, I tried to speak, but only garbled noises came out, blood still coating my throat and clinging to my teeth and tongue. I wanted to die, to end this suffering.

At the foot of my bed, peering back at me with yellow eyes, a black cat sat atop my blankets. All at once, I was on the ceiling, looking down at my body in the bed, the cat at my feet and my mother at my side.

The cat looked up at me and tipped its head, opening its mouth, but the voice that came out of it was that of a man, old and weathered, but distinguished and elegant, like a vintage silk. “You cannot die, Odyssa. It is not in your nature.”

Blood poured from my nose anew. The cat blinked at me.

My vision blurred and when it cleared, I was no longer in my room, no longer choking on my own blood, though still-wet blood covered my chin and neck, dripping down onto my nightgown. Surrounding me were towering black cliffs overlooking churning red waters.

Ice-cold wind whipped around me, whistling through my hair.

The ground beneath my bare feet was frigid and rocks dug into the soles. I did not wince as I took cautious steps forward, searching for any clue as to where I was or why I was here.

“Odyssa.”

I spun, only to find myself face-to-face with Rhyon, but not the Rhyon I’d left behind. This Rhyon looked like me, with blood covering his face and neck, staining his shirt crimson. His skin was too pale and his eyes dull and lifeless. “Rhyon,” I breathed. “I am so sorry.”

“You let me die, Odyssa,” he said, taking a large step towards me. With each step he took, I retreated, my heart thundering wildly at the look of rage upon his face. “It is your fault I am dead.”

“No, no,” I said, shaking my head and holding my hands out toward him. “Rhyon, no, I would never.”

“You let me die. You let me die. You let me die.”

My feet scrambled against the rocks, finding no purchase of ground beneath as I stumbled back. I looked behind me, only to see the edge of the towering cliff and rocks from my feet tumbling down into the river of blood below. Frantically, I turned back to Rhyon, who was still advancing. “What are you doing? Please, stop this.”

“You let me die. You let me die. You let me die.” He stopped abruptly, right in front of me.

His little hands stretched out, and he pushed at my stomach hard with a strength he should not have had.

Time slowed, and then I was falling, looking up at him as he peered over the edge of the cliff. I heard a scream whistling on the wind as I fell, realizing it was my own.

---