Page 103 of The Poison Daughter
The pain is a liar. But right now, I believe it.
I know this perilous feeling—the tipping point between wanting to survive and being afraid to.
Aidia’s haunting whispers echo through my mind.“Some people have something extra driving them, Low. You’re a survivor.”
I don’t feel like one now.
Finally, we get to the door of my room. Gaven rips it open, nearly dropping me in the process. I’m too overcome with the blinding ache to chide him. I just want something cool on my head.
He kicks the door closed behind us with a grunt and clicks the lock into place.
“Washroom floor,” I rasp.
Gaven hauls me into the adjoining room and lowers me beside the tub.
I gesture toward the door that leads to Henry’s room. “Lock him out. He can’t know about this before the wedding.”
Before Gaven can close the washroom door that leads to Henry’s room, Kyrin trots in. Gaven freezes, but I just groan. If the wolf wants to rip my throat out, at least it will end my misery.
Instead, Kyrin whines and nudges my hand with his nose.
“Go away,” I groan, drawing my hand back.
The wolf whines again.
I try to force some sort of authority into my voice. “I said go away. Go back in his room.”
I wince and open my eyes to see Kyrin take two steps toward the wrong door—the one that leads to my room.
“Do you want me to…” Gaven’s voice trails off when he doesn’t have a solution to offer.
“Just lock the door to Henry’s room. One beast at a time,” I say, rolling onto my side and hugging my roiling stomach.
Gaven shuts the door. The faucet turns on, and a moment later, he places a cool washcloth on my forehead.
“Thank you,” I whisper. My breaths are shallow. The floor is cool under my clammy cheek. Sweat beads on the back of my neck.
Gaven’s voice cuts through the pounding rush of my heartbeat in my ears. “I’ll be outside your room.”
His boots click on the floor as he walks away.
“Gaven,” I whisper. “Don’t leave yet.”
Even with my eyes closed, I can sense him there, torn between staying and going. Since Gaven’s only power is borrowed, his aura is the white of those who don’t have a magic blessing granted by the Divine.
Gaven has seen the moments before the pain descends, but he’s always been banished before it consumes me. Either way, he’s not warm. He’s always maintained a strong boundary between guard and caretaker. I doubt he will change that now, but I can barely care.
My dress sticks to my clammy skin. I am nothing but agony and I can’t stand to feel it alone.
Kyrin lets out a huff of disapproval from the threshold to my room.
A moment later, the light shifts behind my eyes. Gaven sighs and sits beside me. I reach out, and he takes my hand.
“I miss Aidy,” I whisper.
I sound so pathetic. A thirty-year-old woman who wants her sister because she’s lonely and in pain. When I’m hurting, all of the things I’ve been shoving away can get to me. I’m mortified by my profound weakness, by the fact that someone other than my sister is seeing it.
Gaven squeezes my hand. “I know,” he says after a long moment.
