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It wasn’t him. He wasn’t looking at me; it was more as if he was looking through me, seeing a version of me that didn’t exist. His hands found themselves wrapped around my throat, cutting off my oxygen.
Davorin was mumbling. It was incoherent, but I managed to understand bits and pieces. He thought I was dead and that it was his fault. Despite screaming that I was there, alive, and that it wasn’t his fault, I couldn’t get through to him.
If I hadn’t pulled out the gun that was tucked behind my back and smacked him on the side of the head, I would’ve been dead. And this time it would’ve been his fault.
It took me over thirty minutes to regain my composure.
I’d tied the only man we left alive to one of the trees and hadn’t bothered to check on him since. It was hard bringing Davorin inside on my own, and I had to use the ropes that Felix had the opportunity to test not too long ago.
Doctor Beckett had called me in the morning, reminding me of the meeting. I’d completely forgotten about that. With her help, we brought Adrik inside.
What did he see? Did he also hear voices in his head? What were they telling him?
“I’ll leave the bag of medicine for both of you here,” she said calmly. “Call me when it’s time.”
Eliana Beckett didn’t know the extent of my plans, and she didn’t need to. All she needed to know was that keeping my blood safe meant her children were safe. That was all she needed. She regretted meeting us, though I thought it was fate.
On the day I had that… accident, before Aleksei’s birthday, it was supposed to be her day off. However, she was asked to come in as they lacked staff. That was how she met the family. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she hated us.
I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. Despite cleansing my body of the dirt and blood, the green and blue mark on my throat remained. It wasn’t painful to touch, but it was persistent. Those kinds of bruises took time to heal, and it was summer. No amount of makeup would be able to conceal it.
Eliana advised me to drink something warm to help with the healing process. He’d almost smashed my windpipe. Of course, she told me to let go of the alcohol and stick to tea—even hot coffee, if necessary.
As I sipped on the tea, I wished I could put some alcohol in it. I couldn’t pinpoint when I’d started drinking so severely. It was around the time Davorin killed those people behind the club and our meeting was official. It was helpful, and it didn’t harm anyone besides me.
Though, as things were going, I needed to ease up on the amount. At times, it was as much as two bottles per night. I had too many nights where I couldn’t remember a thing. Not how I managed to get to a club, how I got home, or what I did.
Now that things had become too real, I couldn’t allow myself to do something like that again.
My thoughts were broken once his body moved slightly. Slowly, I glanced up.
Davorin groaned, eyes still closed. The smaller wounds he had were also taken care of by Doctor Beckett. Everything was patched up nicely. Although I didn’t know if his episode had ended. Likely, he would think this was a dream. However, he didn’t have superhero strength and couldn’t break out of the ropes without my help.
Before talking to him, I removed the gauze from my arm. It wasn’t something I had any intention of explaining, and I didn’t need him questioning it. And since the bleeding had stopped, I no longer needed it anyway.
“Good morning, sunshine.”
He didn’t respond. His blinking was slow, eyes narrowed as sunlight hit his face directly. He tried standing up but found himself falling back onto the couch in a sitting position. His eyes found mine, though they were blank. Slowly, it morphed into confusion as he tried blinking the image of me away.
“You’re not real,” he mumbled to himself, his gaze desperate for confirmation.
“I’m real.”
This would’ve been the perfect opportunity to fuck with his head. But given what I’d witnessed last night, it was dumb and reckless to cause him to spiral again. I wasn’t that heartless.
“My little lion is dead.”
His voice was low; agony laced his words. Despite seeing me in front of him, he didn’t believe it. The effects of his episode remained, but I was on a clock and didn’t have enough time to slowly break that trance.
“I’ll prove it to you.”
Adrik’s eyes widened ever so slightly. He looked me up and down, multiple times. He was still out of it, believing none of this was real. Then, a ghost of a smile tugged on the corner of his lips.
“Kiss me, then.”
And slap him, I did.
The goal was to wake him the fuck up from the state of delusion he’d been in.
