Trashes of the Counts' Families || Trash of the Count's Family || OC

58

He thinks about how she laughs, he thinks about how mischievous she looks with a glass of wine in her hands. He thinks about how she recommends books she knows he'll like, he thinks about how gentle she is with the children.

But. He's now been poisoned.

He knows he wouldn't have been poisoned if Adara had not come along.

But he didn't care. Not anymore.

He knew what might happen if he travelled with Adara, and while he thought he had no choice then, he knew that if he did have a choice now, he would continue to travel with her. Once this whole poison ordeal was over.

Adara looked down at him, holding his hands tightly. "How do you feel?" she asked, barely controlled anger in her voice.

"Tingly," he responded honestly. Adara probably wouldn't appreciate it if he told her he was fine.

Adara scowled. "That's the poison. If you feel tingly already, then it means the poison has already entered your blood system." All we can do now is hope that the Vitality of Heart will heal him, she thought.

Cale frowned, suddenly wondering why she was so concerned. "I should be fine," he started; Adara whipped her head towards him, and he elaborated. "I mean, you were poisoned this morning, right? And, based on how you talked with Sadie and Rory, it was a very powerful poison, and yet you're fine less than 24 hours later because of the Vitality of the Heart. How is it any different if I've been poisoned?"

Adara shook her head, agitated and concerned. She would have used her hands to illustrate her words, but Cale was holding them, and his hands were warm. "We know it heals fast-acting poison; what you've taken is slow-acting poison. If you don't heal, you're going to die after a week. Slowly. Their purpose is different," she explained. "Fast-acting poison needs to get into the bloodstream as fast as possible. To either go to the heart or some other part of the body to infect. Its purpose is to find a blood vessel as fast as possible.

"But, slow-acting poison has a different purpose," she continued. "All it needs to do is to circulate through your body, poisoning every organ and every system, slowly corrupting all of your cells until you die. It's subtler. I'm not sure if the Vitality of the Heart will be able to stop it."

Cale squeezed her hands reassuringly. "I think we should trust the Vitality of the Heart. It's saved us so far."

Adara shook her head, more agitated this time. "But it didn't save Taylor when he died a week after."

I can't see you leave me, she thought, staring into those beautiful brown eyes she loved. Not again. I won't let you leave me. If you, out of everybody, left me, then there was no point in wanting to get better. I won't accept anybody's care if you're not there.

She squeezed Cale's hands back. If he dies, she thought, her thoughts now directed at someone quite different. Then I am going to kill you. She wasn't sure if you could kill a god. But she was going to die trying.

Cale opened his mouth, about to ask another question, when blood came out.

Adara's eyes widened, and she pulled Cale from the bed, bringing him to the bathroom.

He was leaning over the sink, the blood creating an even bigger contrast when he spat on the white marble of the sink.

Adara forcibly made herself calm down. Now would not be a good time to want to throw something into a window. She rubbed Cale on the back, smearing more blood on his white shirt.

"It'll be fine," she murmured, not knowing how to reassure Cale in this situation. "This is actually a good thing, it means the Vitality of the Heart is working."