The Son of Night & Spring

Chapter Nineteen

He bent to kiss Talia's head, "Do you need anything before I go?"

"I'm alright, Lotus. I have Calian if anything!" she smiled at the male. The sight made him clench his fist and he gave Calian a short nod.

Before he turned to leave, Calian grabbed his arm, Handing him the bottle, except this was a different wine. Full to the brim and lighter than the one they were drinking. The male shrugged, "I'm blaming you if questioned where it went."

Lotus laughed, expecting nothing less.

He took a moment to stare at Calian, his hair now growing past his shoulders and the other half in a bun. He wondered if he would like him to trim it...

But there was something perfect about the way he now has it. Enough that Lotus wanted to capture the expression he had on his face, even if it was intended for Talia, on a canvas. Where he could spend hours on the details.

He cleared his throat, said "Excuse me", and left.

His heart still twisting at the sight of them getting farther and farther away...

Lotus leaned against the walls for stability as he stumbled through the hall.

He expected his tolerance to grow low since he got sick but never to a point only four glasses were his limit. That's at least a whole bottle.

He faltered a step, sudden nausea hitting him like a heat-wave. With blurred eyes and weak legs Lotus tried to focus on simply walking forward but dizziness seemed to blind him and push him down. It felt like at any moment his vision would turn black and maybe he'd stopped breathing if he was lucky. But there simply ringing in his ear and white stars in his sight.

The bitter taste of veil burned his throat, like acid being poured or being crushed under a boulder, gasping and reaching for something that wasn't there.

He trembled with a force he only felt once, back in Spring. Where it clawed at his organs, to tear him from the inside out. Shifting and shaping into something he didn't want to be. But forced to become.

He could only imagine what he looked like.

A rabid animal in a cage with a Fae body as his skinsuit, wouldn't that be a nightmare to unfold...

The ringing in his head became louder and Lotus felt on fire. Growing like a weed he didn't know how to unroot.

He was like an animal on all fours, in an internal war.

The wine bottle broken and bleeding out before him like a puddle of blood.

Bare feet came into his view, but when he looked up, he couldn't make out their small form.

Amren?

Soft hands grabbed his face, tilting his chin upward, sharp nails digging into his skin on his cheeks, he hissed and clawed at them but the hand quickly pushed him back into the wall, squeezing his throat but not enough pressure to suffocate him.

He felt like he was losing his mind, screaming and fighting but no noise came out, simple growls and groans from a monster.

The person grabbed his face roughly again and he forced his eyes.

Aquatic met indigo in a panic.

Her hair was like fire, in contrast to his sun. But she burned with a blue flame while he suffered with ice.