Remy and Bella’s hands cease moving.The lattice evaporates into the air, and Roman’s body clatters to the floor.His skin is already flaking as I rush to Dahlia side.
“Is she…” I ask Red, but she won’t look at me.
It’s Quinn who answers.“It’s not good.”
Chapter16
Penelope
Two days.
Two days of pacing, barely sleeping, barely eating.When I do sleep, it’s in an armchair in the infirmary.I’m restless and fitful, my mind riddled with flashbacks, be they Roman, the Whisper Club, the body hanging in the doorway, the blade penetrating Dahlia’s chest.
That’s the one that repeats the most.
Over and over.And no matter how I try to distract myself, when I close my eyes, it’s all I see.
Dahlia’s siblings don’t need to sleep the way I do, so they all sit in a state of stillness that unnerves me.They’re conserving their energy so they don’t need to feed.And given the bloodshed from the past couple of days, and the fact Roman had been turned, it’s probably for the best.
By the third day, though, they reanimate, and this time, they’re hungry.
Quinn, Remy, Bella and Scarlett all donate a pint of blood which Xavier, Gabriel and Red gratefully drink.Octavia refuses, she’s still blaming herself and trying to ease out the political shitstorm that was unleashed after the wedding.
The one saving grace is that Calandra allowed Octavia and Xavier to compel every guest at the wedding to forget, save a handful of her council members.They are trying to get on.It’s taking a lot of give and take and compromise, but their relationship has remained intact.
“How are you doing?”Red asks as I join her and Quinn outside Dahlia’s room.
“I thought you said she’d be awake by now,” I whine at Quinn.The exterior windows in her room are covered and darkened so no light filters through.But the inner windows through to the hall we’re in are made of glass.Her siblings all rest in various chairs and positions like sentinels.
“I thought she would be too, but I’m not trained as a vampire doctor, I only have limited knowledge from the study I did.”She squeezes my arm.“We did everything we could, but the fact she hasn’t and isn’t desiccating is a good sign.”
Quinn and Red leave to find their friends, so I re-enter the room and sit on the bed holding Dahlia’s hand.Time drifts, the room warming and cooling as the sun rises and then sets again.Someone brings me food, which I reluctantly pick at.
Sometime in the early evening, I take my place by Dahlia again and slip my hand into hers.I rub my thumb along the back of her hand the way she did to me at the ceremony.
She twitches.
I sit bolt upright.
“Dahlia?”I gasp.
Octavia rushes to my side, Gabriel too.He places his book on the bed and perches on the side opposite me.
“Is she awake?”Gabriel asks.
“I…” I say, but I don’t know.“I swear her hand moved under my touch.”
Xavier joins us now.“Come on, Dah, stop being dramatic and wake up.”
Her hand twitches again.And finally, her eyelids flutter open.She squeezes her hand around mine, a slow grin pulling at her lips.
“Dahlia?”Gabriel says, leaning forward.
Dahlia’s gaze flits to her brother.“Ugh.Penelope was a great view to wake up to.You… not so much.”
He laughs and whacks her with the book.
“Oww, watch it, I was mortally injured, don’t you know,” Dahlia says, rubbing her arm.
