I felt sick.
The casual way he said it. The way he dismissed the violation like it meant nothing.
Disgust twisted in my stomach. “That’s not the point. That’s…that’s perverted. You had no right—”
His expression shifted slightly, something flicking behind his eyes. He frowned, and it was the kind of frown I felt around and on my skin. The air in the room changed as he spoke.
“You shouldn’t be repulsed right now. I saved your life by doing so.”
“What are you?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper. “How did you find me there? No one could have.” Even Weeny Man didn’t know the place existed.
“You almost died.” His voice was flat now, but the anger beneath it was loud.
“How would you know that?”Why does it sting him?
He didn’t answer. He just tilted his head so fucking slowly, as if accessing or comprehending something that was below his mental range.
“You’re stupid enough to consume anything in a place like that?”
“I was thirsty,” I snapped in defence. “And tired.”
“That wasn’t water. What you saw was Pylath. It’s a curse that lives around The Crater.”
My mind stopped working. A curse? “What?”
“The Pylath reaches into your thoughts. It finds what you want most and wraps your desire around its taste. It makes it irresistible. You consume it, you die. And it buries your soul so deep you’ll never reach The Crater again. You become its offering. It protects the place. Keeps people out.”
My heart dropped to my stomach.
Hope, that little traitorous thing, drowned again.
Every time a door opened to The Crater, it slammed in my face when I reached for it. And yet…it still pulled at me. Still wrapped fingers around my chest and yanked. Still begged me to come closer.
“But there was nothing like Pylath on—”
He cut me off. “That’s because you were the first to venture into the other side.”
“Second,” I corrected. “You were the first.”
I sank deeper into the bed, hollowed out by everything. My thoughts scattered, reaching for clarity but finding none.
“Hold on.” I looked up at him. “How did you know about Pylath?”
He said nothing.
He was the first person who knew the other side existed, so how did he know what the curse was called if he didn’t read or hear stories about it? How did he know it was a curse that protected The Crater or that I was lying unconsciously on the other side?
The room closed in on me.
His silence made my skin prickle. Fear struck me like a whip to the ribs, the same fear Weeny Man had felt towards him.
I shifted an inch back instinctively, attempting to create distance between us. He noticed. Of course he did.
He tilted his head again, the barest hint of displeasure appearing at the corner of his mouth.
I could tell very much he didn’t like the distance. Or maybe it was the fear he didn’t like.
My hand shot to my neck.
