Liam laughs, and looks over at me, before turning to my father and grandfather. “Ten days, make the most of your son, he might not be able to walk on the eleventh.”
Without another word the Irish walk out. As Conor follows, his shoulder hits mine and he whispers. “Have the hallucinations started yet?”
Which only makes me laugh, I knew it was them. I’m mostly laughing through the fucking pain. Grandfather tells the Headmaster to leave, and he leaves.
“How much poison do you think is still in his system?” Father asks Leo, who looks at me.
“Don’t know. But for him to fight he needs it out, and he needs to train.” I pull out a chair to sit down, because I’ve used all the energy in my body. My eyes are getting heavy, and I can’t focus.
I need to sleep, that’s what I need. But most of all I need to recover fast. “Sweat it out, pee it out, take any antidote. I don’t care. The man you're fighting will find every weakness you have.” Grandfather turns to face me, and I nod becauseLeo’s worried about this man, and Grandfather doesn't look very pleased about it either.
Who the hell is this guy?
“We’ve taught Matteo to fight. People fear him and his fist. I’m not worried.” Father looks at me and smiles; he has faith I can win.
“I know he will, but he needs you fully fit, Leo get him ready.” I hear Grandfather's voice, as I close my eyes, listening to the plan they’re coming up with for getting me ready, and a plan for the fight.
It’s going to be a show for everyone, but it’s one I don’t plan on losing.
Chapter 42
Matteo
My family left me here to survive. Or die. I don't know which one because it feels like I’m slowly dying. The hallucinations started the evening after the meeting with the headmaster.
The family decided that I needed to get this crap out of my body faster. So here I am in the fire room.
I have no idea how high the heat is in here, but Leo said it was going to be the highest it can go, then the fucker added some flames in here to help me sweat the poison out even more.
Stone walls, furnace heat, no windows. One door that locks from the outside. The Messinas built it generations ago for punishment… or purification. Today, it feels like both. I’m soaked to the bone, shirtless, barefoot, every inch of me burning under the strain of fever and poison.
Blood slicks my tongue, sharp copper under a film of ash, like I’ve been chewing on the barrel of a gun.
Leo’s voice echoes in my head from hours ago:“You sweat it out, or it kills you. There’s no middle.”
So that’s what I’m doing. I sweat.
I pace. I scream. I throw my fists into the stone wall until blood replaces sweat on my knuckles.
The heat claws at my skin like punishment from the gods. It’s like sitting inside a furnace while my bones melt and blood thickens into tar. I rip my T-shirt off, hoping it will ease a little of the pain. It doesn’t, I can still feel the sweat dripping off me.
I have to say I think it’s working. I've not been vomiting today, but my energy is still low. Leo came in this morning and took a blood sample to see how much is left in my system.
It’s not just the cut that burns. It’s the memory of how scared she was for me. The way her hands shook trying to hold me together.
I close my eyes, and I see her face. Hear her laugh. Feel again her fingers brushing against mine that first night on the cliff. I see her on that edge; I see her being ripped from me again. I feel it in my chest like an echo of a death that hasn’t happened yet. Those were the hallucinations I was having, over and over again.
This poison’s taking over my mind, not just my body. It’s playing games with me, making me think she jumped, but she didn't. I saved her. I’m sure I saved her.
I need to get this shit out of my system; it’s making me start to double think everything.
“Better now?” a voice says from behind me, cold and calm.
I whip around.
A silhouette fills the doorway, heat clinging to him until it shapes into muscle and scars. Broad shoulders, skin inked like battle scripture. Every inch of him built for war.
Nico Alessi.
