Page 34 of She Who Was Once the Sea

"Marella, what did you do?"

A long pause. And then, "I gave you some of mine."

"Some of your what?"

But I already knew the answer. It was currently pooling in my belly, damning me from the inside out as we spoke.

And she knew I knew. Because she didn’t answer. She just stared at me, eyes wide and pleading. "I’m so sorry."

I sat up, expecting dizziness. Instead, I felt steadier and stronger than I had in a long time. Slowly, I let the momentum pull me to my feet, let it carry me across the room and into the bathroom.

I almost didn’t recognize myself in the mirror. My face was pale, and my eyes were red. One in particular looked as though I had popped a blood vessel. The skin around my mouth was stained with splatters of deep red.

And when I finally gathered the nerve to peel my lips away from my teeth, I was greeted with a pair of elongated canines and the bloodstained evidence of what I’d just consumed.

I turned on my heel and marched back into the room.

"What have you done?" I demanded, voice no longer weak but thunderous. I’d never spoken that way—to anyone—in my life. "You’ve killed me!"

"You said you knew the risks." Marella clambered to her feet, arms crossed defensively atop her chest . "You told me to do this."

"I told you to drink from me!" I screamed. "I didn’t tell you to turn me into one of you!"

"I didn’t know that would happen," she snapped. "I just wanted to stop you from dying."

"And you couldn’t have done that by simply not drinking as much?"

She bit her lower lip, and I couldn’t help but stare at those teeth—the ones I knew were now reflected in my own face. "It’s not easy to stop once you start," she said quietly. "You… taste really good."

A flash of heat rushed across my face, but I dismissed it with a shake of my head. "So you decided to damn me?"

This time, she rolled her eyes, all her penitence forgotten for the time being. "I think that ‘damned’ is a bit dramatic."

"I’m sorry," I said sardonically. "I don’t know what other word to use for the fact that you’ve drawn me into your curse."

"If you’d have just let me hunt like I wanted to in the first place—"

"You’d have cursed someone else? Great."

"No, Garrett, I’d have killed someone else. Don’t be stupid." Her green eyes were blazing. "And you’d still be a normal human and there’d be one less bad person roaming the streets of Rossaia."

"I would have rather you let me die," I hissed.

"Yeah, well." She looked away from me now, letting her gaze drift along the floor. "I just couldn’t do that." Her voice was softer now, less defensive, once again remorseful. "I’ve never killed someone who didn’t deserve it. And I didn’t want you, of all people, to be my first."

I swallowed, not taking my eyes off her. "Well then," I finally said. "I guess that just makes me more determined to do what I came here to do."

She turned back to me, green eyes shining. "And what’s that?"

I leveled her with a hard stare, letting her catch a glimpse of my new teeth. "I’m to help you break the curse."

Chapter 16 - Marella

The whole time he spoke, I couldn’t stop myself from staring. He sat slightly hunched forward, elbows resting on his knees, hands together in a tight knot. His bright blue eyes sparkled in the low light of the sun, brimming with excitement as he told me about Brother Lucas.

"Wait." I cut him off as he explained about the man’s love affair with one of my sisters. "Did he tell you her name?"

Garrett shook his head. "No. It was so long ago, he says he can’t remember."