Rhea’s POV

Talon opened the box and it gave out a pungent smell of dead grasses.

He left the box beside the bed and approached me. “You would step out.”

Everything was off, right?

I’d always been in all sessions, maybe just most sessions of him offering treatment to Sebastian. All those times, he didn't insist I leave the room. Sebastian always found my stay during these sessions as a good and relieving company to him.

And even now, he wasn't asking me to leave, except Talon’s sudden request.

“What's this about?” I asked.

“Just leave,” Sebastian said.

He laid on the bed, facing the roof, and Talon's hand was pointing at the door for me to leave.

“This final treatment,” Sebastian's words came out weak like he was fading along with his breath.

“Your final treatment… There's a final treatment for you?”

Talon sighed, got back to the box and started taking out objects like scissors, cotton wool and other substances in small jars I couldn't have had any idea of. He placed these items on the table beside the bed. When I thought he was done bringing out all of his stuff, he brought out a small clay plate.

His eyes shot at me. “You're not supposed to stay here as this isn't for you.”

“I know it isn't for me, but–”

“Sebastian.” He patted Sebastian who seemed to be falling asleep. “Tell her.”

Sebastian had a hard time forcing his eyes open. When he managed to sit up, I noticed his face had suddenly become swollen.

“It will buy more time,” he said between breaths. “More time before I become feral.”

The state of his body kept fluctuating, all these the perks of the curse I supposed. He could be in any condition at any moment. I always reminded myself I could never get used to this.

“Okay, yeah.”

“Yes, go.” Talon lit the tiny wool in the small clay plate he'd brought out from the box.

And the smell of dead grass intensified in the room as I stepped out of the room, sneezing without control of myself.

Outside the door, I looked through a small hole beside the doorknob. I wouldn't give up trying to see how he coped.

Sebastian’s eyes were shot, but I could tell how he felt. It was all about the pain thriving through his veins. He always tried to hide it, and that would be because he hated to portray himself as a weak Alpha.

But the look on his face… it couldn't be all about the pain in his body, but something more?

It could have endured through it and didn't flinch or let his eyes produce tears because of it, but the tears always flowed.

It was something more.

One of his darkest scenes, obviously his darkest memory, began to recall itself to me.

He stormed out of his parents' room, his hands shaking like he came in contact with a live wire, his teeth chattering as cold sweat slicked down his face.

“Father…” he’d called out, unable to complete a sentence.

The gammas who acted as guards in the palace had rushed to meet him, but he still couldn't put out words to them.

“They are… They are on the bare floor… Blood.” His fingers dug into his thick hair, brushing through it, and walking down to scratch his face.

His reaction drew attention from everyone around the Alpha’s palace. At that time, his father, Henry, was the Alpha. The pack elders who stood outside came inside the main hall to see him in that dreadful state.

That was when they saw blood stains on his shot.

“One about your parents?” One of the elders had asked him.

But he couldn't speak.

They got into his parents’ room.

What they found was a grim scene. Blood covered the floor like a replacement for the tiles. His parents’ pulse? None of that existed.

They were gone, lifeless on the cold floor.

I’d seen this event unfold as my father was the beta of the pack—second in command to the Alpha. I was there, even though I was much younger than him.

I might have been a little above ten.

Now, looking at him lying on the bed, succumbing himself to Talon's treatment with clenched teeth, made me realize the event of his parents’ death was the root of the pain that must be tearing him apart. Not the scissors used on his body, not the needles used for acupuncture, nor the effect of the curse itself.

All of these sucked.

Talon pulled off his gloves, and placed them on the table. He was done.

He came to the door, and I quickly stood upright, turning my eyes away from the small hole at the door.

He pulled the door open. “Rhea… You’ve been crying?”

“Oh…” I wiped my palms across my face.

I didn't realize tears left my eyes.

“Those tears are just useless.” He sighed, shaking his head. “If you had convinced him enough into performing the Crimson moon rite, using that human’s essence as his cure. All these years wouldn't have been needed.”

I nodded. I couldn't be offended that he blamed me.

I took Sebastian as my responsibility.

“I know… I know, but how is he?” I stood by the doorpost observing Sebastian from the distance, scared to hear bad news.

“He has a few more days to stay normal, and after that… hmmm.”

“After that, then what?”

“His time of sanity would be reduced to just an hour a day. The rest for the feral state.”

“How many days does he have before that?”

“Maybe five, maybe a week.”

He left, giving me no room to ask more eager questions. Soon after, one of the maids came in to clean the mess on the floor—spilled substances from the bottles, and the used hand gloves from the table.

After that, when it was just Sebastian and I, I laid on the bed.

His eyes opened. A broad smile lit up my face.

But he frowned instead, what for? Was it because of…

“Lilith.” He jerked up, sitting upright, and his gaze going all over the room. “Where's she?”

My face twitched. “The human?”

“Yes, where's she?”

I heard the sound of broken glasses hitting the floor.

It was not the sound of actual glass. It was the sound of broken expectations. I thought he said he could only stand my presence if she was far apart. The room she was made to stay in wasn't close to Sebastian's. Or was she nearby?

It wasn't possible she left the room.

“Her scent of pineapples…” He pulled himself out of bed. “I should see her.”

I felt my fingers burning. “The connection between mates is this strong, huh?”