Chapter 54: The Knife Between Sisters

Malachi was on bed rest for the next twenty-four hours, and Della stayed by his side throughout. To ensure that the secret about his inability to heal remained private, all other patients were sent to the other healing room at the back.

And Della dedicated every second of her time to Malachi. He watched as she gently wiped his skin with a clean, warm towel, prepared his medicine on time, and always checked his temperature by comparing it with her own.

He only watched.

Like right now, she had the back of her palm pressed over his forehead and the other palm over hers, comparing his temperature with hers again. Once she noticed it had come down again, she would nod to herself.

"I can’t stay in here forever," Malachi said at some point.

She looked at him and scrunched up her nose. That was all he had to say?

"We can head back to your quarters. You’ve healed enough to move."

He was actually doing better than she had expected.

A few minutes later, they were both standing and ready to leave.

Della thanked Annelise extensively for her help, and also for helping her with her ankle again. She also thanked Moira, but the older woman completely ignored her and bowed to Malachi instead.

Then, they left the healing wing.

She stayed two feet behind him, watching the way he walked and breathed. The paleness to his skin was gone, and there seemed to be barely any weaknesses left in his veins.

Good.

But the walk was tense.

Because her fate was still yet to be decided.

The council meeting would happen again in the next seven days, and Malachi would have to give an answer that day — to which the next three days, whatever choice he made would be sprung into action.

If he chose her as his Luna, she would be crowned the next three days.

And if he chose her as his slave, the Servitude ritual would happen the next three days.

She looked down, watching her hands tremble. She gripped the edges of her shirt to try and make them stop.

"Moonfire,"

Her heart skipped way too many times.

She looked up at him, but he didn’t turn around. The tension in his shoulders had risen more than before, making hers even worse too.

They were both standing in the middle of one of the corridors of the castle. No servants or maids walked by at the moment, stretching the silence into something unbearable.

He finally spoke again, and those words shattered her, "I will choose the second option. You are not Luna material."

And then, he walked away.

It was that simple for him.

Her grip on her shirt tightened so hard she might tear the material, and she bit down on her lip to keep the pain in her heart from exploding out of her mouth.

She had seen this coming. She knew that would be his answer. And he was probably letting her know beforehand, so that she would mentally prepare herself for what was to come.

"Bastard...," A tear rolled down her eyes, blood running down her bruised lips, "Why can’t you just...save me..." She whispered desperately.

But he was gone.

He didn’t hear her.

She leaned on the stone walls around her, trying to swallow back the tears before they would break her even more.

She already accepted the fact that she was born to suffer a long time ago, but she never imagined it involved... something as cruel as this?!

The mate bond pulsed once.

"Shut up," She muttered.

It pulsed again.

"It’s all your fault, it’s all your goddamn fault!" She kept muttering, getting more frustrated, "You keep giving him pieces of my heart, and he keeps shattering them into more pieces..." The tears became too overwhelming to withstand, and she let them fall.

Her back slipped down the wall, and she sat there on the floor with her face buried between her legs, sobbing hard.

Twice! Twice she’d gotten the chance to escape from this hellhole, and twice she had changed her mind because of him. She was way too fragile for this world.

She looked down at herself — her skin, and began trembling again, "Someone should have killed me...," Her lips quivered, "Someone should have killed me before now, so I wouldn’t have to—"

"You can just do it yourself," A voice said.

Della’s eyes snapped open, and she looked up through teary eyes to see Beatrice standing there, looking back down at her with a lazy, wicked smirk.

"What are you doing here?!" Della shot up to her feet, watching Beatrice closely as she took cautious steps away from her.

"Why?" Beatrice’s tone grew softer, obviously taking and taunting Della, "Can’t a sister worry about how her Rotblood, stupid elder sister is doing?!"

"You’re not worried about me!" Della fired angrily, "Why are you here, and what do you want from me this time?"

Beatrice rolled her eyes, "Ugh! Please. What would I ever want from you?"

"Then why are you here?!"

"To watch you suffocate in your misery, of course," She laughed and spread her arms, "Why else would I be here?! I mean, I was taking a stroll, and I heard your little annoying sobs coming from here. You know I know exactly what your cry sounds like since you’ve... shattered in my arms in the past about a hundred times and more," She burst out loud, laughing falling from her lips, "Your crying was really melodious."

"Beatrice!" Della’s expression hardened, "What. Do. You. Want?!!"

"Fine," She shrugged lazily, "I want you dead. I want you to die in the worst way possible. Is that too much to ask for?"

Della’s chest tightened.

"I mean, I gotta give it to you," She sighed, pursing her lips, "Who would have thought Alpha Cassian would take the side of a rotblood? He kind of ruined a lot of my plans, but someone else came through for me. So, how is your little pact with my husband going? You dying yet?"

"What?"

"You were supposed to take full responsibility for the banner tearing, but last night you attempted to escape, which means you didn’t fulfil your side of the deal."

Both women looked at each other like it was a staring competition. Both knew that the blood pact would have no effect, but they didn’t know that the other knew.

Beatrice believed Della thought she would die, even though Leopold used fake blood and was just trying to scare her even more.

Della believed she wouldn’t die since the blood pact is null, owing to the fact that Lian never needed saving.

"Alpha Leopold knows about your evil deeds and took your side!" Della said instead.

"What can I say?" She smirked, "He is very supportive, something you’ve never experienced from your own husband. Speaking of husbands...," Her eyes suddenly brightened with another terrible gleam, "I heard he’s being forced to choose between making you his Luna, or his slave."

Della felt her breath leave her for a second. It seemed like the news might have spread across the whole castle during her time looking after Malachi within the walls of the Healing wing.

"We all know he’s not stupid enough to make you his Luna," Beatrice continued happily, like it was the best topic in the world, "Which means you’re gonna get served on a platter to hundreds of Alphas!"

"They won’t touch me," Della hissed, "I...I’m a rotblood. They would be scared of being cursed!"

"Scared?!" Beatrice shook her head in dismay, then stepped closer to Della. She reached out and took some strands of her hair to tuck them in, but Della granted the hand and pushed it away from her.

Beatrice laughed.

"Oh, sister!" She cried, cleaning tears from the corners of her eyes, "An Alpha’s curiosity is always stronger than his fear, my dear. And do you know how rare it is for a rotblood to be born? Like...this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to actually sink their cocks into a Rot-blood’s pussy, and know if it feels different than regular pussies," She leaned her face closer to Della’s, "Trust me on this one, sister. Thousands of Alphas would gather that day, and they would take you one by one, on that ritual table, and you would feel every single thing they would do to you, and you would try to scream... but you can’t. Because you’re a slave. Nothing more."

Chills shot down Della’s spine so hard she almost fell back.

"And you’d probably die, sister," Beatrice continued, excitedly watching the dreadful, terrified look in Della’s eyes, "Because you have no wolf. Because you have nothing to hold onto. Because you will lose your title as the Alpha’s wife once he chooses that option. And you will have no anchor, and the pain from their cocks would be torturous and sniff the life out of your body... bit by bit."

Della’s heart rate sped up so fast that her vision turned blurry for a second.

Only a second.

The moment it cleared again, something glistened under the light behind Beatrice, catching Della’s eyes immediately.

But it wasn’t just glistening...it was moving.

Swiftly, Della grabbed Beatrice’s shoulders and shoved her out of the way. Both of them moved quickly, falling back just as the object shot through and hit the wall behind them, lodging itself inside of it.

Beatrice looked absolutely astounded, staring at Della next to her for a few seconds before she finally looked up at the knife that was fixed into the wall now.

They had...almost been assassinated just now!