The Beast And The Blessed

Fifty-Eight: Joselin

Joselin's P.O.V.

Cyrus threw up for a long while. The healers pushed me aside when it went from stomach acid to blood. As much as I detested vomit, even though I was able to hold back some of my own, I stayed. He needed people, and I needed answers.

A line of sweat appeared across his forehead, and every time his eyes instinctively closed as he lost his stomach, he would jerk them right back open. He hadn't been kidding about the darkness he saw when he closed his eyes.

He looked haunted and terrified. The man, who typically looked like a teenager, was nothing more than a scared little boy right now, and it broke my heart.

Tobias had his chest to my back with his hands on my hips. While half of my mind was on Cyrus in bed, there was nothing I could do until this wave of nausea passed.

The other half of my mind was zeroed in on how Tobias had his thumbs sliding along my waist to show that he supported me.

It was so comforting, but I was still waiting for him to tell me that I smelled different or that he could hear or feel a little heartbeat inside me. I wondered if he would know before I did since I was stalling.

Once again, I pushed aside those thoughts. I didn't have the courage to take a test right now, nor did I have the time to run to a store, get one and then take it without anyone seeing me.

Deal with Cora first.

I had to keep reminding myself to stay on task. Cora was the threat here; the potential of a baby inside me was not. It was a distraction, one that I could push aside until I received confirmation that it was even true. Until then, I could continue to pretend it wasn't real and focus on the actual issue.

When the healers stepped back, they looked uncertain and uneasy. Flora's hands were up like she was backing away from a rabid animal and looked exhausted.

She had healed him several times, but it hadn't held. Trauma and magic were powerful things.

handed a glass of water. He took a large sip,

watered as I fought back the

know." My demand made Tobias tighten his hands on my hips slightly, and while he was worried, I also sensed his

that, I would look weak, and it would only raise suspicion. Neither of which I

with a grimace of disgust as he moved his tongue around his mouth, more than likely still tasting his vomit. His lips pursed, and his eyelids lowered as his stomach jerked as if he were going to gag again, but instead, Cyrus

We needed to be ready to take action as soon as

her, to Rona. I don't know how it worked, and it was only for a short period." He looked off into the

My statement was met with a nod. We already knew that, but hearing the confirmation from someone who had actually been in Rona's head almost made me feel relieved. I knew she was a terror as a kid, and I assumed that Cora controlling her had been recent. So, I still wasn't a huge fan of Rona, but knowing that the motive behind her most recent actions wasn't her own, that she had been under someone else's control, made me hate her a little

been using Cora's leg to track her. Rona was trying to find out what Cora

This was it.

"Rona suspected that Cora was after me after you brought me back here. That's why she was so determined to find out what I was. Rona didn't want my power for herself; she just wanted to find Cora's weakness. She wanted to figure out what my connection to Cora

to stay out of the way of any vomit or the healers in case they needed to

friends or anything more than that, but they went through something awful together. He had been there, in her mind, when she died, and that would be enough

way to get to me without facing me." A tear leaked from his eye, and he wiped it away quickly. "The first attack hadn't been strong enough because she only had an item of mine that she found

it in my unattended tower. I knew I was already going to hell from my past actions,

life would never be the same because

her eyes and feel her pain. We were trapped in her body, but I couldn't talk or move. Cora was ranting about how

had been around Cora for most of his life, but he looked just as

I could remember, and I had to wonder what else I had been

have done what she was told when she had the

him. "What had Rona been

when Cora started cutting and chanting. I couldn't understand anything she was saying at that point. I didn't even know if it was Rona pulling at the chains or if I was, but neither

flying across the dining hall when I was trying to save him. He had used his magic; he just used them through his body and hit me instead of through Rona's to get to Cora. I wasn't even sure if that was possible, but by his lack of attacks after, I had assumed Cora had gone far enough in the ritual to suppress his magic or weaken him too much to use