Her Three Kings {Volturi Kings}

Chapter Thirty-One

Jasper took Liliana hunting every day for the next four days. Every day she drank and every day she'd vomit it up within half an hour of their return to the cabin. She tried to do it away from the others, but she was certain they knew. It wasn't easy to hide something from four vampires. She was also sure that was why Jasper had forced her to hunt every day.

Lily stared at the flames dancing in front of her as she checked all her blocks one by one. There were so many she'd become little more than a shell. But they were breaking down. Nothing catastrophic but there were definite cracks allowing whatever was dammed up behind them to seep through. An emotion here. A jolt of pain there. And the hunger. Oh, that was a needy growing thing. Which meant the block between her and Jasper needed to be stronger than the others. The more energy she put there, the less she had to distribute elsewhere. Then more cracks formed. It was a vicious circle that would eventually destroy her.

A sweet aroma pulled her from her thoughts. Saliva pooled in her mouth and she swallowed it down. She glanced in the direction it came from but didn't move to find it. She was too exhausted, too weak. Seconds passed and Garrett appeared in the clearing.

He tossed a body beside her. "Eat." His voice was little more than a growl.

Lily glanced between her friend and the meal with wide eyes.

"Don't think we don't know you haven't been keeping any of that swill down. You need real food. Eat."

That was the only encouragement she needed. She was on the body a moment later and that's all it was to her. If anyone asked later she wouldn't be able to tell them how old the person had been or if they were male or female. She simply didn't care. Every swallow fed life into her body, brought back some of the strength she'd been missing. She didn't stop until the corpse was empty of blood.

Lily wiped the back of her hand across her mouth before smiling at Garrett. "Thank you."

His gaze ran over her before he grinned. "You already look better, Queenie. We get a few more of those in you and you'll be right as rain."

Pain shot through her head and heat flooded her body. Her stomach churned and her chest grew tight. A tear leaked from her eye to roll down her cheek. "Not again."

She swallowed several times before launching to her feet and stumbling to the edge of the clearing. She emptied everything she'd just eaten into the grass. Every bit of improvement went with it. Lily fell to her knees before collapsing sideways. She pulled her knees up to her chest and sobbed. Tears rolled across her face and into the dirt.

Someone picked her up and cradled her in their lap. She didn't know who held her as she continued to weep. Gods, everything hurt. And she was tired. So, so exhausted.

It wasn't until later, when hands began to undress her that she came back to herself a little. Alice and Charlotte stripped her ruined clothes off then helped her step into the tub. Lily wondered exactly how long she'd been out of it as they'd had to heat the water over the fire outside and she hadn't even noticed.

She sighed and more tears leaked down her cheeks as she drew her knees up to her chest. The women murmured comforting words as they scrubbed at her skin and washed her hair. Finally, Lily spoke. "Ali?"

"I'm here, Lils."

Her gaze moved to lock on her sister kneeling beside the tub. Her heart ached but she needed to get the words out. They needed to know. "I'm dying."

***

Once again Liliana found herself sitting by the firepit staring at the flames. The others argued nearby. The topics kept shifting between whether she was actually dying or just sick and what to do about it. When she could take the bickering no longer she managed to gather herself enough to speak. "I want to go home." She shook her head. "No. I need to."