Cause & Effect | Ominis Gaunt Love Story

Chapter 27: Better Off Dead

Ominis tsked, "Be good or I'm leaving you to fend off Jack for the night."

'He wouldn't.' Eden said as they Apparated to his flat.

The prat let her go, wiping his gloves off as if he'd touched something atrocious, "I liked it better when she couldn't understand you.'

'I liked it better when you-' Eden didn't say anything else as Ominis used his index finger and thumb to closer her mouth.

"You've said enough tonight, I think." Ominis murmured, "You can stay out here with her."

He placed the snake on the couch before walking off towards the hallway, "Be up on time or else, princess."

"Prat."

Stella was simmering in anger as she glanced down at Eden. She sat down on the couch, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "Isn't he especially unbearable tonight?"

Eden's tail swished from side to side as if she were anxious, 'It's my fault. That dessert may have done more harm than the good I was hoping for.'

"Because it reminded him of his nanny that he killed?" Stella summarized.

'He told you?' At Stella's nod, Eden sighed. 'It still...'

Whatever she was saying began to fade like there was water in her ears and she couldn't exactly make out what was being said. Her vision began to blur.

Eden's slender head over her face, peering down.

A shout. When did she fall to the ground? Why was the world shaking? Stella realized in a rare moment of clarity, what was happening. Why the world was shaking. She was convulsing. There had been poison on the rose petal and she rubbed it into her eyes.

Useless.

Pathetic.

Weak.

Better off dead.

Chapter 27: Better Off Dead

OMINIS' POV

Lucan was reaching for suspects. He needed to pay more attention to his environment. If Ominis hadn't leaned against the wall and observed his surroundings while eavesdropping then he'd possibly have missed it too. Instead, he was probably too distracted by a pre-

'OMINIS!'

Panic surged through his chest like a wild beast. He Apparated inside of his own home to the source of Eden's shout to see someone on the ground shaking uncontrollably as muscle spasms tore through her body. He was haunted for a moment by the image of the young woman convulsing. Her eyes wide and unseeing as she desperately clawed at her throat. He knelt down, turning her on her side in case she threw up. Eden wrapped her body around Stella's wrists, locking them in place, and for the briefest moment... His instinct was to tell Eden to be careful with her. That brief flash of sympathy warped into something ugly.

Rage seared his voice, "What. Happened?"

'Talking. Rubbed her eyes. Whispered poison petal. Collapsed.' Eden spoke with pointed pauses to get as much information through, seeing that time was of the essence.

He pieced her words together. They'd been talking when she rubbed her eyes. She'd looked tired, yet agreed to go on the misadventure with him. She must have felt the effects of the poison sink in and whispered to Eden that the petal had been poisoned. It was a trap for Lucan, but that idiot hadn't been the one to spot it first.