Hungering Teeth.

XVII.

April 9th, 1791

I lay back against the satin lining, my bones aching where they pressed against the hard wood beneath me. The coffin groaned faintly beneath my weight, a low moan that echoed in the dark chamber. My limbs hollow, the skin stretched too thin, like a painting left too long to fade under a sun that no longer reached me. My eyes, heavy-lidded and dull, traced the cracks along the ceiling, patterns that had grown too familiar over the endless nights.

Nori's legs draped over my waist, he traced his fingers along the curve of my neck, his touch cool as the night's chill, leaving a faint trail of sensation over my cold skin.

"You'll waste away if you don't eat," he murmured. His breath ghosted over my ear, and I felt the faint shudder of his unneeded sigh. "I can't—" He paused, voice catching in a sigh that lingered like a lament. "I can't bear to find you cold and still one day." He leaned in closer, his lips brushing against my neck.

I swallowed the knot in my throat. Yet, I forced the words past my lips, my voice flat and unfeeling.

"It's better this way."

Nori's fingers stilled against my throat.

"I see it. The way you flinch whenever I mention feeding. But what am I to do? If you leave me here, alone in this darkness."

His words wrapped around me like chains.

"Why do you bear such a burden for my plight?"

"Because I love you. Though I may not reveal it, my love is true. I can't and will not stand idly by and watch you starve yourself."

"You're wasting your time waiting for me," I whispered. "I will not do it."

Nori's grip tightened, and I felt his desperation in the way he clung to me, his words fraying at the edges.

"Time is all we have—yet even that dwindles. Please, Agnus. You must feed."

Languidly, I extended my arm to push the lid of my coffin, the creak of the wood a sharp, discordant note in the quiet.

"You think you're being noble? Starving yourself like this? You're one of me, Agnus. Denying it doesn't make you human. It makes you a fool."

"I wish you hadn't."

Nori cupped my face in his cold hands, as if he could force my gaze to meet his, as if he could anchor me to the present with nothing but his touch.

"Well, it's too late for that, isn't it? I made my choice. I chose you. And whether you admit it or not, you made yours too. You stayed. You let me keep you, even when you wanted to run."

He leaned closer, his breath mingling with mine, filling the space between us with a heat that felt out of place in this cold, dead room. His voice grew louder, raw with the edges of his frustration.

"So, curse me all you like. Hate me if that's what keeps you going. But don't make me mourn you, Agnus!"

The words pierced through me, shattering the thin barrier I'd built around my despair. A surge of anger burned through my veins. I shoved him back, my voice breaking free like a howl in the darkness.

"Enough, Nori! Enough of your choices, your saving! You talk about saving like it's some gift, like I'm supposed to be grateful for this nightmare!"

I felt something crack in my chest, a deep, painful fissure that sent my voice spiraling higher, each word sharper, more desperate.

"I just want it to stop! I want it to be quiet again! Do you hear me?"

Nori's eyes widened with the shock of my outburst. But I couldn't stop, the words pouring out of me like a dam finally broken.