Three Drops Final (ABANDONED)

Chapter 6- The Note

Braith's POV

"The girl's body has been disposed of, my king," Edmure said matter-of-factly. "And the room has been cleaned."

He sounded so cold and distant– was that what I usually sounded like?

"Kary..." I muttered to myself. "Her name was Kary."

"Hmm?"

I looked up to see Edmure looking at me questioningly. Our eyes met, and I cleared my throat.

"Nothing. Please organise a small, private ceremony. For Felicia; to minimise guilty feelings."

Edmure looked confused, but nodded all the same. I was yet to announce Felicia as my mate, as we were currently not romantically involved and the last thing I wanted to do was force myself upon her. Obviously, everyone had noticed our strange relationship, and there were many a theory as to what exactly it was. So far, none had hit home, which I was admittedly grateful for.

Edmure lingered in the door, hesitating.

"You are dismissed," I clarified.

"My king, forgive me, but what of the note? Shall we tell Miss Felicia?"

"The note?" I asked. "That there is such a note is news alone to me."

Edmure fished a small piece of parchment from his pocket, carefully wrapped in a protective barrier so as not to contaminate it. It was plain and slightly off-white, and was folded in half. The edges were ripped roughly, as if by hand.

"No one has touched it yet. It should be totally uncontaminated."

I levitated the parcel carefully and unwrapped it. The piece of paper was eerie. It was completely scentless, even of the basic parchment smell, and looked as untouched as it could possibly be. No fingerprints, no stains, nothing to say who could previously have had it.

My eyes flicked to Edmure's and I opened the card. At first, there was nothing. Then, just a whiff of a smell.

Suddenly, my senses were clogged with the most disgusting smell I could possibly imagine. It invaded every orifice, choking me and propelling me backwards. My hands clawed at my throat and mouth, but the smell had invaded everything. I looked over at Edmure, and he seemed equally affected, eyes bulging and face red.

The card started projecting a voice, a female cackle mocking me. 'Felicia, Felicia, Felicia, Felicia, Felicia...'

"Make it stop!" I tried to say, writhing in pain, but I couldn't be sure if it came out as a noise at all.

I crawled towards the paper where I dropped it, the pain intensifying the closer I got to it. Finally, I wrapped my fingers around the damned thing and closed it. Everything stopped.

The only sound left in the room was our own heavy breathing and the blood pumping through our bodies.

Drip.

I looked down.

Drop.

Blood. Edmure was bleeding too, I realised as I looked up again. His ears and nose were streaming, and his mouth dribbled slightly. I could see the blood vessels in his eyes bulging– a couple had almost burst. Edmure had been on the opposite side of the room from the paper, and I had been nearest to it; I could only imagine what I looked like.

Drip.

"We need to do something," I said finally, voice raspy and breathless.

Drop.

"Now."

Felicia's POV

They put me in the hospital.

I wasn't hurt, which we all knew, but they put me there anyways. At least I wasn't restrained...

I wouldn't look at anyone; I just couldn't do it. Guilt was consuming me from within, eating away at my insides and taking ahold of my thoughts. Darkness swirled within me.

I was poisonous, clearly; everything I touched withered away and died. One needn't look far to find the evidence– Meaghan, Alanie, Kary... Even my own mother.

Deep in my thoughts, I didn't even notice the woman approaching until she sat down in front of me and cleared her throat.

"Miss Felicia?"

I looked up.

She smiled, a genuine one, that made her nose wrinkle so her glasses were pushed up to her forehead.

"My name is Dr Oleday."

Our gazes met, but I averted my eyes quickly. "Nice to meet you," I mumbled.

"I'm here to do a professional evaluation on your mental health. Do you object to this?"

'A professional evaluation on my mental health'? I almost laughed. This was it then– finally, the time had come for me to be thrown in the loony bin.

I knew there was something wrong with me, a lot of things wrong with me, in fact. And now the repercussions would finally come.

"Miss Felicia?"

I smiled, a sad, hopeless smile. "Do your worst."