Chapter 125: Royal Idiot
He snarled. "Didn’t Rowan already get you a healer after you puked all over him? Or..." His eyes narrowed as he stepped closer towards me. "Is this your newest attempt at an escape?"
I sucked in a deep breath to stop myself from doing something suicidal, like throwing the preciously heavy tome of encyclopedic knowledge straight at his head.
Since there was nothing much up in his skull, I doubted it would do any real damage. Instead, I heavily suspected it would just make an empty clanking noise. But such a precious book did not deserve to be flung at Cassian’s unworthy head.
I clutched the book tightly in one hand and the one tea leaf in my other hand.
"Do you think I would still be here if I wanted to escape? Why would I sneak into the infirmary when... literally anywhere else would be a better option? I could’ve just run straight out!" I pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
The servants’ quarters would be a much better choice if I wanted to slip away, especially since I knew my way around there like the back of my hand.
Cassian’s face purpled when he couldn’t refute the sense in my words.
"Because― Because you just want attention!" He declared victoriously, as though he had cracked an important code of some sort. He tugged at my wrist, causing me to land against his broad body. "I heard about what you did to Rowan earlier. You have some nerve vomiting on him and then sending him away! Who do you think you are, acting so high and mighty! He got you food!"
"Let go of me!" I tried to wrest my hand away from his grip, but I only succeeded in hurting my own hand. The skin on my wrist had turned red already from my attempts.
"I didn’t do anything he didn’t already deserve," I snarled. "It was his food that made me puke in the first place!"
At this rate, we’d attract the attention of the entire pack. Desperate, I chucked the encyclopedia straight at Cassian’s face. He let out a squawk of surprise, and he let go of my hand to catch it. I darted straight for the door.
"You little bitch!"
I felt myself slam to the ground as Cassian tackled me to the floor. My breath came out in a pained wheeze as I felt his knee jab against the small of my back. To my horror, the precious tea leaf that I was clutching also fell out of my hand. I tried to reach out to grab it before it got squashed, but Cassian was one step ahead, wrapping his hand around it in one quick motion.
"Hah! Got you! You are stealing herbs!" He crowed victoriously. "You’re stealing―" He squinted his eyes as he held up the small dried petal in his hands.
"You have no idea what this is, do you?" I said as I tried to snatch it back from him. But it was a futile effort since I was still pinned to the floor. I could only turn my head and glare at him vehemently from the corner of my eyes. "Give it back!"
"No," Cassian smirked. "Since you’re so anxious, this must be so important to you."
He held it closer to his nose and took a deep sniff, presumably to identify it. I stared at him in horror. While wolfsbane wasn’t toxic by sniffing, it would still cause werewolves to weaken, depending on how much they sniffed.
True enough, Cassian’s eyebrows began to furrow in suspicion, as he took another heady whiff of wolfsbane.
And then, Cassian, that colossal idiot, decided to open his mouth. I watched in horror as he dropped the whole dried petal into his mouth to taste.
"No! Don’t eat it!" I thrashed around, trying to snatch it out of his hands, but he merely smirked coldly down at me.
"Oh? So it is something precious that you’re trying to keep for yourself," Cassian declared haughtily. He smacked his lips together as though he was tasting a delicacy. However, considering how small the petal was, I highly doubted he could taste anything― if wolfsbane even had a distinct taste in the first place. "I’ll tell Rowan you were stealing precious herbs for yourself. Just wait― even if he wants to shield you, you won’t... you won’t... get away..."
Cassian’s breath was coming out in harsh pants. The wolfsbane he ingested was already working. His eyes bulged out in horror, and his hands reached for his throat.
"What... what did you give me..."
The leg that was pinning me down suddenly slackened, and that was all the warning I had before his body fell on its side, slamming against the floor as mine had done earlier.
I quickly got up, but I couldn’t in good conscience leave him lying on the floor while the poison slowly made its way through his bloodstream.
"You idiot!" I cried out, my mind racing with panic for a solution. "You just poisoned yourself! Didn’t anyone teach you not to eat random things you picked up!"
"Poi... Poison?" Shock entered Cassian’s eyes before it was replaced by blistering rage. "You murderer―"
"I told you to give it back!" I yelled, running a hand through my hair in frustration. "I didn’t think you would be so royally stupid as to eat it! It’s such a small thing― what did you expect to taste out of it?!"
Cassian was slowly starting to turn blue, and I groaned in frustration.
"You’re trying... to... kill me..." he choked out. Even on the verge of death, he still found the strength to argue. I had to applaud him for that.
"As much as I would love to, I’m unfortunately trying to save you from your own stupidity!" I snapped.
I hurriedly grabbed the fallen encyclopedia and went back to the page of wolfsbane, frantically scanning for any information that could help. Despite the amount of goodwill and adoration I had somehow generated from Rowan and Soren, I highly doubted they would turn a blind eye and pardon me if I somehow killed their younger brother. No matter how infuriating Cassian had been, this would be an offense that would result in my head on the chopping board.
Willow was just the Luna-to-be, and they were already prepared to behead me if they hadn’t found out I was their fated mate in time. In this case, it was the pack’s Alpha. I was not going to escape execution.
In the worst-case scenario, I would have to call for an actual healer, and this whole thing would be made known to everyone, which would then result in me getting a newer, more notorious reputation― and that would be the best-case scenario. The worst thing that could happen would be if Cassian actually died. I would go from sister killer to alpha killer.
And then Violet would know I found her secret stash and decide to get rid of that, and me, for good.
No, I had to save Cassian first. I would deal with whatever potential fallout later.
Unfortunately, I had hit a roadblock― there was no known cure for wolfsbane poisoning. Even in humans, consuming wolfsbane could end up deadly as it contained a neurotoxin. In werewolves, the effects were simply much deadlier.
Willow most likely drank tea that was made from those leaves― considering how she was still alive, somewhat, she most likely hadn’t consumed the whole thing. It was a miracle she managed to stay alive for so long, in fact, and hadn’t accidentally swallowed a leaf in the process. Cassian, that dumbass, had swallowed the petal and swirled it around his mouth like fine wine.
I gritted my teeth.
"Shit," I muttered under my breath. "Shit... Shit shit shit shit shit."
"I swear to the Goddess, if you fucking defecate in my... mouth... I will come back from the dead and kill you―"
"Cassian, do you know how to cure wolfsbane?" I asked, almost laughing at the irony of it all.
"Wolfsbane?!" he choked out. If it were even possible, he now looked even more purple than before. "How the fuck would I know―"
"My apologies," I said. "Just know that you absolutely deserved this."
Without further warning, I heaved him over my knee. He was too weak to fight back, and the pathetic struggle that he put up against me barely hindered my actions. Then, before he could argue further, I pried his mouth open and jabbed two fingers down his throat.
Cassian’s eyes bulged with surprise, but it got me the effect I was hoping for. I barely pulled my hand out fast enough for him to regurgitate the contents of his stomach onto the floor.
He choked, throwing everything up. In the ghastly mix of stomach acid and half-digested food, I couldn’t tell if that included the small piece of tea leaf.
After a few short moments, he quietened down. With one last weak, shaky breath, Cassian fell limp against my knee.
My heart fell with him.
I slowly poked his shoulder, but didn’t get a response.
"Cassian?" I asked. "Don’t scare me. Cassian?"