Scorned by the Beastmen, Loved by their Healer Chapter 05

Scorned by the Beastmen, Loved by their Healer Chapter 05

I floated in midair.
Looking down at my own body, lying in Huer’s arms.
Covered in blood.
The gash on my neck was deep. Every drop had drained out.
“Sanna…”
His voice was barely there.
“Why are you so damn foolish…”
Huer held me all night.
When it got light, he finally moved.
He laid me on the bed and wiped the blood from my skin.
He changed me into clean clothes.
His touch was feather-light, like he was afraid he’d hurt me.
But I couldn’t feel pain anymore.
He stood by the bed, staring at me.
“I’ll make them all come see you.”
His voice hardened. “Let them see what they drove you to.”
His eyes were cold.
Colder than I’d ever seen.
Huer sent word to the other three.
Said we were holding a funeral for me.
Elim showed up.
When he stepped into the cabin, his face was all impatience.
“Huer, what the hell are you doing?”
“That bitch is dead?” he scoffed. “Are you kidding me?”
His voice was loud; even from up in the air I caught every word clear as day.
Kasdan came in after him.
He flicked his dragon tail, annoyed.
“Yeah. She’s dead, so what? You really made us come here?”
Skarlaton arrived last.
He glanced at me, then looked away quick.
“Huer, why are you entertaining her nonsense? She was fine a few days ago.”
Huer stood at my bedside like a wall.
His voice was ice-cold. Scary cold.
“Can’t you see?”
Elim let out a snort.
“Another stunt?”
“Didn’t she used to play dead all the time?”
They started to laugh.
“Fake fainting, fake being sick, fake suicide.”
“This time she got the makeup right?”
Huer walked over and reached to flip back the cloth covering me.
“Let me see how good the act is today.”
He yanked it back.
My face showed.
Pale.
Bloodless.
Lips purple.
Eyes half-open, pupils blown.
Elim’s hand froze.
“She…”
He swallowed hard. “She’s just faking again…”
His voice wobbled.
“She’s gotta be faking!”
He pushed my shoulder.
“Hey. Get up. Cut the act.”
I didn’t move.
He shoved me again.
“Sanna, I’m telling you to get up!”
Still nothing.
His hand started to shake.
“Get the fuck up!”
He roared.
The whole cabin trembled.
But I never answered.
Kasdan stepped over and looked down at me.
His eyes changed.
“She… she’s really dead?”
He reached out and brushed my cheek.
Ice-cold.
He jerked his hand back.
“No way.”
“A few days ago she was about to jump off a cliff, putting on the pity act to get my attention.”
He shook his head. “How the hell does she just up and die?”
He stared at Huer.
“You’re lying to us, aren’t you?”
Huer didn’t answer.
He just set a small vial on the table.
A memory crystal.
Some beastfolk leave one behind when they die. It holds the most important memory right before the end.
Skarlaton stood as far away as he could.
He didn’t come closer.
But his eyes never left me.
“How could she be dead?” he asked.
“She was… she was so tough…”
His voice shook.
“When she was little, she broke her leg and didn’t even cry…”
They all shook their heads. “How could she die…”
Skarlaton walked over, slow.
Stopped by my bed.
Looked down at me.
His hand lifted, about to touch my face.
But he pulled back at the last second.
“Little sister…”
“Wake up…” He sobbed. “I won’t lock you up anymore…”
“Please… just wake up…”
He cried.
A big, burly man, shaking all over as he sobbed.
But I didn’t move.
I was never going to move again.
Elim suddenly lunged and grabbed my shoulders.
“Get up!”
“Sanna, do you hear me?” Elim demanded.
“I won’t let you die!”
He shook me hard.
My head bobbed with the motion, like a rag doll.
“Aren’t you so damn tough?” He started getting angry again.
“Aren’t you the queen of faking it?”
“Keep faking then!”
Kasdan grabbed him.
“Stop shaking her!”
“She’s already—”
He didn’t finish.
Elim threw him off.
“She isn’t dead!”
“She won’t die!” he insisted. “She said she was gonna conquer me! She wouldn’t give up!”
His voice was raw.
His eyes were bloodshot.
I saw his fingers dig into my shoulders.
But I couldn’t feel a thing.
“Elim.”
Huer finally spoke.
His voice was calm.
Terrifyingly calm.
“She’s dead.”
He gestured at me. “Look for yourself.”
“I stitched her neck with my own hands.”
“But it’s no use now,” he said.
“She bled out.”
Elim lowered his head.
Looked at my neck.
That ugly wound.
The stitches were even and clean—Huer’s work.
His hands finally let go.
He stumbled back.
One step.
Two.
Three.
He hit the wall.
Then slid down it and sat on the floor.
“No way…”
“No way…”
He kept repeating it like a madman.
Kasdan stood off to the side, unmoving.
His red nails dug into his palm.
Blood dripped.
He didn’t seem to feel it.
“That day…”
“That day on the cliff, she said she was gonna kill herself…”
“I thought she was acting,” he said.
“I thought…”
He shut his eyes.
“I thought she’d never really do it…”
I floated there, watching them.
I didn’t feel any thrill.
No grief either.
Just hollow.
Like wind slipping through a hole.
“Now you regret it?”
Huer’s voice suddenly shot up.
“Too late.”
He huffed. “She’s dead.”
“You drove her to it.”
He picked up the memory crystal from the table.
“She kept telling you she saved you, that Amy framed her. You never believed her, did you?”
“You all like Amy, huh?” he challenged them.
“Fine. I’ll show you.”
His voice deepened with resolution.
“Let’s see what your precious Amy really is.”