At that moment, a hotel waitress approached carrying a porcelain bowl. She glanced at the scene before her and, distracted for just a second, failed to notice a bump on the floor. Her foot twisted, and the freshly simmered soup in her hands spilled forward in an instant.
The direction it spilled, straight onto Bonnie's back.
The waitress's face turned pale as snow. Dante Flagg and Derek Lee noticed immediately, both of their expressions shifting. Before Bonnie even sensed anything unusual behind her, a low, muffled grunt broke through the air.
The porcelain bowl shattered on the ground, fragments scattering, soup steaming, and a collective hiss of alarm rose from the room.
When Bonnie turned, she saw Dante standing in front of her. His rolled-up sleeve was wet, and a stretch of his pale arm was already marked by angry red burns. On his fair skin, the wound looked shockingly vivid, just one glance made her heart lurch.
