"Hold on, don't come closer," Linnie said warily, holding his palm out to The Prince. "Just, give me a second."
"Your neck is b-bleeding."
'Does he think I don't know that? What an annoying bastard!'
Suddenly, the feeble prince ran away with surprising haste. Linnie considered chasing after him, just in case he was going to alert some guards or something, but decided against it. Even if he did tell people there was a monster masquerading as a girl within the walls of the estate... what was the worst that could happen?
Linnie assumed that nothing too terrible could come out of it. In any case, Alwyn would just step in.
The boy didn't quite grasp the severity of keeping a creature such as a Siaryn around, much less teaching her magic. He understood it was taboo, but not to its true extent. No, if word actually got out, not even Alwyn would be safe.
Luckily, though, The Prince wasn't in the habit of tattling. Nor did he care that much. His prime interest was in learning magic. In fact, the existence of a Siaryn, one in his party, no less, interested him far more than it scared him.
He scared quite easily, though, and that was the reason for him dashing away. He just needed time to collect his jumbled thoughts.
Linnie shook his head and moved to go back into his room. Liora was still sitting against the wall of the hallway, in a daze. But, before Linnie could step fully inside, he felt her grab his ankle again. This time, it wasn't rough and beastly, but gentle.
"Have you finally come to your damn senses?" he spat.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she whimpered.
"Then why'd you do it?"
"I was hungry. I lost control."
"Uh, not buying it! You lasted months without drinking any blood, but all of a sudden, when you start following me around, you need it every few weeks? You took my blood only a few days ago!"
He kicked her hand off of his foot and moved further into his room, only stopping when Liora cried out.
"Stop! I really didn't mean to! It's just—your blood. It's too... tasty!"
'Wha... what!? Tasty!? That's why she... she violated me!?'
"What I mean is that, it's not something I can control. Not anymore. I guess... as I get older, I'm able to resist it less and less. It's like it takes over me, or something. I—"
"Go find someone else to use when you get hungry. I don't want any part in it!"
"But... nevermind. I just thought you'd understand. It's not like there's anyone else I can talk to about stuff like this."
Her tone was incredibly sorrowful—it was the first time Linnie had heard her so emotional. The only other time he'd even seen her sort of acting against her typical bubbly attitude was... that night. Surely that's not what she was referring to? Was she trying to relate to him?
'I'm not a blood sucking monster, and I definitely don't lose control and start—'
His eyes went wide. He realized that, in fact, he was absolutely both of those things. Back in the forest, when Alwyn had caught him stalking the poor little bunny, he had both lost control and sunk his teeth into the sad thing.
The only difference here was that Liora was the fox and he was the bunny.
"I—I'm not like you. I know you think we're the same, but we're not—" he couldn't finish.
"Aren't we? You agreed, didn't you? We're both monsters. What, it's only fine for you to act like one? As soon as I do it, I'm weird?"
Her voice wavered, and she choked up. Was she about to cry? Linnie wanted anything but that. He didn't know how to comfort crying people. No, why would he comfort her? She was the one who sunk her teeth into his neck!
"I try to be normal," he mumbled.
Despite his words, this whole interaction actually made him realize they were a lot more alike than he had thought. For a moment, he wondered what she'd look like in the mirror inside his hat. Then again, she'd probably just look like herself.
He only looked like a horrific monster because that was the visualization of the amalgamation of creaters that made up his soul. That was his monster. Her monster, however, was just as she looked in front of him.
Siaryn's, it seemed, had the pleasure of being pretty monsters, at least.
She frowned. "I try, too. Way harder than you, idiot! You weren't born with fangs!"
Liora sounded a lot less sad, by now. She had collected herself. Tears still welled in her eyes, though.
"Tch, whatever," Linnie huffed. Perhaps he had grown a little more sympathetic, now that he really thought about it. "I guess... if there's no one else, and you really need to—"
He struggled to get the words out properly, and had to take a second to really mean it.
"What I'm saying is, it'd be bad if you went around drinking people's blood. So... you can... with me." Liora's eyes went wide, like a puppy's, and she was about to speak, but Linnie cut her off. "B-but you have to ask, first! I'm not your chew toy or something!"
The girl couldn't believe what she was hearing. Oh, not Liora. Sure, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, either—but it was Marielle who was truly shocked.
In truth, she had accompanied The Prince to the guest rooms on the orders of her father, who told the both of them to apologize to Alwyn's apprentices for the previous night. Unlike the feeble boy, though, she didn't quite make it to their rooms before she saw him sprint away.
Curious as to what made The Prince run away, she positioned herself a short distance away from the guest hallway and stayed hidden. It didn't take long for her to piece things together and for her heart to start racing. No, she couldn't believe it at all. None of it.
'She's... she's a Siarath? No, a Siaryn? I—I need to tell someone! Father! I need to tell father! A monster has breached the walls of Corvailles! Surely, it won't be long before she devours everyone in the estate... no, in the city!'
She began to hyperventilate. The lady turned around and broke into a sprint, much like The Prince did a few minutes prior.
Unluckily, she was, in fact, a tattletale.