Star Blood |✔|

27| WHISPER

Whisper.

I hear a whisper at the door.

Slowly I rise from the bed and go to it, pressing my ear to the frame to make sure I heard correctly.

"Arishia."

I jerk back and stare at the dark wood.

"Jonaus?" I whisper within the dark.

His voice is soft. Strained. I don't know if I can detect it or not, but there almost seems to be...pain in it.

"It's me."

I exhale and put my forehead to the door.

"I thought you had left me," I admit.

I'm whisper as well. I don't know why he is keeping his voice so low, but it's a cue that I read and mimick.

"I have what you want."

My eyes widen in surprise.

"You have the-,"

"Don't say it."

The words sound desperate and hoarse.

The next few sentences he says are rushed and scattered.

"Don't ask how I got it. I'm giving it to you. But I can't leave it there. You can only look through it for a second, just a moment. I need it back."

The door opens just a crack and I see the book slide through and land on my side, before the click of the lock returns.

I pick up the cover and flinch.

Blood.

Blood stained it.

"Jonaus..."

"You're wasting your time. Hurry."

I do as he says, quickly opening.

The language is old. Moon script that dates centuries back.

"Do you know the language?"

"I'm Arishia. Of course, I know it."

Silence meets my answer.

I quickly look at the contents.

There. One letter showed out above the others.

I raise my head and give a silent thank you to the Moon. Still watching over me. Still helping me complete my task.

I quickly flip to the section, the pressure of time pushing into me as I scan however much I can.

I gasp.

"What's wrong?"

Jonaus's strained voice comes out behind the door. It's followed by a hacking cough.

I flinch from the sound and quickly go back to the pages, my eyes widening with each word I read.

"This can't be true," I whisper.

"Arishia?"

"It's fine," I whisper.

I stand a few minutes more, desperately wishing I could keep the book with me.

My mind swirling in a dark spiral as I take in the content of what I read.

"Hurry Arishia. I need it. Quickly."

"I'm almost done," I whisper.

Just a page more.

But Jonaus interrupts my reading with his coughing, "Now Arishia. Hurry."

I can't help the frustrated sigh from escaping me as I quickly close the book and slide it through the crack in the door.

I hold in my gasp as I see a flash of Jonaus's white hand, covered in specks of blood. 

"Jonaus, are you alright?"

"Fine."

I pause at the door, taking in his coughing.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just... I'm just sick."

"Is it from the book?" I question.

"No. No this is something different."

I think back to what I had discovered in the Sweven. Jonaus was only proving what I had read. Only pressing into my mind the darkness I had discovered was actually not a myth.

Truth.

"I'll be better in a few days. This happens from time to time."

I close my eyes and softly let my head fall back to the door.

Oh Jonaus.

"Thank you," I whisper.

"I need to go," his words are a whispered farewell.

I stand there for a few seconds more, trying and failing to hear his sound of retreat.

Until a different set of footsteps reaches my ears.

I turn to the other door and sigh as it opens to reveal the King.