CHAPTER 114: THAT’S DEATH’S BLOOM

Cold sweat trickled down my nape as I stared at the two men standing at the greenhouse’s entrance.

I wanted to yank myself away immediately, but Rion’s grip on my wrists kept me pinned against his chest. His hold wasn’t crushing, but it was firm enough that I couldn’t move an inch.

"Let me go. This is too embarrassing!" I hissed at him, trying to wiggle free.

My face was burning, and the heat only worsened when I looked back at Ares and Diaval.

I forced an awkward smile, my voice a pitch higher than usual. I shook my head frantically. "It’s not what you think!"

Ares finally closed his mouth—thank the moon. For a moment, I was convinced he had dislocated his jaw with how wide he’d been gaping.

"What do you think we’re thinking?" he asked, his tone way too sly for my liking.

I let out a breath of relief when Rion’s grip finally loosened and released me. Scrambling upright, I shot him a glare even though it was wasted because his eyes were still closed.

Ares and Diaval started walking toward us.

"Who knew the Alpha was fond of rolling around in the dirt?" Ares muttered to Diaval, his voice dripping with mock innocence. Unfortunately for me, his words were perfectly clear to anyone within a ten-meter radius.

Diaval, in contrast, didn’t even blink. "I suppose it’s more exciting outdoors," he said in his usual cold, flat tone, his face blank as if carved from stone.

I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole. Right now. I didn’t know what was worse: Ares’s mischievous grin, brimming with shameless innuendo, or Diaval’s unreadable expression that somehow made his words twice as mortifying.

Either way, being caught in such a ridiculous position was nothing short of disastrous.

"What are you two even thinking?!" I snapped, throwing my hands in the air. "We’re not doing anything—your Alpha is dying!"

Before the embarrassment could fade, Rion’s low murmur reached my ear.

"It sounds like you’re not pleased nothing happened because I’m dying."

My head whipped toward him, my cheeks flaming hotter. Rion Morrigan!

But before I could give him the scolding he deserved, Ares and Diaval’s expressions shifted in unison. The teasing vanished, replaced by sharp seriousness.

"Why is he dying?" they asked at the same time, their voices heavy now, no trace of playfulness left.

I pointed toward a cluster of flowers near the rack, my finger trembling slightly. The blossoms looked almost innocent from here, dark violet with silky, curling petals that glistened faintly under the greenhouse’s filtered light.

"He ingested a few petals of that," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

Ares’s eyes went wide comically, ridiculously wide like he’d just seen a ghost.

"Are you joking? That’s Death’s Bloom! Vivien, that’s one of the five deadliest plants in this entire greenhouse!"

The name alone made my heart lurch. Death’s Bloom. I stared at the flower again, its petals shifting slightly in the damp breeze. It didn’t look deadly. It looked beautiful, exotic, almost enchanting. But now, all I could see was danger.

My stomach dropped, panic clawing higher in my chest until my throat felt tight.

"We were just—just doing a little experiment. I..." The words tangled on my tongue, tripping over each other. How could I possibly explain this? That I’d stood there and let him poison himself, just to see if my blood could actually heal? The thought sounded insane even in my own head.

I opened my mouth to say more, but movement beside me cut me off.

Rion pushed himself up into a sitting position, stretching his shoulders like he’d simply awoken from a nap. The casualness of it almost made me curse him out loud.

"Your heartbeat isn’t normal," Diaval said immediately, his voice flat, but his gaze sharp as his senses honed in. "Your temperature too. But aside from that, you aren’t in terrible shape." His narrowed eyes flicked between Rion and me. "What’s happening, Rion?"

Of course Diaval would see through it. He knew this wasn’t an accident. His Alpha wasn’t careless—never careless. If Rion had done this, it was deliberate.

"Like Vivien said," Rion answered, his tone calm, "it was a little experiment. Her blood, we found, has healing properties. We wanted to try it with Jeron, but thought it might do more harm than good. So, we tested it on someone else first. Which happened to be me."

My insides twisted hard. He said it so simply, so casually, like he hadn’t just put his own life on the line. Like swallowing poison was the same as sampling a new kind of tea.

He wasn’t just reckless. He was insane. And yet the way he spoke made it sound logical, almost reasonable.

"But isn’t that too dangerous?" Ares snapped, his playful grin gone, replaced with a deep frown. "You could have died eating that poisonous flower!"

I turned to Rion, heart pounding. "Are you sure my blood is healing you?"

His hand lifted, raking through his messy silver hair, pushing it back from his forehead. His eyes met mine. "It’s cleansing my body, yes. The poison isn’t fully gone yet, but it will be in a matter of minutes."

The doubt on my face must have been obvious, because he added smoothly, "What I’m saying is true, Vivien. And I don’t have any reason to lie about this."

I exhaled shakily, nodding slowly. A part of me wanted to believe him. Another part still twisted with unease.

Rion shifted his attention to Ares and Diaval, his voice turning firm again. "Have you found anything?"

"We only managed to get this." Ares pulled a small vial from his pocket, the liquid inside catching the light with a strange shimmer. "It’s a medicine made by some famous healer in Nyrav. Supposedly, it can heal just about anything faster than any medicine. Took a lot of work to get it... though honestly, for us, it wasn’t that hard."

Diaval shot him a sideways look, the kind that practically said, Really? Not that hard?