[Harper’s POV]

My vision was filled with red, and for a moment, all I could see was Blaise’s blood staining the clean sheets even in the dark.

Everything had been fine. When we went to sleep, Blaise hadn’t even mentioned a peep about any discomfort. And now, just a few hours later, everything had gone so horribly wrong that I felt at a loss on how to act.

"Blaise? Blaise!" I sat up immediately, horrified by the streaks and pools of blood that were left on the bed sheet. The silvery moonlight that streamed in through the windows only made the scarlet stains more obvious.

I was a mess of limbs, unsure of what to do. However, I couldn’t just stand there and watch Blaise bleed like that. Blood was pouring out of his nose, and there were slight dribbles at the corners of his lips. His eyes were turned up until only the white remained, his body trembling violently with each passing second.

Memories of the past seemed to blend in with the reality of the present. This wasn’t the first time Blaise had gone through such an ordeal. However, this time, there was no Nicole or Kaine present to help with the medical emergency. Even Damon wasn’t nearby, and I couldn’t trust anyone else in this damn building to do anything to save Blaise’s life.

I was on my own, and time was ticking.

Without wasting any more time, I quickly flipped him over so that his mouth hovered over the side of the bed. Then, I pried apart his lips and forced two fingers down his throat.

Blaise’s gag reflexes were immediately triggered, and I pulled my fingers out just in time for him to empty out his stomach contents― the leftovers of our early dinner last night, stomach acid, and way too much blood.

Red was mixed in with the rest of his bile, and right after he had regurgitated whatever food that was left undigested in him, he took in a deep breath of air, coughing violently as his shoulders shook with his movements.

"Blaise, are you alright?" I worriedly asked, afraid to even touch him.

He nodded, his convulsions having stopped immediately after emptying his stomach’s contents, but I didn’t miss the tremble of his hand as he tried to hold it up. I stood to my feet, crossing the room to get a wad of tissues and a glass of water from the bathroom sink before returning.

"Rinse," I said, handing him the glass. "Don’t drink it."

The food had to be spiked. Damon was right. My gut feeling hadn’t failed me. There definitely had to be something added to the food, and I wasn’t confident that my mother hadn’t also tampered with the plumbing system in the building.

Scratch that. She had such an influence over the entirety of Upper Lumen that I couldn’t even be sure if she hadn’t messed with all of the city’s waterworks.

Blaise did as told and thankfully, did not swallow the water. He spat it back out into the glass, and I placed it to one side, using the tissues to dab at the corner of his lips. I couldn’t even care less that the room had gone through the same thing just twice in the last twenty-four hours; the stench in the room was the least of my worries, with my mother’s tricks increasing in danger every passing day.

"Oh Goddess," I murmured, tears brimming in my eyes once Blaise had enough strength to tilt his head up to look at me. "The food was poisoned, wasn’t it? We need to get you to the toilet. You need to get everything out of your system―" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Harper, I’m fine," Blaise said, his voice hoarse after having acid run through his throat. He cleared his throat, wincing a little as it stung. "Maybe it was just indigestion."

"Indigestion?" I echoed with incredulity. "You were bleeding! Since when does indigestion cause the patient to convulse violently in bed while they bleed freely from their nose?!"

Blaise offered a weak smile but said nothing more, visibly drained from everything that had just happened. I stood to my feet, shaking my head.

"I need to talk to her," I said. "My mother. She needs to explain what the fuck she placed in that dish of yours―"

I stopped short when Blaise’s hand wrapped around my wrist, preventing me from immediately bolting out of the room to look for my mother in the middle of the night. The moon was high, and she was most likely already asleep. However, I had no qualms about banging her door down all the way until morning if needed be.

Blaise, however, had different plans.

"Don’t," he said. "You might just agitate her to try something worse. Damon is still out there, and we don’t know what she might do to you if you anger her."

I pursed my lips, pressing them tightly together until they formed a thin line.

We were in my mother’s domain. She had absolute control over everything that happened here, and Blaise was, unfortunately, right. While my mother could guarantee Damon’s safety, she also had the power to take it away. Even if Damon was an alpha, and even if he had secret tricks up his sleeves, there was no guarantee that he would be able to win all of them if it came down to a fight.

After all, they had the strength of numbers. We were just three― two, considering the fact that I would be useless in a true fight. I could handle a gun just fine, but that wasn’t a spectacular skill against hunters who were trained all their lives to fight to the death.

"She’s my mother," I said. "She won’t hurt me."

Even as those words left my lips, I wasn’t sure I quite believed in what I said. Blaise, too, picked up on my uncertainty. He offered me a weak smile, filled with equal doubt as I was feeling.

"We can’t be sure about that," he said. "And I know you feel the same way, Harper."

My shoulders slumped, dejected.

"She put something into your food, and I need to find out what it was," I said. "At least if we know what it is you ate, we can find a cure without asking her for one." Then, I muttered under my breath, "Not that she would give it even if we did ask."

"There’s no need to ask," Blaise said.

He flopped over in bed, wincing as he lay on his back. A long exhale left his lips as he rested his hand on his stomach. Sweat beaded at his temples, and I watched, my heart aching as he fought through the pain.

"I think I might know what it was. I wasn’t sure back then, but I think I have a good guess now."

"What is it?" I asked, frowning. "It’s not silver, is it?"

"Silver would’ve killed me immediately," Blaise said. "No. It’s much slower than that, and the dosage isn’t lethal. I probably reacted so badly to it because I ate Damon’s share too."

"Then what is it?" I asked. "Wolfsbane?"

Blaise’s eyes opened, the flash of gray haunting as the silver of the moonlight. He nodded, and I felt my blood turn cold.

"That’s it," I said through gritted teeth. "I need to have a word with her. I thought she might try something, but if she was planning on poisoning you two then―"

"But it isn’t just in my food," Blaise said, his words rooting me to the spot.

I glanced at him, confused. He spoke again.

"She served it to all of us. Including you. Harper," he said, sitting up, "I need to be sure. Was your mother in charge of all your meals as a child before you ended up in Stormclaw?"