Chapter 281: Benson and Sophia

Lysander turned to Mira. "Get Orion, or better yet, get Garrett to get him and send someone to get Marta too. Don’t waste time. Run as fast as you can."

Mira nodded and ran out of the room urgently.

"Damn it!" Lysander hissed as he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Benson asked him with a frown on his face.

"To the herbal vault. Maybe I can get something that will just knock her out," Lysander told him. "Watch over her. Make sure she doesn’t hurt herself."

"Yes, sir," Benson nodded.

Lysander gave him a nod of his own, then sprinted out of the room. He didn’t waste a second longer. His boots slammed down the corridor as panic burned through his ribs.

Every step echoed with tension as he ran.

Inside the vault, he tore open drawers, pulling out jars at random.

His hands shook as he did so. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The herbal vault contained rare herbs. Most of them they hadn’t even found their real use for. Many of them were dangerous, but the mixture he had been working on should be here somewhere. He just needed to get them and mix them again — though this time, he would need to add something more. Something that would actually do the trick and knock her out.

He muttered under his breath as he picked through the contents.

Ground frostblossom.

"This wouldn’t work with that mixture. It’ll be too harsh."

Starbane.

"That won’t work," he muttered, tossing it aside. "Too weak... too slow..."

He grabbed a small stone bowl.

Scooped powdered duskleaf.

Mixed it with diluted green sap from the nightroot vial.

His pulse hammered loudly in his skull.

"This better not kill you," he whispered.

Because right now, it could either calm her... or collapse her.

And he only had seconds to reach her.

---

Meanwhile, back in the room, Sophia had managed to twist away from Benson’s hold.

Her body moved with a desperate, distorted energy as she dragged herself toward the bed.

Benson couldn’t understand what kind of fever Sophia had. Yes, it was a high fever, and she was suffering from hallucinations — but this looked more serious to him. This looked like something that needed the intervention of the Moon Goddess herself. Maybe they just needed to call Madam Tyler right now so she could do something with her charms, because the medicines they’d been brewing for Sophia hadn’t worked when she slipped into these hallucinations.

He also doubted that Lysander’s mixture — even with rare herbs — would work. But it was better than nothing.

Sophia moved again, dragging herself toward the bed.

Her breath rattled as she clawed her way up onto the mattress.

Then it started again.

Benson immediately moved, trying to restrain her movements, but once again he was shocked by how much strength she had — especially considering the fact that she wasn’t even conscious enough to know what she was doing.

Her chest caved inward.

Her hands reached outward like she was trying to push something off her face. They flailed, desperate and uncoordinated.

"Bloody gods!" Benson cursed. "Not again..."

Sophia swung weakly as Benson tried to help her. Lysander had told him to make sure she didn’t hurt herself — but how exactly was he supposed to do that when she was fighting him like he was the enemy? How was he supposed to protect her then?

"Sophia," he called, choosing to speak to her instead of just trying to pin her down.

He had no idea if it would work. And from what he’d heard from the others — especially Mira — Sophia barely heard anyone when she was in this state, except Orion.

Everyone who had been there the day Mira mentioned it had swooned and whispered about how Orion and Sophia were perfect for each other. Benson himself had even said it was because they were true mates, blessed by the Moon Goddess, that only Orion could reach her when she was like this.

Seeing it now... yes, it was sweet that she listened to Orion’s voice when she was like this, but he wished — just a little — that she could hear him too, and stop fighting him like he was trying to kill her.

He was a healer, for the goddess’s sake, not a fighter. The only "fight" he had ever been involved in was a childhood skirmish with his older brother, who had beaten him badly enough that Benson had sworn off fighting forever after.

No one had ever told him being a medic would require the skills of a warrior.

"Sophia," he called again, softer this time. "Please listen to me. Stop hurting yourself. Just listen to the sound of my voice, please."

But no matter what he said, she didn’t listen.

Her fingers searched blindly as Benson kept trying to stop her from hurting herself.

Then her hand brushed against a candle stand on the bedside table, and her fingers closed tightly around it.

Benson didn’t even see it coming.

In the blink of an eye, she swung it.

The metal connected hard with the spot between his brows.

"Damn it—!"

He stumbled back from the shock, releasing her instinctively, and Sophia immediately crawled away like he was about to attack her.

Benson pushed through the pain and stepped forward again, trying to grab her.

This time, he caught her wrist.

But she twisted violently, almost feral, ripping herself free.

Crawling.

Her body always moving away from human touch.

It hadn’t even been an hour, yet Benson already felt exhausted. He glanced toward the door, silently praying that Lysander would return... or that Orion would walk in... or maybe that the Moon Goddess herself would descend and end this madness.

But that brief moment of distraction cost him.

A sharp sound cracked through the air.

He turned around in shock.

Sophia was hitting herself.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Each slap landed harder than the last.

Her hands missed sometimes because of the shaking and fever, but it never stopped her from trying again.

"Sophia!" Benson cried out. "Please stop. Stop this, please!"