The Nightmare Daze

36. The Price of Blood

Isabel

"Don't you have work to do?" His anger has an edge to it, tiredness worrying away at his restraint.

"What are you going to do with her?"

"You told me to leave it to Levi."

"I know it isn't that simple."

Elijah smiles, and despite trying to send me away with his words, a hand on my waist pulls me a little closer. "No, it isn't. She put all of us at risk, so she answer to all of us."

"What does that mean?"

"Levi knows I'm not the only one he has to appease. He's bull-headed when it comes to that girl, but he isn't stupid."

Already, men filtering their way toward the dining hall have seen our strange promenade, Levi in the lead with a limp girl thrown over his shoulder, Elijah and I close behind, and Silas trailing a ways down the hall behind us. Florence's strength had quickly left her, and she hangs helplessly at Levi's back, legs lying still where they are held tightly to his chest.

I don't miss the looks they give Levi, the conspiratorial whispers among them. They're beginning to hate him. They're beginning to think that he is more interested in Florence Blackmore than them. I pray to god that they're right. For in this moment I realize that we're also headed to the dining hall, straight into the den of vipers that Elijah has drawn beneath his roof.

"Elijah, I'm begging you," I whisper, pulling him aside as Levi prowls down the hall. To my surprise he pauses and lets me take hold of his arm, glancing down to where my fingers touch him.

"And what is it that you're begging for?"

"Mercy. For Florence. They'll kill her."

"At this point, do you think I care?"

"I wish you would, I desperately wish you would."

"Your attempts to manipulate me aren't nearly as charming as you think them to be."

"I'm not trying to manipulate you, I'm begging you to protect her!"

"You know if I did it would be for you, and not for her."

"If that's what it takes."

"You know," he growls, leaning closer, daring me to turn away. "You once told me you would sooner go to hell than be with me. And yet you keep calling on my affection for you when you want something."

There is no reply I can offer, and it's all I can manage to keep breathing evenly as he glares down at me with harsh, bright eyes.

"It doesn't work that way, Isabel. And I'm beginning to grow tired of humoring you."

"You haven't left me any options."

"That's of your own doing. Florence Blackmore is going to reckon with her actions. But I'll give you a choice. I'll let you pretend to be ignorant to her suffering; you can go about the rest of your chores and go back to your cold home and your cold husband. Or you can come with me and see what you're complicit in, whether you like it or not."

"That's cruel."

"That's reality," he hisses. "What will it be?"

I close my eyes and draw in a breath, picturing the look on Florence's face when her legs finally gave out beneath her. I've never seen someone so frightened, so alone, so broken. She looks already like a ghost, a haunted thing. Who will bear witness to her suffering? Who will care? My hand falls away from Elijah's arm and I look to where Levi has already disappeared at the end of the hall.