вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. ix

*evil laughter that slowly transitions into hysterical crying*

"Linh, I need more-Dex? What are you doing here?" Tam almost yelled as the strawberry-blond boy sidled into the room behind his twin. In one smooth move, he threw the blanket over all the bloodstained tissues. "Um. Hi?"

Dex gave him a tired grin. "It's all good, Tam. Linh told me everything."

"Uh huh." Tam eyeballed his twin, who stared right back. "And....why?"

"Because I can help," Dex answered.

Tam's line of sight slid back to Dex. "I'd ask you to sit, but..." he shrugged. "Go on."

"That's okay. And I could get you elixirs for blood replenishing, and to repair any damage the thorns did to your throat." Dex stepped forward, a strange gleam in his eye. "But I'll need some specifics, so I know what concentration I need to make."

"Well....it's been three days since I first started coughing loose petals. Then, around a couple of hours after the petals came the first thorn. Today? Roughly five or six. D'you need more specifics?" Tam's eyes bored deep into Dex's periwinkle ones. Regardless of what Linh said, he still didn't trust him with this completely.

"No, that's more than enough." Dex gingerly took a step forward, narrowly avoiding skidding on a small mound of petals Tam had hurled at the ground in frustration a few minutes ago. "And I know it's pretty much in your genotype not to trust anyone other than Linh and maybe Tiergan, but I actually know more about your disease than you think."

Tam's eyebrow had never gone so high before. "Uh huh. How?"

"Because my dad had it too."

LE PLOT TWIST, Y'ALL

*gestures with conductor batons* three, two, one....