Natalie~
"Please… please forgive me…" Griffin's voice was barely a breath, his body slumped against me, dead weight and fading warmth. Blood smeared his lips and dripped down my shirt, stark red against white—like a wound that wouldn't close.
"Griffin, stop," I whispered, brushing the blood from his mouth with trembling fingers. "Please don't talk. Every word is tearing you apart."
His chest shuddered beneath my hand, each breath a battle. He was shaking—fragile, like a leaf caught in a storm—and those eyes of his, wide and glassy with guilt, refused to look away from mine. That desperation… it cut deeper than any wound. But I couldn't let him break. Not now.
"Fox said it's the curse," I said quietly, trying to sound steady, even as my throat tightened. "It's punishing you every time you try to speak the truth. That's why you're bleeding. That's why you're dying."
