"There is a door, you know?" Atticus said, gesturing to the door that led to the room. "Is there really a need for you to barge in through the window?"
"Didn’t you do the sa, Your Majesty?" Leonora retorted. Her eyes darted over to Silas, lingering on her brother for a second before looking back at Atticus.
"I flew here," Atticus rebutted. "You ca by horseback. You could’ve easily used the door like a normal person would."
"That doesn’t matter," Leonora said through gritted teeth.
She protectively stood in between Silas and Atticus, trying her hardest to protect him from the tyrant. With a wave of her hand, the remaining flas in the room were quelled, including that of her sword.
"Shouldn’t you be looking for Daphne? What are you doing here torturing my brother for?"
"Daphne is perfectly fine," Atticus said. He looked to the door, and in a voice that was a little louder than before, he said, "Sunshine, you can co in now."
The door creaked open and in popped two heads― Daphne and Sirona. Once they noticed Silas writhing on the floor, spasming every once in a while as foam gathered at his lips, Daphne gasped sharply in shock.
Sirona rushed forward once they had stepped into the room, a syringe in her hand. However, after the reckless behavior of her king, Princess Leonora wasn’t about to let Sirona near Silas anyti soon, especially not without a valid and convincing reason.
"What do you think you’re doing?" Leonora asked, pointing her sword in Sirona’s direction. "Take one more step and I’ll jab right through your ribs."
"I have a cure with , Your Highness," Sirona said. She raised her hand, showing Leonora the syringe she held. "It could temporarily alleviate Prince Silas’s conditions."
anwhile, Atticus had made his way over to Daphne. He pulled his wife into his arms, tenderly looking all over her, checking for possible injuries. Thankfully, there was so dirt on her here and there, along with so light scratches, but nothing too serious.
"Are you hurt?" he asked nonetheless.
Daphne shook her head, her eyes trained on Atticus. She had expected Leonora to co running back but she hadn’t thought that Atticus would too. Perhaps the maid managed to find them both, or Atticus must’ve seen the explosion in the palace. It did create quite a ruckus.
"I’m fine," she said. Looking past Atticus, she worriedly gazed at Leonora and Silas. "What did you do to Silas?"
"I did what was necessary," Atticus firmly replied without missing a beat. "We need to know what exactly we’re dealing with. It’s better to test it on Silas, who is less of a threat than Alistair, who we’ve not even managed to track down yet."
While Daphne understood Atticus’s reasoning, she couldn’t help but feel conflicted. Silas hadn’t been the best brother to her― in fact, none of them were. Unfortunately, it didn’t erase the fact that she was still their older sister and that she had a responsibility to them, especially after what she had promised Leonora.
On the other hand, Sirona was still desperately explaining to Leonora the benefits of the serum. It had been specially created just for Prince Silas and Prince Alistair, after all.
"Right now, Prince Silas has the intelligence of a hungered animal that can maybe speak a couple of human words," Sirona explained. "This serum can montarily bring back his humanity."
Silas had already stopped spasming on the floor. Whatever Atticus had cut off had already regrown. However, he still lay there weakly, unable to get up. His eyes were shut as well, and if it weren’t for the steady rise and fall of his chest, Leonora might’ve even thought that her brother was tortured to death.
Eventually, she nodded, stepping to one side to allow Sirona better access to Silas. However, she still gave her warning.
"If anything happens to my brother, I will have your head, even if it costs my life," she threatened. "I don’t care if you have King Atticus backing you up. No matter how skilled he is with magic, even he can’t revive soone from the dead."
Sirona breathed in deeply through her nose, nodding once. Prince Nathaniel had a hand in this serum’s developnt. While she would rather die than admit it out loud, Prince Nathaniel was truly talented at developing odd tonics and dicinal recipes, even far more so than she. As such, Sirona was confident that this serum would do its job.
She carefully steadied the needle before injecting the syringe’s contents into Silas’s bloodstream.
The mont the needle left his flesh, Silas’s blackened blood vessels began to lighten in color until his complexion slowly regained that of a normal human’s. His claws retracted and returned to how it was before. Even the furrow of his eyebrows was gone, and his entire body was visibly more relaxed.
Leonora let out a shaky breath as she dropped to her knees, pulling Silas into her hold. She couldn’t believe it. She had actually prepared herself to face Silas’s final monts as she didn’t have any faith that the serum would work.
It miraculously did. Silas was back.
He groaned a little, his eyelids fluttering as he slowly stirred awake. Slowly, Silas’s eyes cracked open. Everyone was surprised to see that his eyes had returned to normal as well, the blue of his irises brilliantly bright, albeit a little bloodshot due to the tears he had just shed from the pain.
"Leonora?" he croaked, his voice hoarse.
A tear dripped down from Leonora’s eye, landing on Silas’s cheek. She hastily wiped it away, smiling in relief.
"I’m here, I’m here," she repeated. "I got you. You’re alright."
"My whole body hurts," Silas said. "What... What happened?"
"You got too agitated. The increased blood flow had infected you and caused your... transformation. Thankfully, Prince Nathaniel and I formulated a serum that could temporarily turn you back," Sirona said, her voice monotonous. Then, her expression darkened. "Temporarily."
"Does that an I will turn back when the serum wears out?" Silas shakily asked.
"No, no, of course not. Healer Sirona will have more serums prepared, yes?" Leonora asked, turning to Sirona, her eyes pleading.
Her face fell when she was t with the sight of Sirona shaking her head.
"Unfortunately, that is not possible. We have no idea how long each dose will last, only that it’s not permanent. The ingredients used are also rare. We’ve run out and the serum cannot be replicated in such a short span of ti."
"No..." Leonora gasped.
"It hurts," Silas said with a choked gasp. "Leonora, save ... Please..."
"I... But... I don’t know how!"
"Do a favor, Sister," Silas said with a weak smile. "Put out of my misery."
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