Chapter 31

• ALEXIOS
• When I returned to my quarters, I got on to the bathroom and turned on the valve. Strings of cold water cascaded down my body as I slowly tried to clear my head. I remembered the taste Lydia left behind. I knew I should be disgusted but it did not speak well of me. I was the one who initiated the kiss. The girl had nothing to do with it but she had not made an attempt to stop it either. I dared say she enjoyed the kiss. I slicked back my wet hair so I could look in the mirror. I wondered what would have happened if my sanity hadn't returned. What if we did the deed? I couldn't really blame her. The new moon was coming. With it came the heat. I needed to have a plan before things got worse. As droplets of the nasty water spilled from my body down the gash below. I remembered what the Seer had muttered.
• "A blooming rose attracts two maidens. The scent of it shall cause the cherry blossoms to flourish and the Belladonna to wither. Love will find one and break the other. You, Alexios Rose, shall be the architect of all their undoing."