Rosebay does not follow others easily, but she might follow Crowns into the darkness. And why not? He had been there to give her that first, heady taste of death. Had pulled her into the shadows of it and let her get drunk on the promise of the abyss. Let her close her eyes and sigh with pleasure at the first gut punch of it. The way her entire body had recoiled. The way she had felt it burn like wildfire through her veins.
So perhaps she would follow him into the dark—perhaps she would.
These truths do not come to rose petal lips though nor do they hide behind her plain, almond eyes. Instead she tucks them away beneath the growing armor that has begun to take over her slender body. She tilts a fragile head at him as her poison spreads across his tongue and she nearly shivers at the intimacy of it. So much so that she does not pull away this time when he kisses her. Does not turn to mist at the touch.
When he steps away, she remains still, with nothing but the shadows to wrap around her.
At his question, she laughs—the sound sharper than the sweet girl she can sometimes pretend to be. But he has never known that truth of her. Has never knowing anything but the raw ugliness of her—the power hungriness, the greed. The way she slurps cruelty off her fingertips and asks for more.
“I am always the hungriest in the room,” she purrs as her lips tilt upward in the corner. Her eyes flash a little as she settles, watching the way the light from his foxfire dances across his features.
but in all chaos, there is calculation
@[crowns]