Chapter 119: Nutrients
"I did," I replied coldly, gesturing to the empty plates. He had already seen them, anyway. "It was delicious."
Rowan made his way to the trays, quietly looking at the empty plates. Then, he picked up a plate of food that was further in― this plate hadn’t been flipped over earlier, and the shards of shattered china dinnerware had not been swept and dusted onto it.
He removed the cloche, revealing the roasted chicken underneath. The skin of the chicken was perfectly roasted into a golden brown, and there was an assortment of seasoned roasted vegetables on the side, along with a portion of mashed potatoes.
If this were any other day, it would’ve been an appetizing sight to behold. However, after regurgitating the contents of my stomach, leaving the stomach acid to burn the back of my throat, the smell of the chicken merely made my stomach roll with discomfort.
Calmly, Rowan picked up the dish, along with a fork and a knife.
"Cassian, close the door," he instructed.
Cassian raised an eyebrow. However, surprisingly, he didn’t say a word despite his usually extensive arsenal. He closed the door as instructed, remaining inside the room. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wooden panel, calmly watching us.
Rowan, on the other hand, made his way over to the plush sofas. He placed the plate on the coffee table that was situated where the couches were, before gesturing to the empty spot next to him on the couch.
"Sit," he said.
Instantly, I frowned. "What for?" I asked. "As I said, I wish to rest. Please leave."
"We’re not leaving until you eat," Rowan plainly said. He didn’t even turn to look at me, and instead, began to cut through the tender white flesh of the cooked chicken.
"I already ate," I said through gritted teeth. "I just told you."
"If by eating, you mean putting the food in your mouth before vomiting it back out, then we are in disagreement," Rowan replied without missing a beat.
I pursed my lips immediately. He had found out too easily after all.
This time, Rowan finally looked up. He gestured to the empty spot once more with his eyes.
"Sit."
I clenched my hands into fists, my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands. After emptying the contents of my stomach, the last thing I wanted to do was to fill it back up again with food that would poison me. Even though I was starving previously, right now, I had no appetite to eat. I would rather starve.
With Rowan’s insistence on making me actually ingest the food, there was a high chance that he was the one behind the poisoning after all. Maybe this was to teach me a small lesson about running away or disobeying them.
I had to give him points for inventiveness. Teaching me to hate eating was certainly a new form of torture I never thought anyone could cook up.
Cassian exhaled loudly from the other end of the room. Seeing that I wasn’t willing to move an inch, he strode over and placed a hand on my shoulder. Forcibly, he led me to the sofa and sat me down right next to Rowan.
"Hey―!"
"Just sit there and quit complaining," Cassian said with a growl. "I’ve never seen another woman more problematic than you."
Indignation quickly filled my chest. That was a bold thing to claim, especially when Violet was right there.
However, the two brothers didn’t give me a chance to rebut. Rowan had pierced a slice of chicken with the fork as soon as Cassian sat me down. The moment I looked in his general direction, the fork had been placed next to my lips, the aromatic chicken clinging to the fork.
"Eat," he said simply. Rowan stared at me so intently that I found my lips instinctively parting. However, I slammed them shut as soon as I realized, and reeled back a little to put some distance between us.
When he saw that I had moved away, he frowned.
"You shouldn’t be picky," Rowan said, taking on an almost chiding tone. "You need the nutrients to recover."
"Are you sure there’s just nutrients in this thing?" I countered bitterly. With the manner they were forcing me to eat, I wouldn’t even be surprised if the amount of wolfsbane and arsenic on this measly bite of chicken was enough to kill a whole pack of wolves.
Rowan raised an eyebrow before putting the chicken down. He then pierced a small piece of carrot, raising it to my lips.
"There’s fiber, if that’s what you prefer?" he said, cocking his head slightly to one side.
"I― Wait... What― That’s not the point!" I spluttered. However, the earnest look in Rowan’s eyes made it difficult for me to look away from him.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Cassian groaned from one side.
He snatched the fork from Rowan’s hands before jabbing the chicken on, along with a heaping portion of mashed potatoes. Balancing everything on the fork, he grabbed me by my cheeks, squishing them so that my lips would part, before practically shoving the food into my mouth.
I struggled against him, but Cassian’s grip was firm. He held me in place and held his hand firmly over my mouth, while his other hand pinched my nose. If I wanted to breathe, I would need to swallow my food before he would let go.
The burning need to breathe quickly took over. I chewed and swallowed the food as quickly as I could. True enough, the moment the food went down my gullet, Cassian pulled away, and I gasped for air.
"Was that necessary?" Rowan said, frowning disapprovingly at his brother.
"Unless you wish to be here all day, yes, it is," Cassian said with a sneer. "But unlike you, I have things to do and places to be. I don’t have the time to spoonfeed this overgrown baby and make sure she eats. She can starve to death for all I care!"
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