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‘You’re safe,’ Kallum says, and my eyes land on him.
I don’t believe him.
‘What happened?’ I ask, trying to think of the last thing I can remember.
It was going through the Breach from that second dark world with all those monsters trying to break through the shield to get to us, wasn’t it?
Where are my clothes?
‘Did you … sell me again?’ I whisper, hardly able to force out the words, needing to know but not wanting to at all.
I don’t feel like myself. My body aches deep in my bones and my head is pounding behind my eyes and under my cheeks. Nothing hurts between my legs, though. I’d know if they’d let someone do that, wouldn’t I?
Kallum looks distraught for a split second at my words before his expression clears.
‘No, Lia. We didn’t sell you,’ he says gently.
Relief floods me.
‘What is this place?’ I ask, feeling as if I’m wading through thick mud in my mind. Why isn’t my brain working properly? To my eternal mortification, hiccupping sobs are beginning to erupt from deep inside me. I can’t contain them.
Grey stands up, and I cringe into the bed, shrinking back as he approaches me.
‘What’s wrong with her? She’s never looked so … not even in Alcana’s dungeons.’
‘She’s still not well,’ I hear Dane say quietly from the other side of me, and I feel his touch on my shoulder. I try to pull away, but the hand is gentle and insistent as I’m urged back towards him. I find I don’t have the strength to fight him, but my crying gets louder. I can’t do anything. I’m so weak.
‘The fever broke not more than an hour ago. Let her rest. Is it time for more of the root?’
‘Yes.’ Grey.
‘Prepare it then,’ is Dane’s curt response.
I feel him graze my forehead with the backs of his fingers, and I shy away from his touch, but my cries quieten.
‘It’s all right,’ he says in a soothing voice. ‘No one’s going to hurt you.’
I don’t open my eyes as I’m encouraged, with the hand still on my shoulder, to lean back onto a pillow.
What’s all this about? What do they want from me? Where are my clothes?
I begin to cry anew, and I want to stop, but I can’t help it.
There’s a spoon at my lips, and I shake my head, pressing my mouth shut. I don’t want whatever they’re trying to give me. My stomach is in knots.
‘It’s Dark Realm Root,’ Dane murmurs next to me, stroking my cheek.
‘I don’t want it,’ I choke out.
He keeps touching me, and my brow furrows. Why is he in bed with me? What does he want?
‘You’re sick from the Breach,’ he says gently between my shuddering breaths. ‘You need to take it.’
The Breach?
‘Breach Blet,’ I mutter.
I open my eyes and try to blink away the tears that keep filling them.
