I couldn’t watch, yet I also couldn’t look away, as another man in black robes made a scarring cut down her sternum, blood instantly rushing to the surface as Faylinn begged and whimpered.
My heart thundered in my chest, sweat cascading down to mingle with the residual blood from my own torture. I hissed a breath when the salty liquid made contact with an open wound, but my pain was inconsequential compared to what I witnessed.
“Look, girl.” Faylinn’s torturer gestured to me with his knife, simultaneously stepping out of her line of sight so she had a clear view of me sitting next to her.
Tears pooled in Faylinn’s eyes as she sluggishly held my gaze with her own.
She was dying.
“She’s dying. Please stop. Please. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t kill her.” My plea was broken and caused Faylinn’s tears to fall faster.
“Lex,” she whispered. “It’s okay, Lex. It’s okay.”
I shook my head as best I could with it still held down by a leather strap.
“It’s not, Faylinn. It’snot. I wish you were never brought here. Never met me. Never experienced this.” I felt my own tears track down my face, hot and salty as they hit my lips.
The men in robes stepped to the side, observing our interaction like the experiment we were.
“I don’t,” she said, her voice strong and clear in the moment. I shook my head to deny her statement, but she continued.
“I don’t. Not for a minute. Because if I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have known you. Known your heart. And it is a beautiful heart, Lex.”
Sobs wracked my body as I watched her eyes flutter, closing briefly before opening again.
“Stay with me, Fay. Stay with me,” I urged.
She smiled. Even now, with bodily fluids covering her face, her smile lit her whole body. Lit the whole godsdamned room.
“I like when you call me Fay. No one has ever called me that before.” Her voice was a faded whisper, barely distinguishable over the cacophony of sound in the room.
“No, no, no. Fay. FAYLINN!” I screamed, and the men in robes jumped into action, both of them rushing to Faylinn’s bed, obscuring my view of her completely.
They muttered to each other as a bag of fluid was brought from one of the cabinets in the back, and a Water Mage began to funnel it into Faylinn’s small, broken form.
They’re saving her?I was struck dumb for a moment. They’d never—never—saved a subject before.
She’s special. But I knew that already.
I watched, scarcely able to breathe, as they brought a second and third bag of clear fluid to Faylinn’s table.
“Blood,” I heard someone mutter. “We need blood.”
“Me.” My voice was loud, commanding. With more bite and urgency than I’d ever put into it. “Take it from me.”
A man in black robes instantly turned around and sliced into my right arm without a second thought. I hissed at the sudden sting but swallowed any discomfort.
This was forFaylinn. I could handle a little cut and blood loss.
The Water Mage came to my side and began to funnel the blood from my arm into a similar cut on Faylinn’s.
Slowly, after what felt like years, the color returned to Faylinn’s cheeks. Her breathing evened out, her wounds stopped bleeding.
The men in black robes stepped away, their postures tense as they waited to see if she would wake.
Eventually, Faylinn’s eyes fluttered open and her gaze immediately found my own. Where I expected anger, or even pain, all I saw was gratitude and an overwhelming weight of love.
The force of her emotions floored me, and I tried to rub the space over my heart. It was like she wasinsideme.
