AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ad.” The nickname is spoken so impossibly quietly that I think I must have imagined I heard it slip from his lips.
“I’m here.” I lean down to Jost, placing my other hand over the one clutching mine.
“You have to take care of Sebrina,” he says.
“I told you I would,” I remind him softly.
“I don’t think I can do it,” he says. His hand begins to tremble in mine and a seizure rolls through his body. A medic rushes over and gives him a shot.
“I’m sorry, but he’ll go back to sleep now,” he explains.
“It’s okay. I’ll be here awhile.”
“He’ll sleep for a long time,” he warns me.
“Will he get better?”
“His injuries are severe, and some of the work is extensive.”
“Work?” I ask.
“It looks like a Tailor tried to heal some of his wounds,” Alix says, stepping in.
“A Tailor?” I ask in horror.
“We’re not all bad,” the medic says with a wink, and I realize with some embarrassment that of course this man would be a Tailor. “Your friend will be fine.”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“We should let him sleep,” Alix says, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I pull away from her.
“I need a few minutes alone with him, okay?”
The medic and Alix exchange a look, but they do as I ask.
“I’ll be with Alix,” Amie says. She leans down and kisses me on the forehead.
Once they’re gone I turn my attention back to Jost. Some of the scars are barely visible while others streak angrily across his shoulders. I pull the sheet down to examine his chest. The marks extend there. Whatever happened to him, it was serious. Despite the medic’s reassurances that he will live, dread steals through me. How had he survived this? How exactly was he altered?
“Sebrina.” Her name barely escapes his dry lips.
“She’s fine,” I say to him. “Alix is watching her.”
“Promise me like you promised him,” Jost mumbles.
I’m not sure what he’s trying to tell me. The drugs they’ve given him must be making him delirious.
“Promise you’ll care for her,” he repeats.
“I promise, Jost.” The weight of the vow is heavy on my chest, but he seems to relax, his hand loosening over my own.
“But you have to fight, Jost,” I say. “For her. For me.”
“Never stop…” His words are a maze of sounds, losing me in his drugged haze. “You.”
“Rest,” I command, placing a gentle kiss on his bruised cheek. He goes to sleep then, and I stand to leave him, wondering what he meant by “never stop you.”
