AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We can do this in my office,” I said. “I’d rather not take up a room while there’s patients waiting.” And from the various sounds coming from up the hall, there were definitely patients waiting.
Lia frowned but shrugged and followed me.
As she toed the door shut behind us, I turned around, carefully crossing my arms so I didn’t aggravate my wound. “Okay, confession—I don’t need you to look at my arm.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You don’t?”
“No.” I shifted a little, avoiding her eyes. “I need some advice.”
“About Owen?”
I flicked my gaze back to her. “How’d you guess?”
She shot me one of those“you know, for a doctor, you can be a real dumbass”looks she’d given me millions of times in the past. “Really?”
It took a second, but the piece clicked into place, and my face burned. “Right. Right. You were here when…” I gestured vaguely toward the chair Owen had been occupying this morning.
“Mmhmm. I was.” She put the kit on my desk and pointed at my arm. “I’m still going to look at that.”
I scowled. “I don’t need—”
“My advice isn’t free, bub.” She set her jaw. “Also, I know a tech who lost a finger because a raróg scratch got infected. I’m not taking chances with our best surgeon’s hands or arms. You want my advice?” She pointed emphatically at my arm. “Show me the cut.”
There wasn’t a lot of point in arguing with her. And, well, she was right. Those cantankerous little dragon-birds could do a lot of damage, and while it would probably sting something fierce, it wouldn’t actually hurt me to be a responsible adult and let Lia take a look.
“Fine.” I exhaled and started to unwrap my arm. “But Idon’tneed stitches.”
“Whatever you say, Doc. Now what’s going on with Owen?”
“Well, from what we’ve pieced together,” I said as I carefully peeled away the bandage, “he made a deal with a fae.”
“Ooh, that sounds ominous.” She glanced up at me before peering at my arm. “What kind of deal? And what do you mean, from what the two of you have pieced together? Doesn’t he know?”
“Yeah, that’s the problem. He—ow!”
“Oh, don’t be a baby.” She prodded the edge of the wound because she was mean and not at all checking for signs of infection or an embedded piece of raróg claw. “Keep talking.”
I grimaced, but I did keep talking, if through my teeth. “He doesn’t remember. And the receipt from the fae shop is for something that translates to ‘forget.’”
She looked up at me again. “Did he… Did he pay a fae to erase his memory?”
“That’s kind of what it’s sounding like.” I grimaced again, though not because of the stinging and throbbing in my arm this time. “And given that his memory goes completely blank starting the night before I told him I cheated, I think I can guess why.”
Lia’s expression turned grim. “Oh. Shit. So he… Wow.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “So he came to me in a panic because he doesn’t remember anything from that day on. Including the fact that we broke up. Or why.”
“Yikes.” She let go of my arm and reached for the antiseptic bottle. As she poured some on a cotton ball, either oblivious to or ignoring my expression of protest, she said, “That explains why he wasn’t trying to bludgeon you with a chair.”
“Right? But the thing is, that means in his mind, we’re still… us. He doesn’t hate me.” My shoulders sagged. “He still fucking loves me. And I need—ow, Jesus!”
Seriously, I hated that antiseptic. Hated. It. This particular variety was usually only used on rarógi themselves, because it didn’t seem to bother them, but we also put it on bites or scratches inflicted by the little fuckers. And itburned.
“Don’t be a baby,” she said. “It’s not that bad.”
“The fuck it’s not,” I hissed.
“Mmhmm. So go on. Your ex doesn’t hate you…?”
