Damon
We had climbed to the top of the stairs when I slowed to a stop. Eris, who I assume was lost in her thoughts, bumped into me. She jumped back and almost fell back down the stairs. I caught her by her arm and pulled her back to safety, a flicker of pain crossing my face. The moment I let go, she started profusely apologizing. And blaming herself. It took a bit to calm her down and I insisted it was my mistake. Her gaze landed at her feet, and she wrung her hands anxiously.
"If you say so," she said.
We resumed walking to the clinic.
"Why are you following me again?" I asked.
"Oh. I could- I could stop if it's bothering you. I'll just... um... I'll just go." She slowed down.
"That's not what I meant." I glanced back at her.
She walked with her head hanging low.
What happened to you?
"I feel like this is my fault." She hugged herself, shrinking under my gaze.
"It isn't," I said, trying to shut down that line of thinking.
She kept insisting it was her fault.
This overreaction is something I've seen before.
We stopped outside the clinic's doors.
"I could've just as easily not jumped in to save you and let you get seriously hurt. Or killed. But I didn't. What do you think is worse? This or whatever Seraphina would've done to you?" I lifted my arm, a bit more blood gushing out from my cut.
She stared at my arm and nodded to herself.
"I jumped in. That's the choice I made," I said. "There's always a choice."
I walked through the doorway to the clinic with Eris trailing a few steps behind me. Camilla glanced at me from a distillation setup before returning her attention to the beakers she was mixing together.
"Back so soon?" Camilla asked. "I figured—"
"No time for banter." I cut her off. "Seraphina stabbed me. Need stitches."
"She did?" She stepped away from her workbench and examined me. "You look fine for someone who crossed Noxia," she said, mocking Seraphina's tone.
"Luckily it was only with a knife. Not her sword," I said.
Camilla crossed her arms and pulled her mask down.
"Don't insult my intelligence." She frowned. "She'd never use a knife. As she puts it, it's beneath her."
"Can we talk about this after you stitched me up? I'm bleeding pretty badly." I nodded to my arm.
"Right... Right!" Camilla strutted over to a cabinet. "Run the area under warm water. Wash any blood away. And then sit down. Eris— Why is she here?"
"Bleeding..." I sighed, getting Camilla back on track.
"Right. Treatment now, questions later. Eris, can you disinfect the area? Grab some iodine to put around the cut." Camilla threw her gloves off, grabbing a new pair.
YOU ARE READING
To Die Another Day
FantasyGood people die. That's just a fact. Most times it's by accident, but every so often, someone is at fault. That's something I'm intimately familiar with. Too common where I live. Too much sorrow. I thought I could change that. With what I can't do w...
