Cress

Chapter 21

"There," said Dr. Erland, snipping off the ends of the

 surgery thread. 

"That's all I can do for him."

Cinder wet her lips and found that they had begun

 to split from dryness.

"And? Will he ... is he going to...?"

"We have to wait and see.

 He's lucky the bullets didn't puncture to lung, or he

wouldn't have made it this far, but he did lose a lot 

 of blood.

 I'll monitor the anesthetics closely for the next

 day or two. 

 We want to keep him sedated.

 Levana's soldiers are designed as disposable  weapons—

they are very effective when they're in good health,

 but their genetic alterations make it difficult for

 them to rest, even when their bodies need time to

 recover from injury.

She stared down at Wolf's wounds, now sewed together

 with dark blue thread that formed ugly bumps and ridges

 where open flesh had been before. 

 Numerous other scars littered his bare chest, long

 since healed.

 It was obvious that he had been through a lot. 

 Surely this wouldn't be the end of him, after everything?

A table beside her held a tray with the two small bullets the

 doctor had removed—they seemed too small to have done 

so much damage.

"I can't let anyone else die," she whispered.

The doctor looked up from cleaning the surgical tools. 

"They may be treated as disposal assets to the queen, but

 they are also resilient."

 He dropped the scalpel and tweezers into a blue liquid. 

"With proper rest, it's possible that he'll make a

full recovery."

"Possible," she repeated dumbly.

 It wasn't enough.

She slumped down onto the wooden chair beside Wolf's

 bed and slipped a hands into his, hoping he would 

 appreciate the touch, even though she wasn't

Scarlet.

She crushed her eyes shut  the wave of remorse flooding

overboard Scarlet. 

Wolf would be furious when he woke up. 

Furious and devastated.

"Now perhaps you might deign to tell me how you 

 managed to be in the company of both a Lunar soldier