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  dry-
ness. "And? Will he ... is he going to...?"
     "We  have  to  wait  and   see.  He's  lucky  the  bullets  didn't  puncture   a
   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 overhead
   Scarlet.  Wolf  would  be  furious   when   he   woke   up.  Furious  and  devas-
tated.
         "Now perhaps you might deign to  tell  me how   you  managed  to be in
          the company of both a Lunar  soldier  and  a  Lunar  royal, guard, of all the
       possible allies in  this galaxy."
       She   sighed.   It took a while to gather her thoughts and find the begin-
   ning of such a story. Ultimately she decided   to   tell   him about tracking
          down Michelle Benoit,  and  how  she'd   been    hoping to find   out   more
       about the  woman who had protected her secret  to  the death. How she'd
       been searching for clues about her past, who had brought her to Earth,
   and why anyone would put so much faith into a child who, at the time,
       was a mere three years old and on the brink of death after the queen's at-
       tempted murder.
           She explained how they'd followed the path of clues  to Paris, where
          she learned that Michelle   Benoit   was dead,  but she found   her grand-
       daughter instead.  Scarlet ... and Wolf. How they  became   allies.  How Wolf
       was training her to use her mental abilities and to fight.
             She told him about the attack aboard the Rampion  and how Sybil Mira
   had  taken Scarlet, and now it was  only her and  Wolf ... and this guard,
   who she wanted  to trust, felt she needed to trust, and yet she didn't  even
       know his name.
           "He said that he serves his princess," Cinder said, the words wispy and
        thin. "Somehow, he knew about me."
          Erland rubbed at  his  frizzy  hair. "Perhaps   he   overhead Thaumaturge
       Mira, or  the queen  herself talking about you. We're lucky that his fealty
          is to the true crown. Many of Levana's minions would just as soon kill you
          and claim a reward than see you recognized as queen."