Ravaged

Chapter 8

Consciousness very slowly returns to Sky. Usually when she blacks out, she comes back very quickly. Because usually, there is someone who heals her enough to wake her so she can continue feeling the pain. They didn't like when she passed out on them. It was no fun if she wasn't awake to feel the pain.

She half expects to feel pain now, as her mind drifts awake. But there is no searing agony. No debilitating feeling that keeps her from thinking straight. There is only a slight sting in her arms and on her back. But it's nothing. Something she barely feels.

She feels something else though. She's surrounded by warmth and softness. That can't be right. Is she dead?

Did she finally die?

It would make sense.

It would explain the comfort.

Sky's eyes open almost out of their own accord. Her head feels heavy as images come into focus. She's on a bed. A bed.

It's like that morning she woke up in Rohan's mansion. All the sights and sensations feel new and foreign as if they are happening to someone else. Sky doesn't get comfort. Sky doesn't get to see color. Sky doesn't get warmth.

She's able to raise herself enough to look around the room. It's large and very colorful. All shades of blue and green jump out at her, filling her vision with a vivid array of colors she is unused to.

She quite enjoys it.

The mattress she's lying on is luxuriously soft. She hoists herself into a sitting position and almost falls back down, her vision starring again.

The last thing she remembers is climbing up the stairs in Cruciatus' liar before passing out. How did she get here? Where is here?

Her eyes find Feng sitting in the window seat, overlooking the river that Sky can only catch a glimpse of from her angle. There is a box of chocolates on the seat next to him which he reaches into every few moments to grab a chocolate. With his other hand, he's holding a thick book. She notices scabs on his knuckles that she hasn't seen there before.

Did he get into a fight as they made their way out of the lair?

How much has she missed?

She feels her head spinning again and she closes her eyes to keep the dizziness at bay.

"You should eat something," Feng says after a few moments, his tone neutral. "Your body needs nourishment."

She can't exactly argue with that. Food. Where is she going to find food?

She doesn't open her eyes to search the room, however, afraid if she does the spinning room would make her nauseous.

"There's a tray on the table next to you," he points out helpfully. "Want me to come feed you?"

No. No she does not. She's not an invalid or a child.

She opens her eyes to look for the food on the table beside her, ignoring the spinning sensation in her head. On the tray is a bowl of soup that smells better than anything she's smelled in a while, with a roll of bread next to it that actually looks soft and fresh. Sky reaches out, but her hand is unsteady, and so is she.

She pulls her hand away before she spills the soup, but doesn't succeed in keeping herself upright.

Before she falls to the floor, Feng's arms are around her, preventing her from tumbling to the ground.

Panic creeps into her limbs, urging her to pull away from him instantly. Everything within her protests at being touched, even if the touch is gentle.