A Rose To The Flames

Chapter 11

I wake up screaming at the pain. I bolt straight upwards. We're in the castle infirmary. Rowan made it.

Rowan comes rushing over to me to comfort me. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay."

Tears stream out of my eyes. "It hurts. So bad."

The nurse comes out of the corner of the room and interrupts us. "I was only cauterizing your deepest wounds. Did the man give you something? Perhaps some sort of modified endorphin?" She asks.

"He-he put some chemical in a syringe and said everything wou-would hurt more." I stutter.

Rowan wraps his arms around me to make me feel safe.

The nurse sighs. "He gave you serotonin."

The nurse turns around and grabs a syringe. She fills it with a white liquid and turns around.

I back away, my eyes widening at the sight of another syringe.

Rowan walks in front of her. "What is it?"

"It will put her to sleep so that I can heal her. The chemical he gave her has to wear off, I can't reverse it. The best way is to operate on her while she's unconscious." She explains.

"Okay, just wait here. Don't scare her." Rowan says to the nurse.

Rowan walks over to me and I cower in the corner, staring at the syringe in fear. Rowan sits down across from me and blocks my sight of the syringe.

"I know this must be tough, Rose, but you have to know that it's for the better." He says calmly.

"But what if she had something like the man?" I ask.

"She doesn't. The nurse said that it will help lessen the pain. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes, but-" I start to say.

"I will help you. I'll let you hold my hand and you can squeeze it as hard as you need to." He interrupts.

"O-okay." I reply shakily.

Rowan and I walk towards the infirmary bed, hand in hand. I sit down and some tears stream down my cheeks.

"Are you ready, Rose?" Rowan asks.

I nod hesitantly. The nurse slowly approaches and takes my arm in her hand. I squeeze Rowan's hand and whimper, closing my eyes. Rowan takes his other hand and wraps it around me, as if he can keep me safe from the world.

I feel the syringe enter my arm but then I feel nothing else as the world goes black.

I wake up screaming. Not because something hurts but because I had a nightmare of the man. Rowan rushes over and surrounds me in a bear hug.

"It's okay. You're okay." He comforts.

"I had a dream about the man." I whimper as tears flow down my face like a waterfall.

"You don't need to think about him anymore. He's dead." Rowan says. I see emotion cross his face, I just can't determine which one.

"But he-he did things." I whimper.

"What did he do? Do you want to tell me now? We're alone." He asks.

"He-he gave me a syringe that made me feel more and then he- then he gave me one that felt like hot metal in my veins. And then-and then he cut me and then he-he elec-electrocuted m-me." I stutter out.

"I can't imagine what that could've been like." He replies, laying down next to me and putting my head on his chest and his other hand at the base of my hair.