Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 10 - Hiraeth - She's Gone Again

"Heal her."

Two words. Two words are the only thing Arkyn ever says to me. Never more, never less, and it honestly makes punching him a hard act to keep from happening. Though getting a few broken bones for the singular and likely pathetic attempt at a punch could also be a convincing factor.

One look at the girl and I wouldn't have needed to be told anything before I spring into action.

As always, I wait a few seconds after he's left the cell before rushing to where she's still hanging from her wrists. I reach her just as the other two men release the chains, my legs struggling with the effort to keep both of us from falling to the ground. They don't try and let her down gently to keep her bones from shattering further, they simply release the chains and let her fall to the stones. Now it's a race between me and them at who can get to her first. I'd call it a game, but there's no fun in it whatsoever.

She's already unconscious from the pain, saving me from having her fingers dig into my skin hard enough to draw blood. Her silent plea for me to get rid of the pain quickly. The guards go to their posts outside the cell door, and I dump the contents of my bag on the ground. Glass clinks, and several colors that are hard to differentiate in the dark slide this way and that.

Five broken ribs, two bruised ribs, a dislocated kneecap, hip bone fractures, a shoulder dislocation, seven broken fingers, several torn ligaments in her legs...the list goes on and on. That's not even mentioning the several torn or strained muscles he tends to pull apart. Slowly. I can feel all of it.

Just waving a hand over her body I can feel the light of my gift constantly dipping and rising to the injuries. She passed out three times through these last sessions. Twice in the one before that.

Her pain tolerance is already off the charts, but if it's beginning to dwindle...she has a cycle at most before her body simply...gives out. It won't be painful, but it won't be quick either. Her brain will begin shutting down her organs, causing her to hollow out too quickly for me to repair and fill. Then she'll start dazing until her eyelids finally close. I'm a Sitara, yes, but my ability to keep her alive is beginning to fail both of us. Her will to live has been the only thing keeping her alive for the past – however many days, and though it's still running strong, her body can't take much more. My gift has its own limits, and with me getting lesser time to rest and regain my own strength, I fear that it won't be enough to help her through it.

I've made a bond with the girl. One that's not of the normal sense, but rather that which can only be made through isolation and pain. We're the only ones here, and we only have each other to depend on. She depends on me to live, and I depend on her to keep me level-headed. If she dies, then not only will I likely suffer the same fate as her, but I will also suffer more from my personality of a quick temper. Siscilla used to call me a stubborn bent and rusted nail. If I weren't so afraid of falling unconscious and leaving her to lay in pain for Gods know how long, I'd probably be just as strong willed as she was.

Or so I keep telling myself. Gods and their Saint's know I had no muscle anatomy to cause any real damage before, and I sure don't have nay now.

I start with her shoulder, already knowing that she'll jolt awake the second I pop the bone back into its socket. It's easier to heal her when she's unconscious, but having her awake is more of a courtesy to her. During those first sessions, I did give her an elixir that would rend her unconscious, but she caught on and told me to keep her awake. When I asked why she simply told me that she needed to remember. She didn't say then what she had to remember, just that she had to.

Times like this I wonder what would happen if I just slipped the deadly Nightshade Berry into her mouth, and let the poison do its job in paralyzing her body and then her heart. They'd know I did it, but I'd be slipping the second berry into my own mouth before they could stop me. Even if they did pull the berry from my lips, one bite and the quick second of contact alone is enough to slowly kill me. Either way, we'd both be free of this prison.