Page 69 of Broken Hearted
We’ve always been told we looked alike. “What is that?” I gestured to the yellow fluid.
Hannah smiled. “Something to make her rest comfortably while I operate.”
Operate?My heart picked up speed.
The woman walked over to my sister and looked down at her with a bright smile. “My name is Hannah, and I’m going to put this over your mouth and nose. Then you’re going to take a little nap while I fix your shoulder, okay?”
Sera nodded but whimpered, “I’m scared.”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t lost a patient yet and I don’t intend to start now.” Those were the last words my sister heard beforeHannah put the rag to her mouth and nose. Seraphina inhaled deeply and then her eyes drooped and eventually closed. When her hand went slack in mine I had to swallow a sob.
“Please help her,” I begged the woman.
Hannah pulled a small blade from her desk and I took one look at it and swayed on my feet. Thinking of her cutting my sister open made me sick. “Do you think you’d be more comfortable in the waiting room?” she asked.
I would but … I didn’t want to leave her.
“I’ll stay and assist,” Leif told me and I sagged in relief.
“Okay … thank you.”
With that I walked numbly out of the office and went to wait in the room with my head held in my hands.
Please let her be okay. I just need her to be okay.
* * *
Thirty agonizing minutes later Hannah stepped out of the treatment room wearing an apron with blood on it. I bolted into a standing position. “Is she okay?”
Hannah smiled. “She did great. I was able to remove the cloth and stop the bleeding. It will probably leave a nasty puckered scar, but with her self-healing ability her range of motion should be fine within a few weeks.”
Oh, thank the stars!
“Thank you.” I rushed over and hugged her.
She patted my back. “You’re welcome. You can go in and see her now. She’s just waking up.”
I didn’t want to be insensitive to my sister’s healing but I couldn’t help but think of Adrien being stuck with Elisana. I really needed to get to Windreum. “Can she travel? We are needed urgently in Windreum.”
Hannah nodded. “Your friend told me. I’ve given him a pain tincture for her with instructions, and another one for infection, just in case.”
Appreciation for this fae rose within me. “I don’t know what we would have done if you weren’t here.” Emotion was tightening my throat and making the words hard to get out.
She smiled kindly at me. “It was my honor, my lady.”
Just as I turned to head in and see my sister, the train whistle blew somewhere in the distance. It was here, and not a moment too soon.
I glanced over my shoulder toward the platform and could see the northern refugees starting to collect their belongings through the window. A few of Adrien’s men jogged across the street to Hannah’s shop, and I gave them instructions to help me get Seraphina on the train. I also made sure to pay Hannah some coins for her service.
Less than ten minutes later we were settled into the packed train. A kind fae saw the condition my sister was in and offered her their sleeping compartment. I was overcome with gratitude. Seraphina had been through an ordeal and needed as much rest as possible to heal over the next week or so.
I sat on the floor beside Sera’s bed, holding her hand as the train moved along the track, taking me closer to Windreum and farther from Adrien every minute that passed. And witheach moment that ticked by, worry for him grew until he was all I could think about.
By the time the train rolled into Windreum later in the day, I knew one thing for sure. I never wanted to be parted from Adrien again.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Isolde?”
