Page 68 of Broken Hearted
I met Leif’s gaze before glancing back at Seraphina. “If we do, you will lose all range of motion and this arm might become unusable. Not to mention infection will form. We need to cut it out before it goes too deep.”
“Cut it out?” I yelled so loud that a few passersby turned to look at me.
Leif scanned the crowd at the train platform and then glanced back at me. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and walked away.
Seraphina peered up at me with slight fear in her eyes and I realized this was the first time we’d been truly alone since I’d found her.
“Sera, what are you doing here in Ethereum?” I tried but failed to keep the scolding tone from my voice.
She looked ashamed. “Trust me, sister, I don’t want to be here. But when you didn’t return, Queen Liliana panicked. She threw me into the portal against my will.”
That wench! How dare she?
Anger toward the Summer queen rose up inside of me, butI forcefully tapped it down, softening my voice so Sera didn’t think it was her I was upset with. “It’s okay.” I reached out and took her hand. “I’ve got you now.”
She squeezed my hand. “Things are bad back home, Izzy. Our people had to flee to the Spring Court and some got trapped in the ice mountains and … succumbed.”
No.
“Mother, Father, our sisters?” I asked in a panic.
“All okay. But the Winter Court is …” Tears lined her eyes and she blinked them back. “… pretty much gone.”
Gone? What did she meangone?
Leif ran over with an elderly woman who carried a black leather bag in her hands. Her silver hair was tied into a bun at the nape of her neck and her pointed ears stuck straight up.
“I found someone who can help,” Leif said.
The woman looked at Seraphina with concern. “Can I have a look, dear?” she asked and reached for her shoulder.
“I packed it with cloth, but I’m worried if it’s removed …” Leif said, not finishing. We all knew what he meant. That my sister might bleed out.
“Are you a healer?” I asked desperately.
The woman smiled kindly at me. “No, honey, I’m not. But I have delivered over three hundred healthy babies and sewn their mothers back up after tearing.”
My stomach dropped. “You’re a midwife?”
No. My sister was going to die.
She ignored my shock and probed the wound gently with her wrinkled fingers.
“I’m the best thing you got, hun. Let’s go to my office.” With that she ushered all of us across the street to a small brick shop that saidHealthy Child Midwifery by Hannahin gold paint over the top of the black door.
She unlocked the shop and we stepped inside. It was clean with dust-free wood floors and white walls. It smelled of antiseptic and lavender. She rushed us back to one of the treatment rooms where there was a wooden table next to a desk filled with sterile instruments and bottles.
Seraphina went to lay down on the bed and winced.
“Are you in a lot of pain, dear?” the woman, who I assumed was Hannah, asked.
Sera nodded.
The woman soaked a rag with a yellowish liquid and peered at me. “Sisters?”
“Yes.” I grabbed Seraphina’s hand.
“The resemblance is uncanny,” she told me.
