Page 70 of The Shape of Monsters
“Lyric does not mind if River sees the new eye even if Lyric does not?” River says in ans best bored drawl.
Lyric smiles again. The blood-red flecks in his fairy eye seem to spark. He says, “River’s eyes are more interesting than these.”
Inside, Biel instructs Lyric to sit on the bed and relax while she takes his force pulse and his heart pulse, then has her assistant remove the bandage and patch, while Lyric keeps both eyes closed. He is to open both at once, so that neither adjusts separately but they work in conjunction as eyes are supposed to.
River takes it upon anself to fetch the round mirror from its stand on the wash basin in the small bathing room attached. But first Biel shoos an back. She tells Lyric to slowly look at her with both eyes.
Lyric takes a deep breath and does so. His lids flutter, and he locks his gaze onto Biel. “It’s blurry, but not more so than after a long sleep or rubbing.”
“Pain?”
“Muscle ache, nothing acute.”
“Focus on this finger,” Biel says, lifting a stick-thin cool brown finger. She moves it slowly and Lyric follows.
River cannot look away.
Though River has spent little time in the presence of Iriset Sunderer, seeing her bright gold-brown eye against the skin of Lyric’s face, beside that red-flecked fairy eye, is stunning. It takes considerable willpower for River to remain still. In the scheme of aesthetic redesign in the crater city, this is very small, but knowing the circumstances makes it amazing. Eliri whispered to River, before the Moon-Eater dragged her away, that Eliri could not have done it, no matter how desperately she’d have wanted to save River, had their places been changed. “Instinct, River. Iriset acted as the Moon-Eater might, not as a designer. Not science, but desperation. It should not work,” she’d added, breathless. Eliri does not get breathless. River had been jealous not to be the cause.
Biel uses an everflame stylus to test Lyric’s reactions to light, then holds up a series of cards and asks his opinion on colors and shapes. She has him close one eye and then the other, then has him focus out the window on farther-away objects before focusing again on her cards. She nods sharply. “Very well, this physician is satisfied. Lyric Aharté ought to look at the donation.”
Lyric glances immediately at River, who steps into the space Biel hastily abandoned. An stands with the mirror raised to ans chest where it will be level with Lyric’s face as he perches on the bed.
Lyric’s mouth drops open on a fast gasp, and his fingers dig into his own knees. “Iriset!” he whispers hard and fast, then leans nearerto the mirror. He raises a hand and nearly touches his own new eye before twitching his whole face back.
River shoves the mirror at Biel and sits down next to him, taking Lyric’s hand in a death grip. Lyric is cold, and trembling. He looks desperately at River. He says something in the fairy language, and River hears his wife’s name.
“No one explained?” River asks, though it is less a question for obvious reasons. An tries to be gentle. An hadn’t been explicit, either.
“I knew—Lyric knew Iriset operated suddenly, fast in the street. Saved my—this—life with surgery, but not that the eye is… Is Iriset well?” He stumbles through Sarenpet, twisting to seek out the mirror.
River squeezes his hand. “Eliri says Iriset Sunderer is recovered, excited to design a new eye.”
Lyric, staring in the mirror as though haunted by it, laughs softly, but it is a hollow laugh. “Yes,” he murmurs.
“Don’t cry,” Biel orders suddenly, and it’s true, tears redden the edges of Lyric’s donated eye, the lip of the bottom lid darkening.
Tearing away from the mirror and River, Lyric covers his eyes with cupped hands. “Apologies.”
Biel and her assistant pack up. River remains quiet as Lyric struggles to breathe his long, regular meditations.
“Continue exercises, wash gently with water, keep a list of any issues. If there is sudden pain or Lyric cannot sleep for bruising or throbbing, send word immediately. Will return in four days, and then will discuss the cancer, too, boy,” Biel says, and at Lyric’s jagged nod, she nudges her assistant and they go.
River takes a long andveryfocused breath to hide ans absolute shock before inquiring. “Cancer?”
Lyric nods, rather carelessly, and his voice is gentle when he explains, “Detected by the emergency diagnostic mesh. Biel believesit is an invasive mutation but needs to perform a more intricate exam when this eye is fully integrated.”
River does not feel so careless. “When Eliri returns from the Moon-Eater’s fortress, perhaps Lyric would allow Eliri to examine. Though no doctor, human redesign is Eliri’s special genius, and several iterations of diagnostic meshes are kept here.”
Lyric smiles softly. “It is not a priority.”
“Just because no one has died of this kind of design mutation in generations, does not mean healing should be delayed.”
“Lyric understands.”
With a small sigh, River offers, “Does Lyric need help with the bandage?”
“No,” Lyric says immediately. His voice is thick. “No bandage for now.”
