Page 226 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
‘Stop touching,’ the voice said firmly.
Alina froze.
She would have known that voice anywhere.
Mareena.
‘It’s the medicine,’ Mareena explained gently as she came to sit at the edge of the bed. ‘You’ve been asleep for a few days.’
Alina’s fingers continued to brush uncertainly over the bandages wrapped around her face, but Mareena caught her hand and lowered it firmly.
‘Don’t.’
‘Why is my face bandaged?’ Alina asked.
Mareena sighed softly. ‘Because you were cut.’
‘How badly?’
The silence that followed answered the question long before Mareena spoke.
‘You’ve lost your right eye,’ she said at last.
Alina exhaled slowly.
She expected panic to crash over her like a breaking wave. Expected tears. Rage.Something.
Instead, she felt… calm.
Perhaps it was because she had entered that arena already believing she might not leave it alive.
‘Andmy left arm,’ she added quietly.
‘Well,’ Mareena said with a faint attempt at gentleness, ‘until the elbow.’
Alina tried to pull a face at that, but discovered the bandages made even that small movement impossible.
‘Kai and Dawn have been visiting,’ Mareena continued, reaching for something beside the bed. Alina heard the soft clink of a bowl and the faint sound of water being disturbed. A cloth was rinsed, wrung out, and then Mareena carefully lifted the bandages at the edge of Alina’s face and began to clean the wounds beneath.
‘I suppose I’m no longer the most beautiful drakonian,’ Alina said dryly.
The words were meant as mockery, yet she realised as she spoke them that she did not truly care.
Mareena paused mid-motion, a small frown creasing her brow.
‘Was that ever something important to you?’ she asked.
‘I suppose it was… once.’
‘And now?’
Alina swallowed, but the dryness in her throat made the movement painful. Mareena noticed immediately. She helped Alina sit up slowly, supporting her back before pressing a small clay cup of water into her hand.
‘When can I return to training?’ Alina asked as Mareenatook the empty cup from her and resumed cleaning the wounds with careful hands. ‘I still have Hagan to kill.’
Mareena did not answer.
The silence stretched thin between them, and irritation began to coil inside Alina’s chest.
