Page 113 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
“And I gave him Penicillin,” I said. “Antibiotics.”
“Aye. She makes me choke down a chalk tablet twice a day.”
I soured. “Would you rather die of infection?”
He and Sedge grinned together, probably unaccustomed to being backtalked by their captives. But this captive was becoming comfortable with speaking her mind, less concerned that people wouldn’t like her for what she had to say.
“Penicillin,” Olea repeated. “That pathetic human medicinal?”
The discovery of Penicillin was seen as one of man’s greatest accomplishments on Earth. Yet fae healers deemed it pathetic?
“Might I remind youagain, Olea, that I’m human,” Pete said. “If Shorty’s chalk was made to heal a human body, then it’ll work just fine on mine.”
Olea grunted, then sauntered to a seat by Tansy, leaving me standing before them all like a keynote speaker.
I considered the log beside Olea, then felt a tug on my ankle tether. My neck flared with the heat of outrage. Until I saw the appeal in my abductor’s eyes. The tug wasn’t an order, but an invitation.
Did I want to sit beside him?
No, you definitely don’t, reason insisted.
But—I’ve got to sit somewhere. Might as well be beside him.
Olea clicked her tongue at Pete as I ambled to the log beside his, keeping my gaze averted. “Pete, I’ll examine your wound later. If it’s all the same to you, Shorty.”
“Be my guest,” I said. “I’m no doctor.”
A trivial conversation about Tansy’s latest excursion to a place called Glynlea began, and I fell into a daze. My mind and body now at ease, I was ready for a yummy meal and a good sleep. I suspected both were available to me that night and couldn’t wait.
“Glad to see you’re in brighter spirits,” Pete’s deep voice pervaded the chatter.
“I am,” I admitted. “Thank you.” Not only had the hot bath eased my cramps and silkened my hair, but Olea had given me three large vials of her tincture, assuring me a drop a day would stave off my period for a year—if I wished. Which I did, considering my tumultuous situation.
Noting Pete’s cleaner complexion, I arched a brow. “Is there a blue moon tonight?”
“Just thought I’d save myself the pain of listening to you further carp upon my odor.” He leaned closer, his expression wolfish. “Am I more to your liking now?”
Uh, yeah.
Sexy in a haphazard way, he smelled more of oranges and oak moss than sweat. Even as I scooted aside—distancing myself—my core fluttered. “I don’t know if you’re more to my liking, but at least I can breathe around you now.”
Pete’s laugh dissolved any tension I might’ve felt. By the time Ox joined us, and Olea began doling out stew, I was so at ease I could’ve been dining with my friends in the student union.
“Mm.” I devoured another sip from my soup bowl, my hosts having deemed utensils unnecessary. “This is so good.”
Olea smiled, sitting with her own steaming bowl. “Thank you.”
“What’s in it?” I slurped down another mouthful, giddy. This was the only satisfying meal I’d had since the stew at the Thorny Rose Tavern. Savoring the richness of the vitamins and minerals lacking in my diet, I swished the soup between my cheeks before swallowing. “Chicken?”
“Riggit,” Olea answered.
I hoped they wouldn’t judge me for not knowing what riggit was.
“It’s similar to a hare,” Pete told me—my living survival guide. “Riggits are much bigger, of course.”
“Don’t tell me they’re also carnivorous.” Remembering the huggable cantir, I glanced aside at Pete. My supper nearly slopped to the ground when I caught him slicing open his own wrist with hisscian.
What the hell are you doing?I damn near asked, but then Pete squeezed a trail of blood into Sedge’s stew.
