Page 193 of Seven Oars
“Don’t be. What do they look like now?”
“They look… raw,” she admitted.“Deep red. The gashes, though, are turning gray, like scars.”
“More scars. Doesn’t make much difference.”
“Don’t say that. It’s okay to be upset. It’s fine to show sadness. It’s normal, Finn.”
“Normal for whom, stardust?” he asked gently.
“You don’t have regrets? You don’t wish things were different?”
“I don’t understand what you’re asking. What’s happened, happened. Nothing can change that.”
Rosamma cried for him because he couldn’t. Because he didn’t understand what to cry for. Maybe, in that way, he was lucky. With no regrets. No crushing weight of the if-onlys.
“If I could give my life for your eyes, I’d gladly do it,” she whispered.
He found her face by touch and cupped it, rubbing his hard fingers over her cheek gently.
“I’d rather have you next to me and see nothing,” he said,“than see the world without you in it.”
His words choked her up anew. She placed her hand against his poor eyes, wishing with her entire soul she could cure him. He needed medical help. Oh, to have a doctor take a look at him! If only she could get to Ren, he’d know how to find help.
Ren.
If only they could escape, she’d go to Priss and look for him.
She stopped herself.
No, no more ifs.
Whenthey escaped.
Nothing scares me. We will escape. There is a way. Godspeed.
Realizing Fincros had gone very still under her hands, she promptly removed them from his eyes.“Did I hurt you?”
“No, you didn’t.” His voice held a peculiar note.“Place your hand over my eyes again.”
Rosamma complied, uneasy.
“Now remove it.”
They repeated the process several times.
She was now fully awake.“Can you see?”
“I can’t see your hand, no.”
“What is it, then?”
“There’s redness.”
“In your eyes?”
“When you put your hand on me, there’s a pulsing redness.”
Rosamma sat up, staring at him.“I wasn’t sending energy just now.”
