Page 14 of Kiss the Dawn
“Is Crush all right, though?” Merry asked. “He wasn’t hurt, was he?”
“Nah, not a scratch.” Edwin sounded proud of that. “Oh, he said to tell you that tomorrow is still on if you’re up for it.”
Twin spots of color stained her cheeks. “Thanks.”
“We should get your wounds cleaned,”Holly said. “I doubt he used antiseptic when he did that to your arms.”
I caught the flash of panic in Padma’s eye and stood quickly. “I’ll help Padma in the washroom, you sort Edwin.”
Holly nodded quickly. “Good idea.”
Our team knew about Padma’s condition, but Lorenzo, Kaster, and Hemlock didn’t need to know.
I grabbed some supplies from the first aid kit and followed Padma to the washroom.
Once inside, she sat on the edge of the tub with a heavy sigh. “I saw him again, the thing from the teapot, but this time Edwin saw him too.”
“What happened?”
“He was in the room with us when Shay had us tied up. He spoke to me. I think he believes I know him. He kept asking me to tell him what he should do, and then Edwin attacked him and he vanished.”
Goosebumps pricked my skin. “I don’t like this, Padma. We need to figure out who he is orwhathe is, and fast.”
“I know. I’ll work on it while you’re away.”
“Along with all the other crap you have to work on. I hate that I have to leave.”
“It’s not your fault. This is your heritage…your family.” She peered up at me, her dark brows coming together in concern. “How are you feeling about it all?”
I’d asked myself that question over and over since I’d discovered the truth, and I didn’t have a definitiveanswer. “I’m angry, I guess. At the Order for lying to me. For taking me. But I’m also weirdly grateful, especially after what I’ve discovered about how they operate on the Isle, and I’m…intrigued. Maybe a little excited to meet my siblings?”
“You’re going to be okay. That Lorenzo guy looks like he can handle himself.” She smirked. “You didn’t tell us how hot he was. Is that silver streak in his hair natural?”
“Yeah, yeah it is.” I tucked away my smile. “But it’s not like that between us.”
“Why not?”
“Timing, placements, life. It just never happened.”
“But you like him.”
“Yeah…yeah I do.”
She shrugged her arm out of her top and tucked the fabric up over her shoulder. “Then who knows, maybe now the timing and placement will be right.”
“Maybe…” I peeled back the dressing Shay had applied to her arm, expecting to see a red, raw wound, but her skin was smooth, the wound looking more like the after-scab stage—pink and healing.
Padma sucked in a breath. “That’s not normal, is it?”
“No. I think the mark is coming back too.”
“It’s the mullo infection affecting me. It has to be.”
I cut some dressing. “I’m gonna apply this anyway, just to…to keep it clean.”
She nodded. “Yeah, good idea.”
I taped the dressing on, trying not to stare at the dark veins that now covered her arm from elbow to shoulder. They’d begun to creep down her forearm too.
