Page 40 of The Garnet Daughter
“Do it— Fuck!” I’m cut off by a venomous sting. The jolt of it would have made me fall forward if he wasn’t holding onto my thigh so tightly.
“Hold still,” he commands and whisper counts enough for the medicine to enter.
I hold onto the metal table, gulping down deep breaths, the sensation of hot liquid spreading under my skin from the injection site dissipating as fast as it came.
“Done,” he whispers right behind my ear.
When I turn to face him, pulling up my waistband and fastening it as if this is normal, he looks a little flustered, shuffling the medicines around on the table and checking the backs but clearly pretending to read the words.
“That was awful,” I admit, realizing it was enough to temporarily distract from the throbbing pain of my burn.
“I’m sorry. Let’s take care of that now. Hop up.” He dramatically pushes the pile of boxes on the table back with a sweep of his arm, clearing it for me to sit.
“I can do this part.” I struggle to climb onto the tall tabletop while only able to use one hand.
August stands so close, my knees brush against his hip as he leans to retrieve the gauze. “Oh, can you?” He smiles, watching me through his dark lashes, then proceeds to read the instructions printed on the tube of cream, allowing me to awkwardly settle onto the table in peace.
“Thank you for helping me,” I mutter, noting how miserable the pain is making me.
He takes my hand in his and holds it out with surprising tenderness, opening the cap with his teeth. “Alright, this should take care of whatever is happening on the outside. The injection will probably make you sleepy, and I doubt it’s the last one you will need.”
I groan aloud at the thought of going through this again.
“The ship Ferren and 99 are staying on has a med bay.”
“I don’t want to involve them.”
The cream is clear and lifeless compared to the bright green paste from Ruth’s apothecary, and when he streaks it across the wound, it leaves a greasy, thick cast.
“Bad time to let an infection make you so sick you can’t do anything but stay in bed,” he teases as he begins slowly wrapping the long gauze around my arm.
“Fine.”
He smiles like he has won something. “Nothing we haven’t been through before. You were nicer last time though.” He bites the end of the bandage to tear it.
“Careful!” I try to pull my arm away, but he grasps my hand tighter.
“Relax.”
One of his more surprising attributes came out right after my injury from the incident in the grand hall, when the highest priestess attempted to block our departure. Ferren and 99 had each other and were processing in their own way, but August did not leave my side. I did not expect him to take care of me the entire trip from Cosima to Viathan. He acted like I was on my death bed, even though I was only bruised with a small cut on my cheek. Almost lost his wits whenever I would try to walk around the ship and stretch my legs. It was as cute then as it is now. But this time he is matching some of my prickliness with self-amusing sass.
“It’s not burning anymore,” I relay, rubbing at the edges of the bandage and holding my forearm close to my chest.
“Good.” He flashes a smug grin at me as he collects the discarded waste, then clears his throat. “So, Selene and you?”
“She’s angry with me,” I answer quickly, not sure how much of our conversation he heard. “About speaking with the elders of Frith, but she is mostly afraid the order knows too much about my gifts.”
“I thought you did well in that council meeting. I have not been to many on Viathan, but they were not nearly as strange as this one,” he says with his back to me, stretching to the top shelf to return what we didn’t use. “It was not an easy thing to do, going before them and explaining yourself, statement or not. She should take that into consideration.”
“You should tell her that,” I tease.
He turns to face me with a wicked grin. “I have many things I could tell her.”
I study his features, searching for any indication he heard Selene urging me to confess to Ferren the truth of the spell used that day in the temple. I want to explain what happened to him, but the words turn to ash in my mouth and sour my stomach with the chance of losing any of them.
I fidget with the side of the hem of my bandage when he goes quiet again. “It has also reignited Selene’s overbearing nature. She practically demanded I stay in the safe house with her.”
There is a long pause between us, one that hangs in the air and builds on the tension. I can sense him wanting to start a few sentences before he finally says, “You can obviously stay here for as long as you want.”
