Page 149 of I Dream of Dragons
“Fuck…” Black spots swim in my eyes. “The fuck.”
“You look like utter shit,” Arkin says.
I glare at him. “Fuck off.”
“Eloquent. And reassuring. Jai is back.”
Yeah. And Arkin is here, but not Rae.Dammit.
I shift on the bed and bite the inside of my cheek not to moan. Right in this instant, I wish I weren’t present for this pain.
“Here.” He offers me a cup and winks. “The healers said to drink it all up, and look.” In his other hand he has a pitcher. “There’s lots more where that came from.”
“What is this?” I frown down at the cup.
“Poison. Adder venom. Nightshade nectar. What do you think? Something to take the edge off the pain. And you have to drink it, Jai, or you won’t be able to move. Trust me.”
Grudgingly, I accept the cup and sniff it. It stinks. A good sign, I suppose, so I down it and clamp my mouth shut so it won’t come back up. “This is fucking terrible.”
“All good medicine is,” he says sagely.
Yeah, we can agree on that.
“How is my back?” I make myself ask.
“Shredded,” he says.
“I figured as much.”
“Healing fine, though,” he hurries on to add. “Much more quickly than the healers expected. More quickly than any human has ever healed, though of course…”
“Of course I’m not really human.”
“Yeah. There’s that.”
He’s quiet as I move, inch by painful inch, to sit on the edge of the bed. I move my arms and hiss as agony sears my back. “Will I be able to draw my swords?”
His jaw clenches. He shakes his head. “Not anytime soon.”
“Terrific.”
“Then again, it all depends on how fast you heal.”
I sigh.
“Look,” he says. “I know it’s not me you wanted to see by your side.”
“Ark—”
“She was here. Do you remember that?”
“Vaguely.”
“She argued with Phaethon. Demanded he let you surface. She wanted to talk to you.”
“How the hell do you know? Were you here all this time?”
“No.” His mouth twists. “I came to visit you and overheard a few things. Once the king got in, I had to stay out until he left.”
