Page 64 of Queen of Vengeance

I better eat while I can. Who knows? The guards might decide they won’t feed me tonight.

I brought the meat to my mouth and slid it off with my teeth, causing a ringing sound of enamel against metal.

The taste of it wasn’t all-around offensive. It wasn’t until after I swallowed that I immediately regretted it.

All the contents of my empty stomach came rushing up through my throat. It sat in the back of my mouth like warm acid bubbling—just waiting to come out.

I covered my mouth, but there wasn’t a force on this planet that could keep it down. I threw up pure stomach acid all over the dining room table and somewhat on Miller.

He looked at me with abject horror on his face. “What the f?—”

“Guard, help her! She needs to go to the Infirmary!” Dineta stood from her chair without thinking, and a guard brought his baton against her back. She collapsed back into her seat with a painful wail.

“For Solare’s sake! Grab her!” One of the guards ordered the others to pull me out of my seat.

I was barely able to focus on what direction we were going.

What’s happening to me? Did I get sick? Is my body rejecting the healing salve? I won’t be able to ask the nurse without further prosecution from the guards.

The guards threw me into the closest infirmary bed and left me there. “Nadir. Bed one.”

“Heavens, Miss Nadir! What’s happened to you?” The nurse, who was younger than most of the people here, came bounding in in a floor-length white dress like an angel.

I got up slowly, holding my stomach. “Nothing. I’m fine, really. If they don’t want the inmates to throw up, they may need to serve something better.”

I tried to laugh it off, but I couldn’t hide the way my stomach was cramping.

“You don’t have to try and act tough here. My only job is to heal you.” She placed her hand on my shoulder and frowned at me. “I know this place is unkind. You won’t find that kind of punishment here. Not with me.”

Something in her brown eyes made me want to trust her. She didn’t look to be corrupted by the world yet. There was an air of kindness and innocence about her.

I sighed while closing my eyes, fearful of what would happen next.

The nurse slowly lifted my shirt to reveal the wound under my ribs. “This has some sort of healing properties already on it.”

I furrowed my eyebrows together.

That’s it. I’m done for. She will report back to her higher-ups, and they’ll string by my toes by tomorrow morning.

“That doesn’t appear to be the issue.” She gently pulled my shirt back down and placed her hand on the wound to let me know that she would never tell. “Allow me to run some tests on you. At least then you can spend the rest of the day in an actual bed.”

I would have cried if I wasn’t so deeply dehydrated. Instead, my head lowered as I laid down on the most wonderful cot I ever encountered.

It was in no way as comfortable as the bed I had at home, but it beat the hell out of sleeping on the floor.

As soon as I closed my eyes, I slipped into unconsciousness. I didn’t even dream because I was so tired.

It felt nice, like a moment of reprieve.

When I was woken up again, the sun had already gone down.

The nurse stood over me, clutching a file nervously in her hands. Whatever news she had for me, it wasn’t good.

I sat up slowly from the bed, licking my dry lips. “What did you find?”

Her big brown eyes nervously danced away from me as she reached for a chair next to my bed.

Her brows furrowed in confusion.

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