Page 21 of Bound By Darkness

Frowning, I angled my back to her as she unwrapped the fabric, bits of red staining the white linen.

“Thalia?”

“What?” I ground out, my fingers running over the smooth edge of the tray.

A sigh left her lips. “I’m sorry about what happened yesterday.”

A hiss escaped my lips at the pinching sensation under my shoulder blade, the skin tight. “Why? Aren’t you in on this too?” I waved my hand around the room. “Aren’t you keeping me here prisoner under his orders?”

“Under his orders?” She laughed, the sound surprisingly light and hearty as her bony fingers dug into my shoulder. “He doesn’t get to tell me anything, nor does he get to act like he did yesterday throwing that on you.” Her thumb jerked to the window. “He will be busy working around the cabin and won’t bother you until you want to talk to him. You’re my guest, and as my guest, your job is to eat and rest. To build strength that horrid place stole from you.”

“But I?—”

“What you thought doesn’t matter,” she said as thepinching sensation traveled to the middle of my back. “As long as you are under my roof, he won’t bother you. Trust me.”

I winced as the needle punctured a sensitive welt, her hands holding me steady.

“I’m sure you aren’t open to it now, but this place is safe. I’ll listen if you ever wish to relinquish what happened in those dark catacombs,” Gwen said softly before tossing the red needle onto the table.

Unraveling a roll of linen, she wrapped it around the freshly stitched wounds.

A light hum left her lips. “Your injuries are healing better, but you must drink the tonics I give you to continue to stave off the infection.” She pointed to the amber liquid.

“Infection?” I asked, her words punching me in the gut as I took another sip of the tangy mixture.

The corners of her lips tugged in a frown as she angled her head to look at me. “I worked through the night to remove the infected flesh and reduce your fever. You’re lucky Ivan brought you straight here, because you wouldn’t have made it through another night,” she said as she finished wrapping the bandage with a tug.

“Why?” The question bubbled from my mouth. I wasn’t worth saving.

Gwen grabbed my hands as she patted them gently. “Old habits are hard to quit when you’ve been a medic for so long. Besides, a young woman like yourself has years of life left to offer, especially since so many were stolen by another.”

This woman, aged from experience and hardships, chose to save me.

“I see myself in you. You have fire shining in your eyes. Don’t ever lose that quality, that vibrancy forlife and freedom.”

“How—”

Gwen chuckled softly. “You tend to notice these things once you grow old. I’ve had over seventy years to practice.”

I stared at her aged face, bits of wisdom and knowledge etched deep into the wrinkles and creases. She looked back at me, her eyes softening the same way my father’s did when I’d flung into his arms after my beloved cat had died.

I didn’t want to believe this stranger’s kindness. There were more broken pieces than she could fix, and if she knew the truth, she’d leave me too.

People tended to abandon cursed objects.

“I still don’t know you,” I finally said. “I’m… grateful for the tonics and stitches, but I’m still stuck here.”

“Why would you be stuck here?”

I stared out the four-panel window as I watched the breeze dance through the trees.

“That—” Gwen rubbed her temples. “I don’t care what impression he made yesterday, but you aren’t trapped. You are welcome to leave afteryou rest.”

My eyes floated to hers. “You really don’t know what’s going on. Do you?”

Gwen laughed, her eyes crinkling. “That boy hasn’t told me a singular plan in a decade. I never know what he thinks besides the tiny amounts of information he gives me.” Her thumb and pointer finger pressed against the bridge of her nose. “The only thing he told me revolved around rescuing someone who’d been trapped unfairly.”

“Trapped unfairly?”

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