Page 42 of Heart's Keeper

Xerus bent his head. "She mentioned the technology they kept and the...gydas’ medical skills. She believed they would give you a better chance."

Lana's brow knitted in confusion. "The station last I saw was being overrun...and the fires were consuming it." Her eyes widened. "The hunters. Did they...?"

"Gone," Xerus said. "The men took much of the heat but, with our team and theirs, many of the hunters perished or fled. Once they were gone, the people of the station took care of the fires. Still, a good portion of it was lost."

Lana looked down at her hands, her free hand slowly turning into a fist. Her memory began to clear as she recalled what happened before she'd fallen. The sniper and his bullets that had hit Xerus had also hit her. By the look of him, Lana could see he had been treated for his wounds. "And the soldiers who attacked us?"

"Dead. Aryus expelled those on the cliff while the men hiding in the field surrendered. Most didn't survive the attack."

"I tried to warn them." Lana squeezed her fist tighter, then relaxed. "I can't feel sorry."

"As you were recovering, the team destroyed the Xolis ships. Nothing can be salvaged from them now." Xerus flinched and hissed, shutting his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Lana said, reaching for him again.

"Just...a headache. Nothing you should worry about, I promise," he said, rubbing his knuckles between his eyes.

"You're still trying to fight it, aren't you? The Redsight," Lana said, growing more concerned.

Xerus dropped his hand and gazed back at her. "Yes. But not solely on my own."

"What do you mean?"

Xerus’ hand grazed Lana's thigh once more, caressing, then squeezing gently as if to comfort. "The gyda helped in their way. I had been so terrified of losing myself again and, more so, of losing you, that as soon as our team came to my aid, I ordered Aryus to keep his weapon locked on me should I lapse at any time in the process of saving you. Once we came to the station, those who cared for you inquired as to why I had one of my own ready to take me out. I told them of my...sickness and asked that they lock me in a holding cell as long as I was near you and would be updated on your condition. While you recovered, I allowed them to scan and evaluate me. It was then they found the growth..." Xerus' face twisted in pain, and he looked back at her, ashamed. "They gave me medicine to help. It keeps me clear for the time being but with a cost."

"Could they not take it out?" Lana asked, hope stirring in her. "Maybe with their advanced equipment, they could operate and..."

"Not here," he replied. "They know little of our anatomy. It was one of our crew who had to aid them in spotting the abnormality in the first place. But perhaps back on Tryth...we will see."

Lana's heart sank. The thought that he would have to remain in pain so that he didn't lose himself was hard to bear. "We will find a way," she said. "I will do everything I can to keep you here."

Xerus took her hand and pressed it to his mouth, then held it against the side of his face. "I know."

Lana watched him for a long moment. She took in his pained expression and the chains on his wrists and, without real warning at all, let everything go. She burst into tears and covered her mouth to stifle the sobs.

"I thought...I'd lost you...Xerus...I'm sorry," she said through breaths. "I was...so scared."

Vrisha did not cry or have tears. But for all of their tough facade, they understood sorrow and felt it just the same. Perhaps it would have been considered a weakness to some vrisha to see one of their queens in such a state. But for a predomis and, specifically for Xerus, such an outburst of emotions from their mate affected them as well. Xerus reached for her and pulled her to him, burying his face in the curve of her neck, nuzzling hard against her. He let out several short, hissing breaths as his chest shook and his hold around her tightened.

"I'll never be far from you," he whispered in her ear. "I'll stay right here."

Chapter Fifteen

It took eight more days after she'd woken up for Lana to feel recovered enough to leave her room. Before that, she'd been on her feet a handful of times, all with assistance from medical staff and twice by Elise who came to visit her.

The first time, it was to help her into the shower. Just the short walk alone made her feel slightly dizzy and unbalanced. Even with her surgery and the medication they gave her, she still was healing from the initial concussion that brought on fatigue and a wave of nausea. Even with the lights dimmed to help her sleep, she experienced mild headaches. All was a small price to pay for the treatment they had given her for the severe head wound she'd sustained.

When she'd finally seen herself in the mirror after, she'd gotten a look at the damage for the first time. She had no thoughts about what to expect, but what she saw was of no surprise to her either. The braids she usually wore had been unraveled, leaving what hair she had to fall down one shoulder. At the back of her skull and around her left ear, they had cut and shaved away what hair had been in the way when they had brought her into surgery. A crooked Y-shaped scar curled around the back of her head, her left ear disfigured where they had tried to piece part of it back together. Sad as it was, the silver lining to it all was that many vrisha saw scars as a testament to their hard-earned battles. They would see such a mark as a symbol of her victory.

As relieved as she was that they had won over the hunters in the end, Lana knew much had been sacrificed. She learned most of Sythtec's soldiers had died, Jameson and his crew perishing on the wall while most of the others were killed in the field. Those who did survive were severely injured but were recovering slowly on their own. Mr. Tabara had disappeared some time after the wall was destroyed, when the hunters started making their way inside, his personal ship gone. It was assumed he had retreated back to Earth and wouldn't likely ever return.

The majority of the city had thankfully been spared, though several buildings had been severely damaged with one wall completely gone. Bo, along with the other officials of the city, were already working to repair what they could with what materials Sythtec had left behind. Those of the city had safely hidden in the various bunkers below ground, none found by any of the hunters who managed to get inside the city. Lana's team along with Nezka had done a full sweep to make sure none were hiding nearby, and Xilya had used the ship's drones to track several miles outside the station. When she found evidence of several hunters hiding out after they had fled, the team had gone out to take care of them.

Xerus, of course, had stayed behind. He had remained the majority of the time by Lana's side, even on those days when she did little but sleep. On one of her last days in bed, he'd asked to have the chains disconnected from his seat so that he could guide her to the shower himself. He'd sat by her and combed her hair out after, being careful to not graze the back of her skull too roughly with the sensitive skin.

On the days he wasn't beside her, it was so he could sleep, giving him some rest from the headaches which, some days, were so painful he could hardly focus. She worried the most for him on those days, reminding her how soon they needed to return home.

When the ninth day came, she had enough of lying around, and the nurses deemed it safe for her to be up once a few more tests showed her concussion healed and her symptoms fading. They allowed her to get up on her own and to dress back into her kelva pants and shirt. Abrohs and the other gyda doctors were confident Xerus no longer needed to wear the chains now that he'd been on the medicine long enough to quell any threats of a lapse in his control. Together, she and Xerus walked down the halls of the city medical facility and outside for the first time in many days.

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