Page 13 of Miles

The hands and the voice belonged to a woman.

I looked up into her face as she eased me back down to the pillows. A beautiful face—slightly lined, somewhere north of fifty years old but not much further, I decided.

Her long, thick hair was shot through with gray and twisted in a braid which she’d coiled around the crown of her head. I liked her instantly—more importantly, I trusted her.

“You don’t have to try to speak,” she murmured, running a cool cloth over my forehead.

I hadn’t been taken care of in so long. Too long. Since Mama was alive. None of the nannies Papa had hired since that time came close to delivering the sort of genuine care and affection she’d been so good at giving away for free.

“You need to rest up and get your strength back. It takes a lot of energy to heal up after the sort of injury you received.”

A dream. Antonio wasn’t really here. He couldn’t possibly know where I was. I wondered if there would ever be a time when my dreams weren’t haunted by him. Would I ever be able to escape? How far would I have to go to get away without him somehow finding me?

“Just rest,” the woman murmured, then went back to humming some tuneless but soothing melody which managed to return my breathing to a normal rhythm. “Ach, you must have suffered terribly to wake up the way you just did. You poor lamb. You have nothing to fear here.”

I hoped she was right about that. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to sink into the calm she wove all around me. That, plus whatever they were giving me for pain, left me floating in that in-between place, somewhere just short of sleep but just short of wakefulness, too. She patted my hand and got up, the bedsprings creaking slightly as she did.

It was true. I had nothing to fear. There was absolutely no way for anyone to find me, no matter how hard they tried. Anyone would assume I had jumped and my body washed away…

Jumped.

My consciousness came screaming back to the forefront of my mind, wiping away all traces of relaxation though I kept my eyes closed. I had to get a few things straight, or else I’d go crazy. But if I spoke, they’d start asking questions. Like why I’d jumped and what my name was.

I’d already decided before falling asleep again, after that kind, dark-eyed man left my room, that I would stay quiet as long as possible.

There were drawbacks to that plan. I couldn’t ask where I was or how I’d survived, for one. No way I had lived through the fall—yet here I was, in a bed, being treated by very kind people.

I still felt the moisture from the cloth on my forehead, and the breeze coming through the open doors cooled it deliciously. I was very much alive, according to the evidence around me. How was it possible?

A door opened, and I tuned my attention to the sound of footsteps as someone entered the room.

“How is she?” The voice was a whisper, but I sensed it came from a man.

“She’s been sleeping since I took my shift,” the woman replied, clicking her tongue. “Just woke from a nightmare, the sweet girl. Was absolutely terrified.”

“Did she say anything?”

“No. Not yet. Though she did try to scream.”

“I wonder what she was dreaming about.” He paused. “She’s going to want to know soon.”

“Aye. I’d thought of that, too. What will you tell her, Miles?”

Miles. Was he the one who’d been with me when I first woke up?

I wanted to peek at him but thought better of running the risk. If they knew I was awake, they’d stop talking.

“I’m not sure yet, but she’ll have to know the truth when she heals. No human could possibly heal that quickly without help.”

What was he talking about? I certainly didn’t feel as though anything was healing. Every movement was torture, even with medication in my system.

I was in what amounted to a hospital room, complete with a bedpan sitting on a chair to my left and an IV bag hanging above the bed.

His choice of words rang in my head, too, like an alarm bell. No human. What else was there?

“Well, I’m here to help with whatever you need,” she promised. “She seems like a nice girl.”

“How would you know, if you haven’t spoken to her?”

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