Page 16 of Born for Lace

I struggle to lift my eyelids. Feeling a heaviness in my limbs, I cannot reach for anything.

I hear… something.

Grunts, maybe?

And smell something… A familiar scent envelops me. What is that? Copper. Safe. Warm. Suddenly, all my weight hits my spine, my legs and arms flopping backward.

Through the slits in my heavy lashes, I make out a face lording over me. Strong features buckled in anger. Black eyes that stare directly into the heart.

Lagos.

What?

His warmth radiates from the hard chest I am pressed against, and arms… around me. Soothing. I’ve not been touched like this in my life.

My body is floating in them.No.I’m beingcarried.I try to speak, but my voice is trapped. Trapped deep. In the Deep Sleep.

I don’t know why, but Lagos’ presence cracks me open, spilling my strength like a burst dam. In this dream, this deep, sedated dream that can’t be real, I start to violently cry.

My lashes beat images in and out of view. I’m moving through the back room of the Exchange Hub. The fish-man’s room.

Blink.

The walls are… There is blood everywhere.

Blink.

And a body lying face down on the single bed. I was asleep there only moments ago. The body is sliced from neck to arse, the spine exposed, twisted upward like a wire.

It's a dream.

A nightmare.

My heart pounds hard while the rest of me barely clutches reality, but I find solace in the powerful arms carrying me.

Sobbing so hard my body shakes, I clutch at fabric, digging my fingers in.

Blink.

Slashes of blood web the walls as I am carried from that room.

It’s not real, so I don’t need to be strong. To pretend I’m capable and like Maple. Maple… My mind drowns in that name, a heavy weight or burden attached to it. What about Maple… Why am I here? Then it hits me in the chest, hard and brutal, beating every wisp of air from my lungs—Spero.

Where is Spero?

ChapterFive

Dahlia

“Spero!”

I jolt upright, expecting to wake in the Exchange Hub and for Spero to be bundled in my hide jacket. I blink the La Ma’s heavy hold from my eyes and focus on my strange surroundings.

I reach up and wipe a hand down my face, smearing something thick along with sweat. I realise it’s blood.

Panic floods me.

Searching the unfamiliar room, I find myself on a small, springy bed, wearing a large black shirt, and… Lagos sits in the corner with his elbows on his knees.

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