Page 65 of Sidhe
He felt like he needed to throw up.
Nathan was pleased to discover that Sasha hadn’t been stupid enough to send the kid to the Gatehouse for sanctuary. A quick whisper from the redhead told Nathan that Shiara was in Nebraska somewhere and he had sent the kid to find her. Nathan was also pleased that Solrin had agreed to leave his bike behind for now so they could all ride back in the car—dry.
The Gatehouse was practically deserted when they returned, no other seals, Iain probably tucked away in the library upstairs, and a note saying that Alex had taken Walter into town with her to get supplies. He knew that Wally had been sequestered to Alex’s room until they dealt with Solrin fully. To be honest, Nathan was sort of grateful for the solitude.
They brought Sasha into the med room, even though there wasn’t much they could do for him other than clean up the nasty cut on his head. The real healing would have to come later. Alone.With Nathan. The rest of them only had minor cuts and bruises, more so just needing—and wanting—showers. Jim actually had to give Sasha’s head a couple stitches though since his healing factor was drained along with the rest of him.
“You sure you don’t got any hidden wounds?” Nathan asked Solrin while Jim finished up on Sasha.
Solrin shrugged. “I’m fine.”
Nathan could see some of the bandages that covered Solrin’s body sticking out beneath his shirt, disrupted during the fight, no doubt. He couldn’t help asking, “What about the mummy routine then? You got some oozing sores I don’t wanna know about?”
Having attention brought to his bandages made Solrin’s expression drop to a defensive scowl. “They’re not for…fresh wounds. Not anymore,” he said, hunched a little while speaking like he hadn’t done with Nathan in a while.
“If there aren’t any healing wounds to cover then why have the bandages at all?” Jim asked, glancing up from his work on Sasha. He was already tying off the stitches, the incubus’ teeth gritted slightly against the pain as Jim worked.
Again, Solrin hunched a little further, his scowl deepening. “I-I,” he stammered, actuallystammeredand for that alone Nathan paid closer attention, “I have them…to hide the scars,” he finally admitted.
“Dude,” Nathan said, lifting up his own T-shirt for a moment, “we all have scars.”
Solrin relaxed somewhat but only enough to look up at Nathan and shake his head, the barest twitch at his lips visible in gratitude. “I have more.”
Nathan hopped off the stool he had been on and walked over to where Solrin was propped against the wall. “Those bandages aren’t covering anything but old scars?” he scoffed. “We are so getting rid of them then.” He went right for the buttons on Solrin’s shirt and was a little shocked that the guy didn’t even try to brush him off, though he did flinch slightly.
Jim had finished with Sasha’s head and was gently smoothing the redhead’s hair down over the cut. Nathan proceeded to undo Solrin’s button-down. The amount of bandages beneath wasimpressive, all over his chest and on his arms too. He pushed the shirt from Solrin’s shoulders and yep, bandage city.
“This is ridiculous, man. No scars are worth the time it takes to wrap all these. Can’t be too bad.” Nathan reached over to where there were various supplies for different wounds, including a pair of scissors. He grabbed it. “Besides, these things could get in the way if they came loose.”
Finally, just as Nathan was about to start cutting the bandages away, Solrin reacted, grabbing Nathan’s wrist too tightly as he stopped him. The grip loosened somewhat when Nathan looked up. “I…” Solrin tried to say something, but when he found there weren’t any words, he released Nathan’s wrist and nodded.
Feeling like he was really making some headway with this guy, Nathan started cutting up from the bottom, easily enough since the bandages were loose and several ends were always flying free. It took only seconds before they fell away.
Nathan boldly held back a gasp. It was just scars, but Solrin hadn’t been lying; it wasa lotof scars. So much scar tissue that Nathan couldn’t see all that much normal skin. He felt Solrin’s lone green eye watching him and wasn’t about to show any sign that he was bothered by this. He wasn’t bothered, just curious and maybe filled with a little more pity than before.
Carefully, Nathan cut away the bandages on Solrin’s arms as well. He found the same stretch of scar tissue. He wondered if it was burns for a moment but he could tell the longer he looked at them that it was just several scars all wound together. This guy had been through a hell of a lot. It was amazing his neck and face remained so scar free.
“If there are more on your legs, you’ll have to get those yourself, man. Bit too intimate.” Nathan winked. That brought his gaze up to Solrin’s face again and he couldn’t help focusing on the bandages over the guy’s left eye. “What about that?” he asked. “Just another bad scar or you really missing that eye?”
On the other side of the room, Jim and Sasha were watching now, as curious as Nathan was. But Solrin only looked at Nathan. “It is not…missing,” he said softly, “merely dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Nathan tried not laugh. “How can your eye be dangerous? If it’s not hurt then you shouldn’t—” He tried to reach up toward those bandages, but again Solrin grabbed his wrist tightly. He did not lessen his hold this time when Nathan grimaced.
“I only uncover it when I have to,” Solrin said angrily, or…fearfully? Nathan couldn’t tell which. “Even the smallest light getting in can…worsen…what happens.”
“What…happens?” Nathan asked hesitantly. His wrist was starting to sting.
Solrin didn’t reply, just kept staring at him.
“Look,” Nathan tried, “if you want it covered then at least use a real eyepatch. They’re black so…better for keeping out light anyway. I bet there’s a medical one around here somewhere.” Nathan looked back at Jim and Sasha severely, asking for their aid but also hinting that they were obviously getting closer to figuring out something important about Solrin.
“Sure.” Jim got up, walking over to a bunch of drawers along the wall. He fussed around in them for a minute until finally producing a plain black eyepatch like the ones you could get in any pharmacy.
Nathan turned back to Solrin. “How about it? The bandages would only be off for a moment.” He struggled to remain calm while the guy was practically cutting off the circulation to his fingers. He knew it was a gamble to push for this but he got the feeling that it was important,veryimportant to see that eye.
There was fire and fear and fierce challenge in Solrin’s stare, in the one green eye Nathan could see. But eventually he released Nathan’s wrist, swallowing deep before he nodded. “Only for a moment.”
Nathan accepted the eyepatch from Jim and set it next to them. Then carefully, he reached around Solrin’s head, found where the bandages were tied, and little by little he started to unwrap them. There were so many layers it was almost silly. Solrin had to honestly believe his eye was dangerous, but for the life of him, Nathan couldn’t guess why. Even after he saw it.
