Page 80 of Venomous Heart
“He’s healed. Your Eok warriors found his mother. She survived. They’re going to be grieving for Ben, but they’ll be okay. They’ve been moved to the Tower now, like all the others. Jonah’s making sure of it. He’s even started to plant the crops your brother brought back.”
At the news, Arlen’s head rested on the pillow and he stared at the ceiling for long seconds. When he looked back at her, her heart squeezed and pain spread anew in her chest.
“I am broken, am I not?” Those eyes, so clear, so knowing, settled on her, waiting for an answer she didn’t want to give. She didn’t want to tell him the truth, but she had to.
“There was extensive damage to your liver, your spleen—your entire organs were shut down. There was also damage to your spine; a lot of it.” Ava spoke softly, accepting that he needed to know the truth, but knowing it was hurting him. “But you’re alive. You’re alive, and you’re you.”
A shadow passed over Arlen’s eyes and Khal’s words came back to Ava.
“You’ll recover.” She said it like a prayer. “And I will be with you every step of the way.”
Arlen’s lips lifted but his smile was full of sadness. “You deserve a mate at your side who is whole, not some broken warrior.”
Ava shook her head. She bent over Arlen’s body and her lips closed over his. He responded to the kiss, but there was a grief to it.
He thinks he’s less than he was. He doesn’t see what I see.
She reached for Arlen’s leather vest, her fingers opening it deftly. He didn’t try to prevent her from removing it, but he tensed as she discarded the piece of clothing to the floor.
Her eyes ran over the wonder of his chest, then to the side. He flinched when her fingers traced the wide scar that covered his entire right mid-section. The blue skin was paler than Arlen’s sapphire blue complexion, its texture rough under her fingertips.
“You can never be broken in my eyes.”
Then she kissed him again, and this time, there was fire in his kiss. Fire, and a hunger that she hoped they would never truly satiate.
* * *
Arlen
Weeks passed, then months. He was still nowhere near his old self. He never would be.
I’ll never be a warrior again. What do they want from me?
Arlen stopped, lowering his leg and pulling away from the machine he used to exercise his broken body.
“Just a little more.” Ava spoke softly as Arlen grunted with impatience. “You need to keep working on this, or you’ll slow your progress.”
“Slow or fast, it doesn’t matter. I’m still broken.”
Arlen stared as Ava glared at him, her small, dainty face scrunched up in a scowl. They had the same fight every day, multiple times per day.
“You’re walking by yourself, Arlen. But I don’t think you’re going to be able to run away from me if you keep being this pig-headed about using the cane.”
She shook her head, then handed him the hateful walking stick again. Arlen snarled at her, but she pushed it against his chest anyway.
“Don’t you dare growl at me, Big-Blue-and-Mighty.” She folded her arms across her chest and squinted at him. “You need it between your therapy sessions, and by the Midnight God, you will use it, or I will follow you everywhere aboard this ship to make sure you do. You’ll be sick of me, I promise you.”
Arlen grunted, then grabbed the piece of metal that helped relieve the pressure on his spine as he walked. Nothing filled his veins with more anger than having to use this device to walk, but somewhere deep inside, he knew she was right.
“How very stalkerish of you.”
Ava opened her mouth at the jab, then a true smile lifted her lovely lips. “You’ll recover. There is no one stronger.”
“None but you.”
She was still smiling as she leaned into his space, then lifted herself on the tips of her toes and kissed him. He returned the kiss, his hand holding the back of her head in a savage grip.
“I have to meet with Karian and my father.” Arlen let Ava go reluctantly. “They’re pleased with my decision to go back to Eokim. You will love it there, you and Uril.”
