Page 71 of Phoenix Falling
A hand disappeared under Grim’s hood as if he was rubbing his face. “And you’re surprised?”
“I’m surprised you have a female here,” I said.
Grim’s frown could be mistaken for agreement, but the Aomai’s emotions could sometimes be hard to interpret without seeing his eyes. I did better with scent even though he kept a tight lid on them. Frustration was all I could smell right now.
“Whydoyou have a female here?” Beckan asked.
“Yeah, Grim,” Lyris added, “why do we have a female here?”
“Because you’re all assholes,” came from the cell next to me.
Beckan snorted. “She’s not wrong.”
“Could the two of you stop making it worse?”
“What are we going to do about Sun?” Lyris asked.
What about Sun?
Grim shook his head. “I don’t know.”
It was Lyris’s turn to frown then. “You never don’t know.”
Grim’s frustration broke free. “Well now I don’t!”
If it was a situation Grim didn’t know what to do about, it was bad.
The door to the other cell opened, and Patrick stepped out.
“So?” Grim asked.
Patrick gave the Aomai a surprised look. “So she’ll be fine. Did you expect anything else?”
“No,” Grim barked at the smaller male.
Patrick seemed unfazed at the aggression. Probably used to it from testy shifters. “Give her time to heal. Her body knows what to do.”
“She was bleeding from her eyeballs,” Beckan pointed out.
Grim growled low in his throat. “You two are not part of this conversation.”
“Hey, it’s not like we can go anywhere else,” I pointed out.
When he frowned at me, I shot him a smile.
“I’ve got enough going on without you two crawling up my ass.”
And though I appreciated all he’d done to show us respect—about the only one who did—I wasn’t here to make things easier for him. I shrugged.
“And shewasbleeding from her eyeballs,” Beckan said again.
Patrick frowned. “The invasion burst some capillaries in the flesh surrounding her eyes. They’re already closed.” He turned to Lyris. “She could use a bath, however. Maybe in a couple of hours when she calms down.”
“I’m already calm,” the female said. “I just want the hell out of here.”
“Don’t we all?” I asked. Rhetorically, of course.
Lyris closed her eyes and raised her chin toward the ceiling as if praying for guidance. “We’ll do what we can, Risk,” she called.
