Page 153 of Dangerous King
Dante.
He emerges from the smoke like some kind of myth, jacket torn, shirt streaked with soot, a gun in one hand. Behind him, Toni moves like a shadow, scanning the wreckage.
"We've got it under control," Dante says. "Take her to the hospital."
Again, Enrico moves to pick me up.
"No!"
"Cat," he warns, "you need to go to the hospital."
"I'm not going anywhere until… You said you have Ledyanoy Prizrak?"
He nods.
One more time, I take his shirt hostage and pull him forward, "That man killed my sister; you need to interrogate him."
"It can wait." He shakes his head.
I know that tone. He's not going to budge.
"How bad am I hurt?" This time, I ask the wispy, favorite-uncle lookalike.
"You've got a glass shard embedded in your side. I don't know if it hit an artery?—"
"Doc!" Enrico snarls at him.
But I got the picture. Now that the man, Doc, I suppose, told me, I can feel it, too. It feels alien and foreign in my skin. But it's not deep. At least I don't think it is. I know one thing for sure, though: they're going to take me to the hospital, and Enrico intends to go with me instead of getting information out of Ledyanoy Prizrak.
I cannot allow that to happen.
"So what if there is no artery affected?" I ask.
The man shrugs, "We'll stitch it."
"And if there is?"
"We'll stitch it; it's a bit more?—"
I don't let him finish before I lose my nerve; I let go of Enrico's shirt and feel for the shard. It's not as big as I thought it would be, maybe the size of my little finger.
"Careful, don't?—"
I don't let Doc finish. The glass feels slippery, but I get a good grip on it and pull it out with a defiant scream, tossing it aside. Actually, my side hurts less now. I feel like I can breathe.
"Cat!" Enrico yells, his hands moving to my side, trying to staunch the flow of blood he's expecting.
"I'm good," I try to smile.
"That was… badass," Dante snickers.
I giggle. Nobody has ever said that to me before.
"Don't even," Enrico warns.
"Let me see," Doc pushes against Enrico.
"You're very lucky, young lady. No artery involvement. It's superficial, but it'll need stitches," Doc informs me, his favorite uncle expression giving way to something sharper; he's stern and unimpressed.
