Page 27 of Dark Space
‘Cal, I’m sorry. I –’
‘You have nothing to be sorry for, Prince.’ I took a deep breath and gathered my courage, knowing this was the end of one chapter before Alcide went forward alone into the next, needing to put what I’d felt for years into words. ‘Cide, I just want you to know –’
My wrist screen beeped, alerting me to movement in Vesper’s cell. I touched the screen.
‘Fleshbag?’ Vesper’s voice was desperate. ‘Fleshbag,Anna won’t wake up.’
Anna had points of colour burning on her cheeks; her skin had otherwise turned too pale. She was limp in Vesper’s arms, unmoving, and sweat was beading on her forehead.
‘Help her,’ Vesper croaked. ‘Her light is wrong.’
‘Fever,’ Alcide murmured. ‘Starling, she’s burning up. Let us put her on the bed.’
For a moment, I thought that Vesper would refuse. He drew her closer, his eyes raking over her face, as if he was silently imploring her to wake. When that didn’t work, he took a deep breath and held her out to me.
I took her up, then settled her down on the cell’s cot; she gave a soft moan.
‘Put her on her stomach, Cal,’ Alcide said. ‘We might need to wash the wound again.’
I turned her over as gently as I could, then stared at the mess Dainn had made of her shoulder.
‘Should it … Should it look like that?’ Vesper said.
‘Nothingshould look like that,’ I muttered.
‘Bandage, antiseptic, water,’ Alcide said. ‘I’ll be back.’ He disappeared back outside the cell.
‘If she dies, I’m taking this ship down,’ Vesper promised. ‘I’m fairly certain I’ll die, too, but youdefinitelywill. As fair warning.’
‘What is it you want from her, starling?’ I snapped.
‘I don’t –’ Vesper inhaled sharply, then shook his head. ‘Less than you, I’m fairly sure.’
Me, who had stolen her from her home planet because I couldn’t bear to leave her there, and then delivered her to a male who’dbither.
Guilt wasn’t a big enough word for what I felt.
‘If you want less than me, then you still want more than you’ll get,’ I snarled. ‘She won’t ever be yours.’
His gaze flared golden. ‘You’ve been moping after her with those big black eyes, but you look at the Prince the same way,’ he said slowly. ‘That can’t feel good. If he claims her, you’ll still be exactly where you are now. Watching both of them from afar. Forever.’
I swallowed. ‘I don’t care. As long as Alcide is happy, and as long as Anna is safe,I don’t care.’
He studied me, so closely that I felt myself begin to flush. ‘You know, my twin told me an Earth saying once,’ he said. ‘Misery loves company. I can’t promise I’ll begoodcompany, but at least you’ll have some.’
I stared at him, blinking in surprise. He looked steadily back, his eyes glowing with fear or worry or something else entirely.
My chest wound tight. ‘Vesper –’
The glass door slid open. ‘Got them,’ Alcide said, holding up a basket of things he must have taken from Dainn’s empty surgery. ‘Is she in pain?’
‘She hasn’t moved,’ I said; I didn’t know if that was good or bad.
Alcide soaked some bandage in water and an antiseptic mixture and began gently swabbing at the angry flesh on her shoulder. ‘I have no idea what I’m doing, Cal.’
‘I think her temperature being so high is bad,’ Vesper offered. ‘Before this, she was almost always the same warmth. I can feel that she’s hot now.’
‘We need to get her to drink,’ I said decisively. ‘That’s a good thing for humans. Right?’
