Page 80 of Cozy Prisons
“Yeah, that’s bad,” she agreed.
Both feet were rubbed raw. Pulling off her boots had caused them to start bleeding again. She’d ignored how much her feet hurt and kept walking. She didn’t think they were this awful.
“It reminds me of when Decard stepped in that puddle of chemicals," Sima said with a gasp.
“It’s probably not as bad as it looks,” Nataly said, trying to be positive. “Or feels.”
Daxus let out an agitated rattle. “Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain earlier?”
“I didn’t know I was in that much pain until I stood up,” she said. “It’s weird how pain works sometimes.”
“It’s astounding that any of you humans survived to adulthood!” Falkilm muttered as he pressed in next to Daxus. With all the humans and Talins gathered close and the bot at her back, there wasn’t a lot of space.
“Will I live?” Nataly asked, then remembered that not only do most Talins not get her humor, but Falkilm was especially obtuse.
“Please don’t fear, the pain might be severe, but the damage looks minimal,” Falkilm assured her with a soothing rumble. He looked at Daxus. “It will probably cause the least amount of stress if you carry her. I have an area set up for treatment.”
“I need everyone to back away,” Daxus declared, sounding a warning rattle that made a couple of people jump in surprise.
Easy," she said, surprised at how tense he was. “It’s not a big deal. Falkilm will put some salve on it and I’ll be fine.” When he picked her up to cradle her against his chest, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled the strip of bare skin.
“I don’t like it when you’re in pain,” Daxus murmured. “Especially when it’s my fault.”
“How could this possibly be your fault?” she countered as he followed Falkilm through the crowd.
“I should’ve made you stop walking sooner,” he said, purring loudly as if he could chase away her pain with his rumbles.
“Let’s not play the ‘shoulda’ or ‘what if’ game,” she said, reaching up to rub her fingers over one of his scent glands.
She felt his step stutter a little at her touch, but he was quick to regain his fast pace.
“You need to stop that,” he said.
“Or what?” she teased.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, finally giving her an amused rumble. “But I’ll find some suitable punishment.”
She lifted her face to put her lips close to his ear. “I can’t wait!”
She was enjoying this flirtatious version of Daxus. He was far more fun than the guilty version. Falkilm put a stop to it.
“Set her here, please,” he said, pointing to a table. Not an exam table or gurney, but a table-table.
After he set her down on the table, Falkilm put his face close to her feet and mumbled things to himself. She couldn’t make out most of it, but one thing was clear: he was upset at no longer having access to all his fancy equipment.
“Can we help?” Kamie said.
“Wow, your feet look like butchered meat,” Kiran said with a grin.
Nataly laughed, but Daxus growled.
“Akk!” Kiran yelped with exaggerated fear. At the same time, he dramatically leaped away from Daxus to stand next to Falkilm.
To her surprise, the normally even-tempered Falkilm sounded a war rattle and shoved Daxus away. “Don’t you ever growl at Kiran!”
“Hey now!” Kiran said, grabbing Falkilm by the wrist. “He’s grumpy because Nataly is hurt; he didn’t mean anything by the growling.”
“He threatened you!” Falkilm said. He didn’t pull out of Kiran’s hold, but he didn’t retreat either. “You were frightened.”
