Page 251 of Alchemised
They made an incision between Lila’s ribs, using makeshift retractors to pry the bones apart so they could reach all the remaining shards. The pieces varied in size and crumbled if they weren’t picked out carefully enough. There were little cuts and grooves in Lila’s lungs and heart where shards had nicked her—wounds that could be easily repaired if Helena could use her resonance but were laborious and dangerous now, each requiring manual sutures.
The procedure was all unfamiliar, and they were racing against time. The longer the nullium had to break down and distribute into Lila’s blood, the greater the likelihood that she might die from the metal toxicity. The surgery was pushing her body to its utmost limits, and Lila had to survive on her own.
Helena manually siphoned the blood, keeping Lila’s heart beating as Pace worked. A nurse had taken the larger shards to Shiseo to analyse and synthesise the sequestering agent, but that treatment was hours away.
It was possible that until they managed to purge the metal from Lila’s bloodstream, they would be unable to use any kind of resonance on her.
“A thoracic lavage next,” Pace said at last, setting down her tools. Her eyes were bloodshot from strain by the time they finished.
Maier took over the sutures. His stitches were beautifully neat, but he looked shaken as he worked.
Helena looked up and found it was growing dark outside. “I should check on Soren.”
She felt so strange as she washed her hands. She’d barely used her resonance, but the pressure of the last several hours had her head throbbing. Stepping out of the operating theatre, she found most of the hospital crowded around one bed.
Soren was awake and propped up. All the privacy curtains had been pushed aside, and at the forefront of the people surrounding him was Ilva.
Soren’s arm was in splints, and bandages covered half his face. He kept shaking his head. “I don’t—remember. It happened so fast.”
“Did you recognise anyone? Even imagine that you saw a face?” Ilva said, grasping Soren’s wrist.
“I don’t know,” Soren said again, his voice straining. “There was—an explosion. Something hit me. Might have been out seconds or minutes. When I got up, I couldn’t see. Luc was gone, and Lila was on the ground, bleeding out. She kept saying, Told him to run. I didn’t know where to look—so I came back.”
“There was no warning?” The questions seemed to be exploding from Ilva. She was visibly agitated. “No signs at all? Who was leading the unit?”
“I—” Soren’s expression twisted, and he seemed to struggle to remember.
“I always said it was a mistake, allowing a female paladin,” Matias said. “If I had been Falcon at the time, I would never have allowed such a violation of tradition to be entertained. I warned you, Ilva, Luc was partial to her, but no: Lila Bayard was too exceptional to separate from him. Now look what’s happened.”
“Shut your mouth!” Ilva snarled over her shoulder at Matias, her fingers still digging into Soren’s wrist. Then she turned back and shook him. “Did she say Luc surrendered himself? Did he hand himself over because of Lila?”
“I don’t know,” Soren half whispered.
Elain was standing near Soren’s bed, too awed by the number of Eternal Flame members currently flanking the bed to interfere.
“Pardon,” Helena said in a curt voice, and she pushed herself through the crowd. “Soren Bayard has a head injury. It’s inadvisable to stress him.”
Everyone turned to look at her.
“Is Lila awake? Can she answer questions?” Ilva said, instantly rising to her feet.
Helena shook her head sharply. “She is not available for anything. We performed an extensive manual surgery to remove a spike of nullium that she’d been stabbed with, but the alloy deteriorated and distributed through her bloodstream, which will interfere with anything involving resonance until it’s removed.”
“How long will that take?” The panic on Ilva’s face was clear.
Helena shook her head. “We have her under anaesthesia right now, but we’re working blind. She may wake in the next few hours, or it could take days. Lila is very strong, but this will still be harder on her than past injuries. Nothing’s certain yet.”
Soren had slumped back and looked as if he was on the verge of a panic attack, but Ilva drew herself up like a viper.
“I thought you had prepared for this eventuality,” Ilva said. “What have you all been doing?”
Helena’s jaw tensed. Why was it always the hospital’s fault when things went wrong? If Helena had come out and said that surgery was a success and Lila was already getting out of bed, they’d all be off to the perihelion to offer Sol flames of thanksgiving. But bad news was always the hospital’s fault.
How nice it must be, to be a god.
“The alloy has been altered, and the interference is much more intense. Manual procedures are not simple, especially in a hospital where only two people have any experience performing them. If you want the hospital prepared to perform manual surgery, the Falcon will need to approve the cadavers for practice, as we requested several months ago.”
Matias coughed as if he’d swallowed something the wrong way and suddenly stopped looking like he wanted to be present.
