Page 215 of Halfblood Deceived

Yes, Aella wanted to answer, but she couldn’t feel her lips.

“How much morphine did you give her, Mari?” Kamilla asked.

“Enough to make sure she didn’t feel any pain upon waking up,” Mari answered. “She’s mostly healed but the trauma to her muscles, inner organs, and nerves is bound to leave residual pain.” A hesitant pause. “Or that’s how it works with humans, at least.” She cursed. “It’s my first time operating on a half gargoyle.”

“I know,” Kamilla said, tone soothing. “It wasn’t an accusation.”

Warm hands cupped Aella’s cold ones.

Her full senses were returning slowly. She felt her lips; the air blowing through her nose and finally her eyelids. Still, opening them was a challenge.

A white ceiling was the first thing she saw.

Her eyes closed again. It was too bright.

A soft gasp reached her ears. She immediately identified it as Diana’s.

Taking a few steadying breaths, Aella gave opening her eyes a try again. This time she managed to blink. The light had been dimmed. With monumental effort, she tilted her head toward her left, meeting her sister’s gaze.

“Hello, honey,” Diana said, blue eyes swimming with tears. She stood from her chair and kissed Aella’s forehead. “How are you feeling?”

Aella tried to answer, but what came out of her mouth was a creaky groan.

Diana hurried to grab a cup and place a straw between Aella’s dry lips. “Slow sips, honey.”

Aella obeyed. The icy grape juice tasted like ambrosia. She drank for what felt like minutes. Until the slurping sound reached her ears and no more liquid came.

“More?” Diana asked.

Aella tried to shake her head, only managing to turn slightly to her front. She was expecting to see Kamilla and Mari, of course, but not Mac and Lupita. She felt her eyebrows shoot up slightly.

“If you think this is a crowd, you should see the hall,” said a familiar voice, deliciously scratchy with exhaustion.

Aella turned to her right, her eyes latching onto the green gaze that had started to appear more often in her dreams. Zeydan lifted their joined hands and kissed her palm, careful to not dislodge her IV. He looked as beautiful as ever, despite the dark circles under his eyes and the mark of concern between his brows.

“You look tired,” Aella rasped.

Zeydan let out a shaky, incredulous half-laugh. “Look who’s talking.”

Aella smiled at him, turning to face the others. “Is Reese okay?”

“They’re fine,” Mac answered. “Pissed, but completely fine.”

Aella blinked. “Why are they angry?”

“Because they blame themselves for not being able to protect you from that hijo de puta who shot you,” Lupita said, shaking her head. “Honestly, I still want to turn him into a cockroach and then step on him.”

Zeydan arched a brow at the tiny witch. “Why do I have the feeling you’ve done that before?”

“Because I have,” Lupita confirmed, turning toward Kamilla. “Er, not here, however. And he was a bastard.”

Kam shrugged blithely. “I believe you. And I’m tempted to let you do it. Or to let Zeydan have him for lunch.”

“I vote for the latter,” Zeydan said darkly.

“Only after I break the rest of his bones,” Diana all but growled.

“Reese has no reason to feel guilty,” Aella said before anyone launched more death threats at her attacker.

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