The Last Coffee Shop

Chapter 29: d☠n'ℾ ℲEaR ☥He ℜeαp℈r

Having a clock didn't improve Mads' mood or put her at ease, in the end. The minutes crawled by, filled with alternating panic and boredom. And now that she was sitting still, her stomach was raging over two days spent with no food. She had been wrong before, this was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. At least the hostage road trip had involved regular rations.

Mads groaned and looked at the com again. Still five hours to eleven. How long had Luc been gone? Would he actually be alive if they returned him? And if he were alive, would she have enough time to get both solutions into him?

Well, if he's dead, that's one way to solve Graynard's problem. Mads was appalled with herself the moment she thought it. She had to be the better person here, keep the moral high ground and all that. She couldn't let them affect her.

That was when the door banged open.

Mads' jumped, almost upsetting the cot. She dropped the com into her dress, but the guards weren't looking at her. One set a wooden tray on the ground, and the other two shoved what appeared to be a bloody corpse into the room.

"Compliments of the Goddess," said one man, before he slammed the door shut again.

Mads smelled rich spices from the tray's direction, and her stomach responded with a growl. But there was a trail of blood beside the tray, and the motionless body. Oh stars. She held her breath, waiting, watching the body, which was presumably Luc's. Had she somehow brought this scenario on by thinking about how much more convenient it would be if he was dead? Was this her punishment? And also, did they really expect her to eat with a dead body flung out beside her?

She was light headed from hunger, fear, pain, and completely confused by an onslaught of tangled impulses and emotions. Her stomach gurgled angrily, not affected by more delicate sensibilities.

Mads stood, torn by indecision, and then the body twitched, and Mads realized it wasn't a corpse. That changed everything.

Mads staggered to his side and dropped down, her vision going wobbly. She really needed to eat. But if he was alive . . .

Mads took a few deep breaths, waiting for her heartbeat to steady, and then she leaned in closer to peer at the lumpy, human-shaped mess. It was hard to see through all the mud and blood, and weeping wounds, but then he blinked, and opened two impossibly green eyes.

Relief flooded Mads and gave her new energy. "Luc! What the hell?" She was truly relieved he was alive, much to her surprise, and she felt like crying and strangling him at the same time, but neither response seemed appropriate, so she just stared at him.

Luc managed a bloody, lopsided grin. He was missing his lower right canine, and his lower lip was splitting below it. "In case you're worried, it's not as bad as it looks." He coughed out the words, and his voice was hoarse. "Had to let them think . . . I was two steps from death."

"What did you do to them to make them so angry?" No matter what he said, there was enough blood to make Mads nervous. "I mean, other than break the High Priestess' heart?"

Luc groaned and closed his eyes. "She said that? I don't think her heart had anything, to—" he trailed into another coughing fit, spraying blood and spit on the floor. Thankfully, it was in the opposite direction from the food.

Mads frowned. "Stop talking. I'll warn you, I don't know anything about serious injuries, so I can't tell if you're dying or not. But I might as well look at the damage."

Luc winced. "No need. I'm fine. They're only going to kill me later. Besides . . .," he trailed off into another groan, his eyes still closed. "They took my med kits."