SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Twenty One

Sage had been watching Raidan for a few minutes now, sleeping in the armchair by her bed. It had taken awhile for her to wake up, a few times having roused only for lethargy to drag her back under, until eventually she woke to a room of shallow darkness, sunlight muted by drawn curtains, and Raidan.

She vaguely remembered asking Raidan to stay, and her cheeks flushed slightly at the thought. She had stirred when Raidan finally released her from his arms and as he had turned away her hand had reached for his sleeve without thought, trying to hold him in place. He had walked away regardless, until he reached the open door, but instead of leaving Raidan had gently closed the door and then returned to Sage's side.

Yet even though she had asked, the fact that Raidan was still here caught her by surprise. At the very least, Sage thought he might have left once Sage fell back asleep.

Looking at him now, expression soft and unguarded, posture relaxed as he sat with his arms loosely folded and his body leaning slightly into the corner of the chair, Sage could almost see the version of Raidan that she grew up with. He had always had edges, a certain distance and coldness to his presence that was uncharacteristic for a young teen, but he had always warmed whenever he had been with her, Dean and Chase.

But Sage couldn't forget all that had happened between them now, even if the thought of him sleeping by her side – of rescuing her from Bryce – stirred something inside of her that she wanted to hold on to.

Sage sat up, slowly and carefully, and inspected her abdomen. She was still dressed in the same clothes, but her bandages had been removed and the wound healed likely by Toren. There was still tenderness to the area, a scar too, but at least she was no longer in pain. The minor abrasions on her arms had been healed too, barely any hint that they had been caused.

So she slipped her legs off the side of the bed and gently placed her feet on the ground. Her body was tight and rigid, but that was to be expected, and Sage was made aware of all the bruises and sore spots still plaguing her body beneath her clothes.

Sage tried to stand up, but she did so a little too quickly for her head to handle and instantly she felt dizziness, the room beginning to turn. She instinctively reached out her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to overcome the dizzy-spell, and then she felt two hands take hold of hers.

'Clearly, twelve hours of sleep was not enough.'

His voice was like velvet, barely disturbing the silence within the room. Sage opened her eyes to find Raidan standing in front of her.

'Sorry,' she said. 'Did I wake you?'

He dismissed her apology. 'I was already awake. You shouldn't push yourself,' he added, slowly letting go of her hands.

'I'm actually feeling better than I expected to be,' Sage replied.

'You should eat then,' said Raidan, turning for the door.

'Raidan,' Sage interjected, though no other words followed. He turned back and her eyes dropped to his shoulder where she had lodged a kitchen knife, the memory of her anger lingering beneath them. She was still angry, but she couldn't ignite it into a fire like she had before.

As if understanding her hesitance, Raidan opened the door and said, 'You need to eat first, Sage.'

'All right,' she agreed on a sigh, relenting for now.

Raidan gestured to some clothes on the chest of drawers by the door. 'I'll wait outside.'

The outfit was an oversized khaki shirt with short sleeves and loose cotton pants which she rolled at the cuffs to shorten. They seemed too big to be Toren's and had a subtle scent of jasmine and cedar, things that reminded Sage of open forests and clear skies, but it wasn't a scent she recognised from Dante's clothes. Given they were also too small to be Nox's, Sage delicately smoothed the shirt between her fingers as she realised they were Raidan's clothes.