Ember of the Underworld

5.

After 2 years, here we are. I finally finished this chapter! Sorry I fell off the face of the earth.

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5

" . . . what I am aches in me." [Fernando Pessoa]

Aedan released her hand and took a tentative step backwards. Koralina's heart raced. His eyes shifted from hers to her abdomen. "I need to check your bandage — back to bed."

Koralina's brows furrowed. Before she could put up any protest Aedan settled his hand on her back and the other reached for the back of her legs. Her eyes bulged.

"What do you think you're—" Koralina started.

He hoisted her into the air.

"I'm keeping my promise to you, but first I need to take care of your wound. Unless you prefer the toxins to remain inside of your body."

Koralina scowled and turned away from him. She couldn't pitch a fit — didn't have the energy to. "I'm not a child, y'know," she muttered.

"Well . . ." She felt the timbre of his voice drop.

He set her down onto the pillowtop and she immediately pushed herself away from him, her senses on high alert. He paused, looking into her eyes and catching sight of uncertainty. Aedan's movements were slow, cautious. His hands fumbled with the throw at the end of the bed, and he shook it open. In one swift motion he pulled it snug over Koralina's shoulders.

"You don't have to treat me like I'm a child, you know. I mean, you're what—" she looked him up and down,"3 or 4 years older than me?"

He paused. "A few."

She wanted to pursue that point further, but filed it under Questions to Ask at a later time. He left her side and was focused on rummaging through a plastic bag atop the dresser.

"Earlier you mentioned something," she said as he came to the bedside table, setting down an array of medical supplies, "that I protected my family from the chimaera?"

"Yes, it's another . . . hybrid—as you say." He crouched in front of her, her legs dangling off the side of the bed. "It's bite is venomous because of the snake portion of the hybrid. I assume you were trying to help your family escape from the house when you were struck."

He looked from Koralina's eyes to her shirt. He wasn't sure where the lines were drawn, and Koralina, recognizing his hesitation, made quick work of pulling it up so that just her abdomen was exposed.

He tugged at the old bandage, the adhesive from the tape peeling off Koralina's skin.

She sucked in a breath.

His brows furrowed. "Sorry."

Taking the old bandage in his hand, he folded it and set it aside. "When I found you, your heart had nearly stopped."

Aedan reached for the tube of antibiotic ointment. He traced the line of the gash on her stomach with the product, his finger gently touching her skin. She shivered.

"How did you—why didn't you take me to a hospital?"

A short puff escaped his lips. "Didn't need one."

"What—why?" Koralina gave Aedan a bewildered look.

"No medical facility could have treated you for a venom that ceased to exist two-thousand years ago." He said it as if the answer was obvious.

Koralina stared at him openly, her expression sarcastic.

He paid her no attention and screwed the cap back on the ointment. She muttered something under her breath Aedan was just out of reach to hear.