Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Lash Pain

I wake up to stinging pain and sit up, crying out in pain. Eli pushes me back down and stops applying alcohol to the lash across my abdomen. He looks up into my eyes, worried, and brushes some hair out of my face.

"Stay still... This is... bad." Eli slowly takes one of my hands and continues to apply alcohol to the lash. It stings bad and I flinch and give Eli's hand the death grip while clinching my teeth. He holds the rag with alcohol to the lash for a couple seconds before pulling away and giving me a break. I let out a rather loud breath. I hadn't noticed that I was holding my breath until now. Eli must have taken my shirt off before I woke up at some point because I'm just laying in my bra and the black shorts I was in. Eli pours more alcohol on the rag and presses it further down the lash. I cringe and squeeze Eli's hand again with one and the other I clench and dig my nails into my palm, grinding my teeth in pain. A tear slips out of the corner of my eye as I squeeze my eyes shut. Eli stops again and sets the rag down, leaning forward and wiping the tears.

"Here." I open my eyes and see him holding out a pill. "This will help with your pain." I reach out and take the pill from him and he reaches over and grabs the glass of water from earlier, handing it to me. I take the pill with a large gulp of water and Eli waits until the pain killer he gave me starts to kick into effect and I begin to get drowsy. He pours more alcohol onto the rag and lightly begins dabbing into across the cut. At some point I completely pass out.

I wake up sometime later, I'm not sure how long its been, and my abdomen is wrapped tightly where the lash was. Eli is sitting on the floor with all his books that he is using to figure out what happened when I brought him back from the Pits. I stare at him for a long while... Just taking him in. He isn't a bad guy. Not at all. He played the bad guy for appearances and to keep Dominic out of his dad's business. He got too use to playing that role. He took blame and made himself hated. He's truly someone who is careless for the people he cares deeply for. He was willing to ruin his life and be the villain for Dominic. He chose death over turning over Dominic to Sammael to face punishment for not being "a good son" and over hurting Dominic. He got too use to being that villain and I believe that this version of him is the true version of him. I stare at Eli longer. He flips a page in the book. His dark hair is a mess like he hasn't looked in the mirror in days or has tried to upkeep it. His skin is slightly tan and perfect. Eli suddenly sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. He stares down at the book while he runs a hand through his hair before looking over at me. He sees me staring at him and gets up.

"Hey, are you okay? Are you in pain?" He quickly comes over to me. I sit up and feel slight pain and discomfort from the lash and a dull achiness in my head from the wound there.

"No... No pain." I lie and he smiles, relieved that I'm feeling 'fine'. I glance at the books on the ground. "How is your progress on your situation?" I question and he looks back at the books too.

He sighs, "None... Maybe I'm missing something..." He seems like he suddenly goes into a deep thought, but it's only for a few seconds before he snaps out of it and sits on the edge of the bed with me. He lightly sets a hand on the bandages around my torso. "Are you sure you're not in pain?" He puts a little pressure on it when I don't expect it and I wince and clench my fists. He gives me a knowing look and reaches over grabbing a bottle with pills in it. He takes one out and hands it to me.

I shake my head, "That makes me tired. I don't want to sleep anymore, can't you just give me an Advil or something?" He tilts his head.

"I just didn't want you in pain at all. Advil won't completely get rid of the pain, but if that's what you want I can easily get that for you." He summons a bottle of Advil and takes out two of the red round pills. He hands them to me and then reaches over and grabs the glass of water from the nightstand, giving it to me too.

An hour later the pain is still there but it's a little less and Eli is laying with me in his bed, staring at me.

"I get nothing done with you awake because I just can't stop staring at you and watching you to make sure you are okay." Eli laughs and reaches out and caresses my face. He leans forward and presses his lips against mine, slowly kissing me. I pull away and look anywhere but at him.

"I'm sorry." He apologizes, knowing that I am with Etheriel and am not looking for a romance fling with him. I sit up and he quickly sits up with me.

"I'm... uh... hungry... I didn't really get the chance to get something to eat earlier." Eli processes and then nods a lot. He uses a passage to get to a standing position beside the bed closest to me and helps me up. He has a shirt in hand and helps me put it on. Raising my arms up makes the lash across my abdomen hurt a lot more and I wince. He wraps an arm around me and leads me to the door. He shuts the bedroom door behind us and we take the way to the kitchen that does not involve going through the dining hall. When we walk through the door to the kitchen all the servants stand at attention at the sight of Eli.

"Trinity is hungry; can you throw something together for her to eat?" Eli speaks to the entire kitchen and they immediately go to work with a few 'yes sir' quiet responses. In twenty minutes, there is a plate of chicken and a salad on the side sitting in front of me on a metal kitchen counter. They softly set a fork and knife down beside the plate and bow to me.

"We hope you enjoy." The servant says softly.

I smile slightly, "Thank you so much." The servant looks taken back by my thanks and looks up into my eyes and then Eli's and then regrets it and immediately looks down.

"I am sorry." He apologizes and keeps his head down.

"It's completely fine." I reply and he quickly bows and then goes back to working. I watch all the servants work and look back at Eli, "They don't deserve to be treated the way they are." Eli looks down at me before looking up and at the servants, observing.

"They were born into this lifestyle. They do not know any differently and I do not control them, Father does. I'll talk to him about it to see if I can change anything about it." I nod slowly.

"At least stop Lucifer and Cresil from whipping them... No one deserves that..." I remember when Eli locked me in a cell and whipped me for over a year in Hell time.