Page 72 of A Raven Repents

“I tried to get him away from her. I ran.”

Ash nodded. “You did well. She’s fine.”

“Why isn’t she here?”

“Because there’s something I wanted to discuss without her present.” Ash’s brow furrowed and muscles twitched across his face, as if he might cry. “I’m so sorry, Giles.” He paused, and there were definitely tears welling in his eyes. “We couldn’t save your eye.”

“What do you mean?” He tried to reach for his face, but Ash held firm.

“I mean”—he gave Giles’ hand a tight squeeze—“it’s gone.”

He needed to feel it for himself, but he couldn’t get either of his hands free. “Let me go!”

A tear trickled down Ash’s face as he shook his head, but he didn’t release him. “I’m so sorry.”

“It can’t be gone.” Giles thrashed, trying desperately to pull out of Ash’s grasp.

“Stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“This isn’t real,” he said desperately. “This is only a nightmare. I just need to wake up.”

But he couldn’t make it happen, and Ash looked at him with so much sadness, two more tears sliding down his cheeks.

“It has to be a dream. You don’t cry.”

Ash laughed through his tears. “Don’t tell anyone.”

Tears started down the right side of his own face. Ash’s joke made him realize it wasn’t a dream. “It’s gone? Not just blind, but… gone?”

“I’m sorry, Giles. I would have done anything to save it if there was even the smallest chance.”

It couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t be. He was wrong. Somehow Ash was wrong. “I need to feel it. I’ll be gentle.”

Ash shook his head. “You won’t be able to feel anything but bandages right now.”

He still didn’t want to believe it. But why would Ash lie about something so horrific?

He wouldn’t.

Ash wiped the tears from not only his own face, but from Giles’ too.

“If you’d let me go I could do that myself, you know.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone either.”

“Does Christina know?”

“It would seem so. I hadn’t meant to tell her yet, but she must not have been as asleep as I thought she was when the doctor and I were talking.”

“How does she feel about it?” Repulsed, surely.

Ash sighed. “Guilty. But in order for you to understand why, you need to know something else. The man who attacked you was sent by her father.”

“Her father?” he growled. “I should have had Allister kill the bastard.” The man was a menace. “That doesn’t make it her fault.” He paused, not wanting to ask his next question. “Will she want to see me? Now that I’m…” No longer whole.

Ash finally smiled. “She’s hardly left your side in two days. Been sleeping in the chair over there.” He gestured with a nod. “I do need to give another warning before she comes in, though. She has an injury on her face.”

“Did he get her too?”