Page 730 of Coal Hearts

Hated being so hungry and weak.

Hated being collared and completely helpless to save Ily and the jewels.

Fury burned through me.

Rage and fear and despair.

Yanking my foot away from her inquisitive hands, I snapped, “I’m fine. You can go now.”

The two guards looked up. One stepped forward. “If you’re done, Dr Belford, I have orders for you to check the other two.”

“I’ll tell you when I’m done,” the doctor barked. Climbing to her feet, she rummaged in her bag and turned her back on the guards.

They looked as if they’d argue but then the leader shrugged and fell back into conversation with the other blond guy, their eyes on each other, their attention not on us.

Pulling out a syringe full of something, she tapped it and yanked my arm closer. Swiping another alcoholic swab across my veins in my inner elbow, she whispered almost too low to hear. “This will give you energy and pain relief for a few days. It’ll replenish you a little and numb what it can, but the effects will wane. I’ll try to give you some more before it’s gone completely.”

Before I could ask what it was or why she was helping me, she stabbed me with the needle, dumped the contents inside me, tossed her equipment into her bag, and shot out the door.

* * * * *

“Time to go,” the guard barked, snapping his fingers as he opened the door.

Unlike down in the dungeons where we couldn’t tell how much time had passed, I’d counted the ticking clock and its minutes since Dr Belford had gone. Each one scratched at my heart, keeping me far from Ily.

Forty-seven awful minutes.

Forty-seven and now—

“Move.” The guard stepped toward me, his hand hovering over his pistol on his belt.

Standing on my newly cast-free ankle, I stepped toward him gingerly.

Dressed only in my towel, I cursed not wearing clothes. I’d looked in the drawers and wardrobe and found nothing.

They’d even taken the gross clothes I’d worn in the caves.

I hated being so bare.

Hated to think what Victor would do...

My feet slowed.

“Move it,” the guard barked.

I obeyed, gritting my teeth against discomfort.

Only...

All the aches and pains. All the bone-deep discomfort and conscious-stealing weakness...gone.

I stepped again.

Okay, so that might’ve been an exaggeration. Not gone...just better.

I still wobbled a little. Still suffered greyness on the edge of my vision and still couldn’t take a deep breath without a twinge in my ribs but...everything else was muted beneath a blanket of softness.

Standing taller, I walked a little faster.