Page 101 of Poisoned Promise
The locked door of my cell creaks and groans, then topples forward very slowly and crashes to the ground with a deafening clatter.
Felix stands on the other side with Toph, who wields some kind of shotgun that’s smoking slightly at the barrel.
A similar smoke curls around the remains of the door hinges but there’s no time to focus on any of that.
Felix leaps over the door and almost trips over himself in his desperation to reach me.
“Dove!” He drops hard to his knees and reaches for me, then he hesitates and his hands curl into fists an inch from my arms. “We have to go. Can you walk?”
“What?” This doesn’t make sense. Time is an illusion and it equally feels like hours since he left here while fighting Reese and also no time at all.
Behind Felix, Toph delves into a quick hushed discussion with several men all clad in black, and when I blink, Felix rips the shirt from his back and drapes it over my bare shoulders.
“Toph!” Felix yells. “Give me your shirt!”
“What? I like this shirt.”
“And I don’t want everyone staring at Dove so give me the damn shirt!”
“Fine,” Toph grumbles, though he doesn’t sound particularly stressed about having to shed his clothing.
I blink and Felix’s intricately tattooed chest fills my entire field of view as he takes one of my hands and very slowly helps me onto shaky legs.
“What’s happening?” I murmur, struggling to keep up with everything going on around me. While standing, Felix tightens his shirt around my shoulders and buttons it up quickly, then he winds Toph’s t-shirt around my waist and ties a knot with the sleeves at my hips.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “I know this has to hurt.”
Maybe it should but I’m so numb now that the fabrics catching on inflamed or healing wounds barely breaches my focus. Instead, I stare at Felix’s bare chest.
There’s a small bird on his shoulder resting on a couple of flower petals.
That flower grows from a branch surrounded by leaves and on the path down from the flower to the rise of his peck, several other small birds dance between the leaves.
They dance as he scoops me up into his arms and it’s so beautiful to see.
Wings flap with each tense and roll of muscle, leaves drift in an invisible wind and flower petals drift down only to disappear where my body presses against his.
Such beautiful tattoos.
He didn’t have this many when we knew each other and now they’re all I want to look at.
I blink slowly and rest my head against his shoulder, following some thorny vines along his collarbone and up to his throat.
The bright corridor around me turns into a dark night sky when I blink.
Cool air turns to warm air, voices collide around me, orange floods the sky and the stink of smoke catches in the back of my throat.
Through it all, Felix’s arms remain tight around me and they stay there even when I close my eyes and fail to open them again.
—
“Should I take her to a hospital?” A familiar voice drifts toward my ears, fading in and out of focus like ripples in a pond.
“Are you telling me you don’t trust my doctors?” A woman’s voice. Unfamiliar yet the slight twang of an Irish accent is enough to ignite something in my chest.
“I’m not saying that at all. I’m just worried.”
“I get it. You don’t trust me.”
