ONYX✔️

Chapter 47

"You're all healed, Onyx. Just try to take it easy, okay? I can heal the physical trauma from where you hit your head, but you may still feel the aftermath of the concussion," Ronin says from beside the cot I'm sitting on.

Finn, who was observing from across the small infirmary room in silence, leaves the room, motioning for Ronin to follow him into the hallway. I can't make out all of the conversation, only a few words there and there such as: Concussion, memory loss, hallucinations, and one that feels like a knife in my chest- Greyson.

Whatever Ronin told Finn, he wasn't pleased by it. He looked agitated as he threw the door back open, but his eyes softened as he looked at me. "How's your head?" He asks, sitting in the chair next to me.

"Fine," I shrug. "I feel dumb. I just tripped, it's not a big deal."

Finn hesitates. "Are... Are you seeing things you shouldn't be?"

Flinching, I recall how I had thought that Finn was Greyson. "I'm so sorry about that. I-I'm not sure what got into me," I begin to apologize, but Finn cuts me off.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Finn clasps my hand reassuringly. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Except for being the reason Greyson is dead, I think to myself bitterly.

"Ronin... He thinks you should talk to someone," Finn says, and I can tell that he's trying to keep his tone light. "About what you're going through. He said your... condition will get worse if you keep ignoring it."

My eyebrows pull together. "What, like a shrink?"

Finn chuckles slightly. "Not exactly. We're a little short on people with psychology degrees, reason being that we're rogues in the middle of nowhere. But I think you could benefit from talking to Kallista and Astrid about... it."

"Why them?" I ask in confusion. Out of all of their little band of rogues, Astrid seemed like the least likely person to be helpful in talking through what happened to me. Not that she seemed mean, just distant and aloof.

Not unlike Thane.

"Kallista has a certain... Gift that helps her decipher emotions," He says, leaning forward, his eyebrows furrowed. "Astrid... She went through something traumatic as well when she was much, much younger. I think that they could really help you open up."

"No," I say quickly. "I mean, no thank you. I don't want to do that, not at all."

Finn sighs, and looks at me sadly. "You can't keep this inside you, Onyx. Just give them a chance, okay? If you hate it, I'll never make you talk to them again and I'll let it go."

I'm tempted to say no, but something on his face makes me reconsider. "Okay," I agree slowly. "But you promise you won't bring it up again if I do it?"

Finn exhales in relief. "Yes, Onyx, I promise. I think this will be good for you." He squeezes my hand reassuringly and smiles, and I feel my cheeks warm as butterflies fill my stomach.

What the heck? Butterflies? I rip my hand away in surprise. Finn may be attractive- it was the first thing I noticed when he kidnapped me- but I certainly did not have feelings for him, regardless of how nice he may or may not be.

"Um..." I say eloquently, trying to clear my head. "So when do I have to talk to them?"

"You can go clean up and change first," Finn says with an easygoing smile. "Then meet them in the library? Do you remember where that is?"

I nod. I had been there a few times to pick out more reading material. I still hadn't been able to bring myself to read A Tale of Two Cities yet. For some reason, I felt too scared to open it, read all of his annotations.