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" You knew you won, so what's the point of keeping score?
YOU KNEW IT STILL HURTS UNDERNEATH MY SCARS
FROM WHEN THEY TORE ME APART"
―SHE WOKE UP WITH SWEAT COATING HER SKIN, HER LIMBS ICE COLD AND YET ALIGHT WITH FLAME ALL THE SAME.
Yi's eyes snapped open and she sat up so abruptly that her calves immediately cramped. She took a few, heaving breaths, gaze scanning the room as Tamar rushed to her side in an attempt to calm her.
"Easy," she warned, placing her hand on Yi's back.
The latter spotted Genya who had just gotten to her feet, amber eye wide with hope. David stood next to her, and Zoya had a look on her face that bordered on anger mixed with relief. Yi choked on her own saliva, hacking for a few moments. Her entire body ached, and her back stung with her wounds. She suddenly remembered the bell tower, the feeling of its stone arches scraping her skin.
Her heart pounded as she recalled the look in the demon's eyes, pure hunger and animal instinct, a predator that had finally caught its prey.
Yi took a shuddering breath as Tamar eased her back against her pillow, Genya rushing forward and placing a warm cup of tea in her hands that smelled of chrysanthemums. Tolya must have been tending to Nikolai. Would he remember the look of fear in her eyes? Would he remember how he'd said her name?
"Thank you," Yi said, her voice scratchy and dry. She let the warmth of the cup chase away the cold tentacles of fear unfurling in her stomach. "How long―" She cleared her throat, "how long have I been unconscious for?"
"Only a few hours since the incident. You lost a lot of blood though, you should have your rest," Tamar said grimly.
Genya's eye glimmered with tears. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Yi faltered before realizing what she was talking about. The scars from the nichevo'ya. She had had them for years now, and her skin had never healed. Some days were worse than others. Even so, before she'd left for Shu Han, she'd known they had a proper way to treat it.
So it did beg the question.
Yi already knew why.
Because she didn't want them to see her for what she truly was, she supposed.
Broken.
She was afraid that beneath the skin that had been so forcefully ripped back from her shoulders would be her weaknesses and vulnerabilities, laid out and finely prepared for everyone to see.
And she had never wanted that, not anymore.
But it was no use now. They all knew, and they'd all seen it.
