A Web of Steam & Puppet Strings (Sevastyan #1)

Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When I passed through the garden of ivy, Rurik was there, still waiting, and without his encasement of gold armor. He wrapped one of my arms around his neck and carted me inside. He stood a good several inches taller than me, not to mention he had the density of rock, but he took the pressure off my displeased leg. We ambled into the hallway, the silence so stark that every shift of his uniform seemed to echo. I did everything I could to suppress each wince and twinge of acid in my wounds, a strange coldness clawing its way up my leg and side. The shredded fabric clung to my flesh like wet clothes.

Blood. I dribbled blood onto the rug.

My tight throat worked. "Rurik."

"Don't worry yourself. No one will ever notice."

I understood what he meant. The tapestry was so busy, a few drops of red blended in flawlessly.

Instead of making the right to take me back to the Chambers, however, we continued straight, into a wing I'd never visited before. I'd been able to deduce its purpose by watching my wounded companions separate into this direction before while the rest of us continued on as normal. The next morning, they'd be repaired. Oiled and polished and patched right up, good to go again.

Rurik dropped his voice to a murmur. "Keep your eyes shut. Do not speak. Act as you would under command."

"Why? She knows already."

"Yes, and so do I, and so does Anastasya. You need that edge for now."

I didn't get to request for him to be a little less cryptic. We stepped through a doorway, into a room lit by warm lamps with dense lace shades. I kept my eyelids low, but not closed. Sitting at a reception desk was a woman dressed in white, her hair cemented into a tight bun. A nurse. She stood and nodded to Rurik before glancing me. "Another one?"

"A straggler. I found him, barely able to support weight on this leg."

Her scarlet lips pursed, and then she nodded. "Quite a lucky happenstance, I was about to leave for the night. Back here, then."

We entered a small room that reeked of sterilization. My eyes squeezed against the intense flood of light. It was hard to focus. Rurik placed me on a table as cold as his eyes, and then retreated to the background, arms folded, as the nurse snapped on a pair of latex gloves and pulled out a tray of intimidating sharp tools. Did she really need to use weapons on my injuries? Her palm came to my chest and pushed me down, and I had no choice but to keep my eyes closed.

At least, until I heard snip, snip.

"I've so rarely seen you without your helmet, Commander," she said as she peeled apart my shredded pants, cutting where she needed. "You can sit down and relax a moment. I won't tell a soul."

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Well, I'm not." She doused my leg with cold liquid. I hardly felt it aside from the temperature. "You make me nervous."

"My apologies, of course."

She heaved a sigh. Her latex fingers poked and prodded at the wound. I had to hold my breath to keep from squealing like Maksim when I had turned him on his side earlier. "Deep lesions. Very clean. Nothing left behind. Must have been glass. Could have been deeper, if that were the case."