Elysia: Ignite [Elysia Trilogy Book 1] (EDITING) ✔

CH6: The Invitation

Jessica

The first sensation that visited me was a dull throb pulsating from somewhere around my waist. Then it turned into a rhythmic ache, then a series of burning thrums that matched to the palpitation of my heart. I let out a low groan, biting the insides of my cheeks to stifle the sound of pain. It was abhorrent.

"She's awake." A quiet voice echoed. I wasn't prepared to open my eyes yet, so I stayed still and just listened. The pain hindered me from acknowledging whose voice it was.

"She's in pain," another voice said in alarm. I knew who that was. That's the pretty dumb blond.

"Morphine. Nolett, fetch me another. No, the smaller one."

After a few more agonizing seconds squirming in my bed and screwing my eyes shut to mentally force the burn out, a fresh stimulation entered through the needle attached to my wrist and alleviated the discomfort little by little. It took several minutes for the effects of the drug to kick in and for me to be able to breathe with ease. The strength I had been putting in all tissues of my muscles slackened. Then I could open my eyes.

Faces, old and new, were hovering above me in a circle. I could save myself from panicking because there were two faces I recognized: Josiah and Erik. I didn't know who the other man standing on my left was; he had a white surgical mask dangling from one ear. His hair was the color of hazelnut and piercing green eyes were just under it.

I opened my dry mouth to speak to no avail. My throat felt scratchy from the lack of moisture and, each time I attempted to voice out a word, the weak signal of my injury sparked up my spine and suggested enthusiastically that I keep my mouth shut. However, I forced out a word from pure grit and will.

"...Where...?"

Josiah wiped away the sweat on my forehead and tenderly smiled. "A safe place. For now."

That was not enough. I needed more detailed clarification, so I shook my head and gestured toward the man whom I assumed to be a doctor who had conducted surgery on me. Thankfully, Josiah understood the gesture without having to have me explain further with my tongue.

"Oh, that's Doctor Illya Mikhailov, Sica. Remember the surgeon I told you about?" he explained, leaning down. I nodded to express affirmation. "Yeah, he took the pellet out from your wound and patched you up."

So this must be the 'hospital' he had mentioned a few times before. I looked around as far as the flexibility of my eye muscles could allow me without having to tilt or turn my head. Concrete walls, concrete ceiling, metal door. Diverse medical gears and trays of instruments on one side. This was a professional facility. A governmental facility. I could guess how massive the building could be just from the display of high-tech tools resting inside this room alone. And this guy here was having the entire building to himself? It had to be either an opulent life or a terribly lonesome one.

"You were asleep," Erik murmured, getting down on his knees to match my eye level. What a compassionate charmer. "It's been two days," he said.

Two days. Numbness swept over me. It had been two days since the encounter with that bastard, Jerome King, and my evil ex who had shot me without hesitation. I was afraid that they might have caught up with us as they had tracked me down in the desert, but let myself relax. If such a thing had happened, none of the three here would be sitting around so idly. Just like Josiah said, I was safe. For now.

A flicker of poignant pain sparked up my spine as I coughed up some blood. The man called Mikhailov steadied my chest and offered a small towel for me cough into. After my fit was over, Erik gazed at me with even more sympathy, lying in every crease and fold of his cyan iris. Funny, he reminded me of a golden retriever. I had done nothing for him, yet here he was worrying over my ass like some unduly loyal pup. If I wasn't in this pathetic state, I would have laughed out loud in his face.