Page 181 of Taming Seraphine
Of all the times to get stabbed, why is it when I’m still off balance from the explosion?
Seraphine slides in Miko’s car and tears away in one direction, while Evangeline sprints down another. My vision fills with Miko’s frantic features before everything goes black.
* * *
I don’t know how much time passes, but the next time I awaken, it’s on a cloud of opiates that fills my mind with fluff. The hard surface beneath my back rumbles, and my nostrils fill with the sharp scent of antiseptic.
The pain in my abdomen floats somewhere on the edge of my consciousness, almost like a memory. I struggle to open my eyes, but it feels like they’re weighted down with sandbags. Where is Seraphine? Can she even drive a car?
A memory resurfaces of her telling me that she got lessons from her driver, when Miko’s voice slices through the haze.
“Leroi?”
All I can think of is Seraphine. She’s out there, frightened and alone and betrayed, maybe even adding me to the list of bastards who hurt her mother. I can’t let her think our time together wasn’t real.
“Doctor,” Miko says. “He’s awake.”
“Let me take a look,” replies a deeper voice.
Footsteps approach, and I peer into the eyes of a dark-skinned man with closely cropped hair. It’s Sal, our resident doctor, who operates without a license.
My gaze darts around what looks like the interior of an ambulance, judging by the rumbling beneath me and how much medical equipment is stacked on the walls of this cramped space.
Thoughts of Seraphine race through my mind. What if seeing Evangeline triggered her to continue tracking Capello’s guards alone? She has no tech, no weapons, and no backup. What if she crashes Miko’s car on the highway and gets herself killed?
A fog closes in on my mind, trying to pull me under, but I clench my jaw and struggle.
I can’t lie here while she’s abandoned and suffering.
When I raise myself up on my elbows, Sal shoves me back down on the cot with a hand on my chest. “Relax,” he says. “You’re in a triage van with a minor laceration on your back and an abdominal wound that’s lost you a fuckload of blood.”
I turn to Miko, whose face is so pale that I wonder if he’s the one who’s nearly bleeding to death.
“You shot Seraphine.” My voice comes out hoarse and gravelly.
He flinches, but before Miko can reply, Sal reappears at his side with a wide grin. “Heard you got taken down by a girl.”
“This one is special,” I mutter.
“You’re lucky to be alive.” The medic chuckles. “Good thing for you this girl of yours had a terrible aim, or you’d be dead.”
My hackles rise. If she missed, it was on purpose. Seraphine’s knife skills are impeccable. Anton would have trained her in advanced anatomy. I rear up, but Sal clenches my shoulder.
“I need to find her,” I grind out.
Sal grips my other shoulder. “Take it easy, or you’ll open up your wound.”
Miko grabs my arm. “I’ll find her. Just focus on getting better.”
Sal injects something into my IV line, and my eyes droop under the weight of the fresh cocktail of drugs. I breathe harder, trying to fight the sedative’s effects, but they keep pulling me under.
All I can see is Seraphine’s pretty features, twisted with hurt and betrayal. I need to find her and explain that I wasn’t hurting Evangeline.
Miko’s voice filters through the growing haze. “The car tracker says she’s heading toward Queen’s Gardens. Don’t worry, Leroi. I’ll make everything right.”
* * *
The next time I awaken, I’m staring at the white walls of a familiar-looking infirmary. It’s our firm’s out-of-town building beneath the abandoned warehouse. It’s where I knew Seraphine was the one for me when she drilled through Paolo Rochas’ urethra.