His body refused to obey even the simplest commands. His arms lay useless at his sides, his legs were numb weights beneath the thin blanket, and his neck might as well have been forged from iron for all the flexibility it offered.
Fury flared anew, a rage impotent with no outlet. He was helpless.
The most powerful immortal on the planet had been reduced to this.
At least he could still speak, which was a mercy. His mouth could still move and produce words, his mind was mostly intact, and his thoughts were clear despite the lingering fog of whatever drugs they'd been pumping into him.
It could have been so much worse. If the fall had damaged his brain, if he'd been left unable to think or speak or reason, it would have been a fate worse than death. In fact, he would have preferred death to that.
"Don't cry." His voice came out harsher than he intended, more command than comfort. He tried again, softening his tone as much as he could. "Please, my love. Don't cry. You're alive. We are both alive. That's all that matters."
Areana bent down and pressed her lips to his forehead, a feather-light touch that sent warmth spreading through his broken body. Then she kissed his lips, gentle and careful, as if she was afraid he might shatter beneath her.
The contact flooded him with relief. She was here. She was real. She was kissing him. She still loved him even though they had both been captured by the enemy.
Whatever had happened and whatever awaited them, she was still his. His mate. His partner. His anchor and his one weakness.
"I was so scared," she whispered. "When you jumped, I saw you hit the rocks—" Her voice fractured. "I thought?—"
"Shh." He wished desperately that he could reach for her. "I'm here. I'm alive."
"Yes, you are." She wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand. "The doctor said it was a miracle. Multiple fractures,internal bleeding, spinal damage—" She choked on the words. "Anyone else would have died. Even immortals."
"I'm not anyone else."
A watery laugh escaped her. "No. You're not and knowing that was what kept me hopeful. But the damage is extensive, my love. It will take a long time to heal."
Navuh tried to assess his body, to catalog the damage. He could feel pain, a general, pervasive ache that seemed to have no specific source, but he couldn't feel his legs or arms, and his neck was immobilized.
"How bad is it?" he asked. "The truth."
Areana hesitated, and he saw the conflict in her eyes—the desire to protect him warring with the knowledge that he would accept nothing less than complete honesty.
"Your spine was damaged," she said finally. "The nerves are healing, but it's slow. The doctor says you'll eventually regain full mobility, but it will take a long time. We need to be patient."
He wasn't a patient male, and as the rage surged again, he clamped down on it ruthlessly. Rage would serve no purpose here. He needed information, needed to understand his situation before he could begin to formulate a plan.
"Where are we?"
Areana's gaze flickered away, just for a moment. "Somewhere safe."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the answer I can give you right now." She walked away, disappearing from his field of vision, and then he heard her opena door. She returned a moment later, filling his view with her beauty. "I have crushed ice for you. The doctor said I can give it to you to make you more comfortable."
She brought a spoon to his lips, and he accepted the ice chips grudgingly. They melted on his tongue, cool and soothing against his parched throat. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until the moisture hit his mouth.
As she fed him more ice, he studied her face. The dark circles under her eyes spoke of sleepless nights, and she seemed thinner than usual. Weren't they feeding her properly?
She was also hiding something, probably in a misguided effort to protect him.
"I need to know what happened," he said when she set the cup aside. "I remember the cliff. I remember you going over the edge. But everything after that is—" He struggled to find the right word. "Fractured. Like looking at a shattered reflection."
Areana's hands stilled on the blanket she'd been smoothing over his body. "What do you remember?"
"Terror." The word came out raw, stripped of pretense. "I saw you fall, and all thought abandoned me. I couldn't lose you because if you died, I would die with you. There was no point in continuing without you."
Fresh tears welled in her eyes. "Navuh?—"
