"I didn't want to be eaten by alu-ong," she told Graydon as she lost her battle with consciousness.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Kira blinked at thewhite ceiling. Her body ached in ways she didn't know it could. Everything hurt. Even her fingernails.
Her left side felt like one giant bruise, while her shoulder felt like someone had ripped it open and then tried to staple it together with metal tacks.
The worst thing by far, was the scratchy, dry feeling in her throat, like someone had stuck a sandblaster in there and turned it on high.
If she hurt this much, it probably meant she wasn't dead. A good sign, given death had to be less painful than this.
She chanced looking at her arm. The drape of the white sheath she wore was undisturbed by bandages or the remnants of blood.
She touched the slightly raised scar where it ran nearly the length of her arm. That was new.
"The healers did the best they could, but you'll likely have a scar as a reminder of your close call," Finn said from the corner of the room. "Few survive alu-ong's bite. You're lucky."
That was one word for it. She couldn’t help but feel it would have been better to never have ended up in thelu-ong's mouth at all.
Kira glanced at Finn, noting his tense posture. His muscles were coiled so tightly it looked like his tendons might snap.
His face was haggard, the skin wan and pale. He held himself in a way that indicated he was at the end of his rope.
The look in his eyes—haunted and bruised like he'd seen and done too much—kept her mouth closed against any smart comments.
Kira hated to admit it, but she tended to have that effect on people—usually it took several years to get to this point, but hang around her long enough and you were bound to get some bumps and bruises along the way.
Only this time, she suspected she wasn't the entire reason for the defeat she saw around his edges.
"You look worse than I feel," Kira said. She grimaced at the sound of her voice. It sounded like a frog had set up shop in her throat.
Finn opened his mouth but was interrupted when Jin shot up from the spot he'd claimed at her feet. Kira hadn't noticed him until then.
"Kira! You're an idiot," Jin shouted, his voice overly loud in the small room.
"Did we win?" Kira asked, blinking groggily at him. Her thoughts didn't feel quite right, like she was rising from a centuries-long nap. They were slow to start and discombobulated as she got her bearings.
