Yet, with how much that last beating had weakened me, how severely it had broken me, the worst I could do was to strike out at the nurse.
“Enough.”
The man’s voice was firm, but not with any hint of the sneer or malice Erik and Yusef doled out on me.
He caught the nurse from being flung back so hard that she’d fall to the floor.
Once she was upright, he reached for the needle she held and stuck it in my upper arm.
I cried out. It escaped as an incoherent cry of anguish, but it was already working.
Warmth dizzied me as it flowed through my veins. Breathing was easier. Details smeared on the edges of my vision.
Beneath it all, though, I remained locked in that steady state of panic. Stuck in the fear that I had been captured, that I’d be recaptured, that the one distant relative I’d hoped to have as a lifeline was in with them all.
“Enough,” the man said again.
I stared up at him, searching his serious face for a clue. Watching his blue eyes, I tried to find any hint of why I should trust him, why I should calm down and be submissive ever again.
I couldn’t.
Not when I’d come so close to escaping.
Not when I’d almost found freedom.
“Enough.” It was the third time he said it, but this time, it was softer. Not as a rebuke, but more like a plea.
I’ve heard his voice before.
That didn’t make sense. It made absolutely no sense with how addled I was with fear and hyped up from the adrenaline rush with panic.
I’d only been near Erik and Yusef. They were the only voices I’d know now.
Still, something about him relaxed me, taunting me to somehow perceive him as a source of security because if I thought about it some more, I was almost convinced I’d heard his voice when the cold began to stop.
“Kalina,” Raisa said, stepping closer to the bed now that I was lying on my back again, not fighting to get up. Sluggish, but still mostly with it in my mind, I was once more a spectator in my life, not an active player in it.
“It’s me. Raisa.” She sniffled as she watched me. “Your cousin Raisa.”
I didn’t need her to tell me. The family resemblance was there. Her voice, though more mature and older, was hers.
But that didn’t do anything about the fact that she was bred. She was a living example of the hell I faced. She might have been family once. Now, she was one of them. The enemy.
“This is Alexsei.” She gestured to the man as he retreated from the bed. Turning my head to seek him out took too much effort. Already, I was blinking more. Slower. Like my lids were just too heavy to keep open.
“He is a friend. Part of the family.”
If I had the strength, if that needle of drugs wasn’t already coursing a sedative through me, I would’ve shaken my head.
No.
You’re not family anymore.
I have no family.
None.
My parents were dead.
