Bear left, having no more to say, as it seemed pointless anyway. Either the general had enemies in high places happy to mess with his kid to torment him, or the general himself wasmaking sure Scarlen was put in the Zone for some sort of fucked-up training. The thought bugged Bear all the way to Red Block Two, where he came to a halt on spotting three guards trying to shove a tube down Scarlen’s throat to force-feed her some slimy-looking broth.
‘Oi!’ he yelled, Kane grabbing his arm.
The funnel at the top of the thick tube was overflowing with brown liquid as Scarlen coughed and spluttered, trying to wriggle free of her confinement to the chair outside her ground-floor cell.
‘Hold your prisoner, Kane,’ snapped the guard with the jug of broth, but it was too late, Bear reached him and slapped the container out of his hand, the broth spilling to the floor as the wooden jug bounced before rolling away.
Kane quickly intervened. ‘Warden’s orders are for Smithson to be returned to Green Block Two immediately.’
The information looked to insult the guards from Red, but they backed off, the previous holder of the jug calling for an Amber inmate to clear the mess.
As soon as she was free, Scarlen ripped the tube from her throat, threw up, then ran to curl into a ball on her bed.
Kane put himself in Bear’s eyeline, an attempt to discourage a fight. ‘You take care of Smithson while I sort things here.’
Calming himself from wanting to kill everyone in sight, Bear entered the cell, his heart going out to the small ball quivering in the spoiled sheets reeking of vomit.
Scarlen jolted as he reached for her back. ‘No,’ she mumbled, her one word as sluggish as her.
Bear knelt to her side. ‘It’s all right, Scars. It’s me, Bear. I’m going to take you to the healer.’
Slowly, she turned to face him, her tear-stained face and eyes so lost hit him straight in the heart.
‘I’m going to carry you, okay?’ he asked softly, and as she didn’t flinch when he closed in on her, he scooped her up as though she weighed nothing and took her to Posla for help.
Professor Posla toldBear to put Scarlen on the bed, then he rubbed a balm over her forehead and went to his desk. ‘She’ll be fine in an hour. Just some rest and food. I’ve settled her for now, and she will eat soon enough and have her strength back.’ His quill swirled over parchment before he made his way to the door. ‘You can sit with her, then walk back with her to her cell once she’s up.’
Bear gently placed himself by her side as soon as the healer left them alone. He rested his head next to hers and curled an arm around her waist, the two of them just about fitting on the bed. ‘How you doing?’ he whispered into the back of her hair, fine silver strands sticking to his lips.
‘Bear?’ she questioned, as if just realising he was there.
‘I’m here.’
‘They drugged me.’
‘I know.’
Her sigh was deep but slow, and he felt her body relax under his arm.
‘I dreamed about you,’ she mumbled. ‘A small house in the meadow. Tiny blue flowers. The scent so sweet.’
Bear smiled. ‘Perhaps that’s the place for us.’
Scarlen slipped her hand into his, lacing their fingers, both of them holding on as though it were the last time they would touch. ‘Do you think there’s a place for us?’
‘Yeah, somewhere quiet, far away.’
‘If we were free, I’d move to your home. Stay.’
‘It would be hard for you with the divide. We’d have to go away. Somewhere. Forget everything. Everyone. Live a different life. Somehow.’
‘In our little house in the meadow.’
‘But not too quiet,’ said Bear. ‘Some life close by. Maybe a village with a market or something.’
‘And a waterfall for you.’
He pressed his mouth to her head. ‘You want a vegetable patch? I’ll make you one.’
