Page 75 of Misted

“I said I’ll help.” She trudges to the other side of the wooden fence and wraps wires around it, ignoring her shaking hands.

The bloody stubborn woman. She’ll always do whatever she sets her mind on.

We continue working in silence for an hour. I cut the wires and she wraps them around the fence. I keep watching for signs of withdrawal symptoms, but it’s only the shaking for now. The tremors have gotten worse. She’ll need to sleep it off.

“Do you think whoever gave Hades the tip about Nero told him all about us?” Her quiet voice trails towards me, but she doesn’t look up from wrapping wires.

“Nero is dead.”

“But what if he isn’t?” Her voice lowers and I don’t miss the slight tremble. “What if he’s back for us?”

“Then I’ll kill him all over again.” For fucking real this time.

“What if…” She trails off then clamps her lips shut.

I throw a questioning glance towards her.

“Nothing.” She goes back to staring at the wires.

I’m tempted to shake her for whatever she wanted to say, but I keep the safe silence instead.

We continue working in silence. Mine is normal — I’ve never been a talker — but hers isn’t. She stopped being a talkative freak over the years and has become guarded, heartless and an ice queen as they call her in Le Salon. The girl who said anything on her mind is long gone.

“Why are you using your right hand? You even keep…” She trails off and her head snaps my way. “Did you lose full control of your left hand?”

My jaw clenches. I’ve been out for months and she’s the only one who noticed it. Let’s hope I hadn’t been too careless to show it to anyone who can use it against me.

She might use it against you. She shot you in the back, remember?

I continue cutting the wires fast.

“Hawk?” Her voice lingers on the verge of panic. “It’s Hades, isn’t it? This happened during the torture.”

If she already knows the answer, why ask?

She yanks me by the arm, forcing me to face her. “It’s your damn dominant hand!”

“I fucking know that.” I snap.

“Then why aren’t you doing anything about it?”

“Whatever I do about it is none of your business. You’re probably enjoying it.”

She raises her hand and slaps me. Hard. My jaw tightens.

“I watched you!” she cries, her bottom lip trembling. “Hades sent us videos regularly to motivate us. I watched every second of the torture. I watched you go out of your mind because of withdrawal. If you think I enjoyed any second of that, then fuck you, Hawk.” She punches me in the chest and shoves me away. “Fuck. You.”

I didn’t know Hades sent them videos. How come neither Flame nor Scar mentioned she was watching me?

But again, I never asked.