Chapter 14: It's Only Temporary

FAYE

I drifted in and out of consciousness. My entire body burned with the pain. My ribs ached when I coughed. The blood had caked around my nose, making it harder to breathe. I lay in the little cell in the basement, the chill of the cold hard floor slowly seeping into my bones.

I drifted off again. The next time I woke up, I saw I had received a bit of medical attention. My breathing harder because a bandage was wrapped tightly around my chest. The coppery taste of blood in my mouth abated.

My ribs still ached. Maybe they didn't want me to die yet. Surely they'd make my death more painful. My eyelids slipped close, weighed down by exhaustion and pain.

Something woke me up the third time. A dark presence looming over me.

My eyes slid open. I blinked, getting used to the small sliver of light from under the doorway. I looked up at the shadow, staring right into the eyes of the man I loved.

His hands hung carelessly over the bars holding me in, gaze dark and grim, he stared down at