The Camp (Chateau 2)

Daniel got to work, putting on gloves, pulling equipment over so he could find where her internal bleeding was.

Raven continued to breathe hard.

Fuck, she wasn’t going to make it.

I set up her vitals while Daniel worked, staying quiet so he could concentrate.

I knew the cut was too deep. There was no hope. But I came to her side and looked down into her face, letting her see my confident expression so she’d stay calm. “It’ll be alright.” I lied to her face.

Daniel pulled out his suture kit. “Get on gloves.”

I did as he asked.

“Here.” He grabbed my hands and positioned them, keeping the wound open.

He leaned over and got to work.

“What are you doing?”

“She’s bleeding through her intestine. I’ve got to patch this up now, or she’s gonna die.”

I held part of her stomach to the side so he could work, my eyes moving to her face.

Her face became paler, and her eyes closed.

“No.”

She opened them again.

“Your eyes stay on me, alright?”

She gave a slight nod.

Daniel worked quickly.

I stared at her, hearing the beep of the monitor increase because her heart rate spiked from loss of blood.

“Okay.” Daniel straightened. “Release her.”

I pulled my hands away.

He moved to a different position and sutured the outside of her wound.

Her heart rate slowly started to normalize.

I released a deep sigh of relief.

Daniel finished then cleaned up the blood on her stomach.

“Thank you.” I stared at him, grateful that he hadn’t turned on me like the others would have.

He nodded. “It’s my job.”

“You can ask me for anything at any time, and I’ll oblige.”

“I know.” He pulled off his gloves and tossed them in the garbage. “I’ll give her some antibiotics and some pain meds. We’ll keep the machines going to monitor her vitals. She should live.” He washed his hands then got another IV going. Then he went into the cabinet and pulled out a vial of antibiotics so he could inject it into her IV.

I continued to stand over her, unsure what to do now that everything had been done. That was when I noticed the insides of her palms. They were covered with dark third-degree burns. They were on her wrists too. I could see where the heat had burned her skin to the bone, the destruction that would leave permanent scars, the cost of saving my life from that burning building.

Daniel moved to the door. “I’ll check on her every few hours.” He walked out.

She was still conscious, but her eyes were getting heavy. Color had returned to her face, and her low blood pressure started to rise.

I stared down at her. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Her eyelids lifted a little higher. “I wasn’t…”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious.” I was furious. I could have taken that knife much better than she could. I was stronger, bigger, not some slender, vulnerable woman who was already dealing with other injuries.

Her eyes turned heavy again, like she couldn’t stay awake.

I couldn’t get back to work and leave her here alone. Alix might finish the job.

She took another deep breath before her eyes closed. “Please don’t go…don’t leave me here.” Her hand slowly moved to mine on the edge of the bed.

I let her touch me. “I won’t.”

She fell asleep instantly…because she trusted me without question.

Daniel retrieved my things from my cabin so I wouldn’t have to leave her.

Even if I were gone for just two minutes, that would be enough time for Alix to come in here and give her another knife to the stomach.

I worked on my laptop through the day and into the night. There was food in the cabinets, so I made a meal out of that. When I had nothing else to do, I sat in the chair and just stared at her.

It had all happened so fast that I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened at all.

Alix must have meant to stab me in the back, probably right in the heart so I’d die then and there.

She saw him unsheathe his blade and did the only thing she could do to stop it.

She pushed me out of the way. She probably didn’t intend to take the knife herself, but that was how it happened.

She saved my life.

I’d be dead right now if it weren’t for her.

But I didn’t know how to feel about that.

I’d already done so much for her, had suffered so much for her, that this still didn’t make up for her betrayal.

She was out for a long time, at least nine hours. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath, immediately panicked because she couldn’t see me in her line of sight. It was dark in the room, and everything probably came rushing back to her.

“I’m here.”

The second she heard my voice, her body relaxed. A deep sigh escaped her lungs.

I got to my feet and stood over her so she could see me.