Elara's POV
Damien kept talking and I kept listening. He told me about the drive, the empty streets, the way the city thinned out the further east he went. His voice stayed calm and even but I knew him well enough now to hear the tension underneath it. He was not calm. He was controlled. There was a difference.
I sat on the edge of the hospital bed with my feet on the cold floor and my phone pressed to my ear. The IV line pulled at my wrist every time I shifted. I had stopped caring about that twenty minutes ago.
"You are still there," he said. It was not a question.
"I am still here."
"Your shoulder. You should be lying down."
"My shoulder is fine." It was not fine but that did not matter. "Keep talking. Where are you now?"
A pause. Road noise in the background. "Docks are close. M
