*Gemma*
I flung the quilt off me and started to hurl myself off the bed, but Kael stopped me by sitting on its edge with an exhausted laugh.
“You're alive," I said, unable to keep the disbelief out of my voice, even as relief flooded my veins. I could breathe normally again.
“Miraculously. I'm glad you don't sound disappointed."
“I am," said Raisa behind us as she turned on the gas lamp on the wall, throwing a decent amount of light into the room.
“You don't mean that," I protested, twisting around.
She'd sat up, and I assumed she was overheating in the desert weather because she was only wearing the “bra" Seri had given her up top—just a few strips of cloth banded around her chest. Reflexively I looked at her exposed stomach. There was a faint bruise where Connor had kicked her.
