"Bad," she replied. Her mouth was dry.
"You're going to have more scars."
"Good."
"It's gone."
"Okay." She closed her eyes. Her head didn't hurt, but it felt weird. Heavy.
"Darling, did you hear me?"
"Maybe," she replied. She reached up to her head, surprised it wasn't bandaged and she still had all her hair. "Wait, what happened?"
"I'll show you. Can you sit up?"
Deidre felt groggy but not like she normally did post-op. She sat up. If anything, she was exhausted and in a recovery room unlike any she'd ever seen before. The advanced medical equipment and sterile scent in the air were the same. The walls, however, were as black as the ceiling.
Stone fortress. Hell. She wore the black dress still.
She gasped. Wynn looked up from his position nearby.
"Oh, god, what did you do to me this time?" she asked, grappling with fuzzy memories.
"Believe it or not, I helped. Look."
She focused on the chart he held up to the light. It looked like a cat scan of a brain, but it wasn't hers. This one didn't have a tumor. It was normal.
Dark chamber. Leathery fingers wrapped around her body. Fangs.
Shuddering, she touched the places where the beast's canines sank into her body. Wynn was right. These scars were huge and knotted.
"You mean … it's gone?" she asked, the world registering at last. "Just like that?"
"Gone," he replied. "You will live a very long life."
"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "This is Hell, isn't it?"
"I got dragged down here involuntarily to make sure you survived, unlike someone who made a deal with the Dark One." He frowned at her and lowered the chart. "You have no idea what you've done, Deidre."
She shivered. She pushed herself off the bed and tested her body. Aside from fatigue, her body moved and felt the way it should.
"I've been instructed to show you to your chamber, after which I'll be released. Allegedly," Wynn said. "Then I'm off to tell Gabriel his mate is stuck in Hell."
Adrenaline started through her system again, clearing some of the fog in her mind. Deidre met the gaze of her betrayer.
"One might argue this is my fault," Wynn added. "If I hadn't tried to kill you in the first place, you wouldn't be a blood slave to the Dark One."
"Silver lining," she whispered. "Please."
"There is no silver lining when you make a deal with him."
Except that Fate said there was. She couldn't voice the words. Her chest was too tight. Deidre said nothing.
"Come. I'm anxious to leave this place," Wynn said and strode to the door.