Page 6 of Her Scarred Heart: A SciFi Alien Romance (Red Planet Fated Mates Book 6)

“How has the pain been?” Kyle asks.

Kyle is serving as a ship doctor, or doing his best to. He wasn’t trained to be a doctor per se, he was a veterinarian before the crash, but he’s the best we have.

“It comes and goes,” I lie.

It doesn’t go. Sometimes it’s less and since I ate that leaf that Provyd gave me it has been less more than not, but it’s not gone It’s never gone. Every time I move my mouth it aches. It also itches, a lot.

“Mm-hmm,” he murmurs, inspecting the scars. “I’m not surprised. The damage is in the muscles too. It does seem to be healing, but the process is long and slow as your body tries to rebuild. The scar tissue will be a long term issue.”

“I know,” I mutter.

“We don’t have much in the way of painkillers that I can give you. Have you been soaking your face in the saline solution to try and keep the elasticity?”

“Yes,” I lie again.

I did that when he first suggested it, but it did nothing. I truly don’t think he knows what he’s talking about and is just offering any old thing to try and make himself feel like he’s helping. Which is fine but I know the truth. There is no help.

“Good,” he says, poking at my jaw and pressing until I grimace from the pain. “I wish I could do more for you. On the ship this would have been done by now, but here, with me…”

“I know,” I say.

What else can I say? He feels bad and he’s doing his best. We all are. I’m just the unfortunate fool that this happened to.

“Okay, well I’ll see you again in two weeks, okay?”

“Sure,” I agree.

“Keep up the saline baths. Work the muscles the best you can too, it will help keep the elasticity in your tendons the more you can.”

I nod, pulling my hair back over my face. He watches as I do, frowning. Judging. I don’t care. Let him judge, he doesn’t have to see the way they look at me. See them recoil in shock at the sight of the horror that my face has become.

I leave the medical area behind and head for my room. I’ve got hours until my next shift. Hours in which other people might go out and mingle. Do something fun with friends, but I have no friends. No one to mingle with. No one I want to see me. I’ll do what I always do. Wait for time to slip by while staring at my ceiling.

I manage to make it to my door without anyone seeing me or reacting, which is the only blessing I hope for these days. Something sparkles on the door. I stare at it, trying to figure out what I’m looking at. There is a long string that looks as if it’s leather and attached to it is what must be a gem.

I look to either side but don’t see anyone else in the hallway. I take hold of the string and lift. The gem spins catching the light and sparkling even more. It’s beautiful. Almost clear, like glass, or maybe a diamond. It has dozens of facets that refract every ray of light sending them bouncing off as tiny rainbows. It twists back and forth as it sways side-to-side.

“Who?” I ask aloud.

I look both ways again and at the end of the hall I catch someone pulling back around the corner. I frown staring at the offending corner. Who?

I lift the leather string off the hook it rests on and then walk down the hall, holding it at arm”s length in front of myself letting it sparkle and dazzle. It’s beautiful, but who would leave it on my door? It must be a mistake. I don’t know who it should go to, but it cannot be me. No one would give me something like this.

I turn the corner and Provyd is there, pressed against the wall. He has a broad smile on his face. Such a handsome face. Strong jaw, wide nose, his lips are a little thin, but not overly so. A face I could admire, if it didn’t serve to remind me of the wreck that is my own.

“Oh, hello,” he says, raising one hand and waving in a thoroughly human way.

“You?” I ask, lifting the gem between us.

My voice is raspy. When did my throat become so dry? I clear my throat, looking up and through my hair.

“Like? You?”

I frown thinking through the phrasing of what he’s saying.

“It is pretty,” I say.

“Pretty. Yes. Good. Yours.”

“No.”

His smile fades into a frown which pulls his horns down on his forehead which furrows as he does. I like it. Stupid thought. I have no right to have an interest in him. How could he or anyone be interested in me? I thrust the gem at him, wanting him to take it so I can go to my room and get away from these feelings. He raises his hands with his palms towards me and takes a step back.

“No. Yours. Keep.”

“No,” I shake my head. “Not me.”

“Take walk me?” he asks.

“What?” I ask.

Surprise has me completely out of sorts. I look up without thinking and my hair falls to the side leaving me exposed. It all happens too fast. He reaches forward, his hand is approaching my face, but I don’t stop him. Then his fingers trace along the scars.

“Take it!” I gasp, leaping back, dropping my head, pulling my hair over, and throwing the necklace at him.

My breath is ragged, matching the irregular beating of my heart. My head hurts, my eyes throb with building pressure, and all I want to do is get away, but for some reason that I don’t understand I stay.

He slowly crouches and grabs the necklace from where it fell to the floor. He turns it over and over in his hand, staring at it with his head bowed. He whispers something but it’s in his language and I don’t understand it.

He nods his head, to himself I assume since nothing was spoken by either of us. He takes a deep breath and when he does it makes his wings rustle with a raspy sound like leather being smoothed. He exhales slowly then looks up at me.

“I sorry,” he says, in his broken Common. He places one hand against his chest. “I wrong.”

Still moving slowly he rises to his feet, bows to me, then turns and walks away.

This isn’t right. He’s supposed to be angry. Mad. He’s supposed to leave, yes, but leave mad. Leave knowing that I am not someone he wants to know. That I am meant to be alone. Each shuffling step he takes echoes inside my chest like a giant drum is thundering. My eyes hurt worse than ever, the pressure so great it feels as if they might burst from their sockets.

“Wait.”

I don’t mean to say it. I didn’t expect the word or the command. Didn’t think about it. It came out and now it”s here. What now? He stops and turns back, but his head is still bowed.

“Prov—” I try to say but my throat spasms and I can’t finish. I shake my head, wave my hands, tremble, and then try again. “Provyd. It is pretty.”

He raises the fist that clenches the necklace. The gem twists and turns on its length of leather, refracting the light and casting rainbows around itself.

“Yours?” he asks, moving his arm only a few inches towards me.

He’s being cautious. No, not cautious, gentle. Warmth suffuses my belly, rushing through my limbs and making me gasp.

“Please?” I ask, choking on unshed tears making my voice squeak.

He extends his arm further but hesitates to come closer. It takes an effort of will to make my foot move but finally it obeys and slides one step closer, Then I do the next one, then I’m reaching for the gem.

My hand brushes against his as I take it. A shock sparks between us as we contact. His scales are cool to the touch but they ignite a fire in my skin the likes of which I have never felt. I gasp as it happens and he does too. For a moment my hair drifts and our eyes meet.

He has beautiful eyes. Kind eyes. Staring into them I do not see pity or sympathy, but I do see something else. Kindness? That’s not it, it’s something though. A fiery burning something. He drops the gem into my extended hand and as the miniscule weight of it lands on my palm the moment breaks.

I take a step back at the same time he does.

“Thank you,” I whisper and take another step back.

He nods, silent. I take another step then another. The moment is more than over, I need to leave. I step around the corner, anxiously waiting to see if he follows as I continue backpedaling to my room.

Only when the door slides shut behind me does the tension ease. And then there is no stopping the tears.