Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)(10)

They glance at each other again before the younger one shrugs and volunteers to retrieve what I’ve asked for.

“Thank you,” I say, and smile at him.

He blushes and leaves, while I wait patiently for his return. When he does, I slip back into the cell. Gavin watches while I set up my supplies, but says nothing. His trembling is getting worse.

I pull a pressure syringe out of the box and go to take his arm, but he yanks it out of reach. “Stay away from me.”

“I’m trying to help you. You’re sick. If I don’t treat you soon, you could die.”

“So? Y’all are just going to kill me eventually anyway.” He looks away, but not before I see a shadow cross his face.

I’m certain he’s right; Mother wants to kill him. But … I don’t want that to happen. “I know you don’t trust me. I don’t blame you, but I really do want to help you.”

Gavin leans forward with his eyes narrowed. “Just so you can get answers.”

“The answers are what’s keeping you alive until I can figure something else out. But go ahead and be stubborn.” I shrug and pretend I’m absolutely okay with leaving him to rot in the cell. “It’s of no concern to me.” I start repacking the med kit.

He curses under his breath and I scowl at the language, but don’t say anything. He reaches out a hand to stop me. “Why do you want to help me?”

I’ve been wondering the same thing. “I don’t really know.”

He’s quiet for a few minutes as he studies me, but finally he says, “Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Okay, you can help me.” He leans back and rests his back on the glass wall.

Irrational relief passes over me and I pull the syringe out again. “This is going to sting. I’m sorry.”

“What is it?” He tries reading what’s on the silver canister.

“It’s a medication made with willow bark and meadowsweet, along with a few other things the Healers have created. It’ll reduce your fever.” It also has some poppy seeds in it for pain relief, but I don’t tell him that.

When Gavin nods, I inject him and although he hisses, he doesn’t fight.

With a scrunched nose, I wash out his wounds as well as I can. He really is filthy. Then I pull out the mending wand.

His brow furrows. “What’s a flashlight going to do to help me?”

I almost have to laugh. “It’s not a flashlight. It’s a mending wand. The blue light acts as a catalyst to stimulate the skin to heal itself. Just keep still as much as possible. It won’t hurt, but it will probably itch.”

He watches me as I work, which is a little unnerving.

“How do you know how to do this?”

“It was part of my training.” I wince on the inside. I should not have said that.

“Training? For what?”

I don’t answer, and he sighs. “My friend and I were gathering food for our family. It’s fall, so the animals are getting fat for the winter. Perfect time for hunting.” His voice is so soft I can barely hear it. I have to lean forward to listen, and still what he said makes no sense.

I frown up at him. “I’m sorry?”

He looks up to the ceiling, clearly frustrated. “You wanted to know how I got here, right? Well, I’m telling you. I get how this works.”

I’m not entirely certain what he means, so I silently continue working on his wounds.

“It started to storm so we took refuge in a cave. Or what we thought was a cave. As we explored it to make sure we weren’t going to be sharing it with something we didn’t want to, we found some tunnels. The tunnels eventually led us here.”

I glance up at the cameras again and then lean even closer, just in case. “You found the entrance from the Surface?”

Gavin shrugs. “One question. One answer. Your turn.”

“My turn?” Furrowing my brow, I start working on the wounds on his torso.

His shirt is so torn and dirty I remove it. Despite everything I’ve seen during my Medical Sector duties my breath catches and my heart aches when I see the damage to his back. I’m not sure what has caused the wounds, but they are deep and, from the look of them, a few days old. Green pus leaks from some of them. The antiseptic I have won’t be enough, but there is clove in my gardens. I will need to go and retrieve it. For now, though, the antiseptic I have here will have to do.

He groans when I gently spread the cream on his back. More pus weeps from the wounds. Disgusting. I fight the urge to express my distaste aloud. It’s not becoming of a lady.

“I answered your question. Now you get to answer mine,” he says as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. “I want to know more about you and you want to know about me. Fair trade.”

I stop what I’m doing and glance up at him. “Why do you want to know more about me?” He only stares at me with an infuriating little grin. “What do you wish to know?” I finally ask when I realize he isn’t going to answer me until I answer him. It’s not that I want to tell him anything, but it seems to keep his mind off what I’m doing. If I play along, I will be able to get some of the answers I need to keep him alive.

“You said you had training. What kind of training?”