-Conor-“No, it’s water and a couple other trade ingredients. It’s painless.” Bart advised as he laid Karen back down. “This might hurt though despite the pain medicine…” Bart placed his palms below her ribs and pushed her back into the table. “Push down on her belly, Conor. I want to make sure we get that salve in there so we can get her back fixed. But remember to be gentle because I still have to address that issue.” Conor set the jar on the floor and placed his hands on her now softer belly and then looked over at her face as he pushed down to make sure she didn’t wince. I can’t think about my attachment to her. I have to keep it together. I have to help fix her. “Well, she didn’t make any faces when I pressed her ribs in or when you pressed down on her, so she isn’t going to feel anything. We drugged her up really good so that’s in our favor.” Conor nodded as he and Bart worked in tandem. Doesn’t hurt to be careful.“That should be enough now. Let’s see how we did…” Bart advised,
-Bart-Three hours later, Karen’s back was completely filled in with all the new muscles. Bart and Roger were starting to replace the lost skin. “Bart, go sit down. You look like you’re about to fall over.” Roger commanded snatching the derma stitcher from him.“No way! She’s my patient and I’m not done with her until she’s completely stitched up.” Bart countered, snatching the tool back. He looked over at Joanne and Conor. Conor was asleep sitting up with his head propped up on his right hand. Joanne was sitting in his lap curled up with her arms crossed over her chest.“No, Bart. If they are exhausted, then I know you are. Let me finish her up so you can rest a bit.” Roger refuted sternly trying to take the stitcher back.“No way! I said horrible things to her, Roger. I scared the hell out of her and made her afraid of me. This is my penance to apologize for those awful and cruel things I called her.” Bart snapped angrily. “It doesn’t take back those words, but it will help me feel
-Karen-I had been hearing voices float in and out of my mind for a long time. Panic, anger, fear and every other emotion a soul could feel. I felt like I was floating in the clouds as I felt very little pain. That can’t be right… Why so many voices? Why so many emotions?My eyes fluttered open as lights shone down on me. It made it hard to keep my eyes open as a man with black hair and glasses was watching me silently. Something squeezed my right hand and I lazily swung my head over to that direction, but I closed my eyes again. I’m so exhausted. Who is that man? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before. Slowly, I was starting to feel some pain in my upper back and my lower belly. That’s starting to really hurt now... I could hear several voices talking excitedly around me, but the words blurred together as I struggled to figure out what was going on.It felt like an hour passed by as I slowly became coherent. I clumsily sat up on the table trying to remember my last memories. What ha
-Karen-A shiver woke me up sometime later. I sat up slowly and saw that my blanket had fallen to the ground. I had the sudden feeling eyes were on me. I looked down to the cot and saw Conor watching me. I carefully slid off the table and picked up my blanket. He scooted over and lifted his blanket. I added my blanket to his and slipped onto to the cot next to him. The cot was small but much more comfortable than the metal table plus adding Conor’s amazing warmth made me even sleepier. I held onto him as I snuggled up to him and we fell asleep again.The hours seemed to crawl by as I tried to sleep as much as I could. Roger was trying to get me to eat but I wasn’t hungry. I was tired and extremely depressed. I only wanted to sleep since that was the only thing that helped me not feel. Whenever I was awake I would cry and stare at the walls. Bart and Conor also tried to persuade me to eat but I just rolled over and lay on the cot thinking about our baby. A few days later, Roger told C
-Karen-Joanne scooted closer and leaned against me as we held each other silence. Joanne. My best friend and sister. “It’s been over- Three weeks since I woke up, you know… And I can't get the painful memories to stop playing on repeat.” She cried sorrowfully. Damn. Don’t I know… I don’t dream about it thankfully. “Every time I see Bart, I just cry- I have been trying really hard not to do that but, I don’t know if I can stay with him, Kay.” I tensed up at her words. What? Jo, you love him though. “I feel like I will only cause him more grief and pain and he- He doesn’t deserve that. Especially after he has loved me knowing that my father would never agree to let me be anything more than his Mistress.” She choked back a sob. I sat in silence and listened as she continued. “I love Bart with everything I am or ever was… B-but I will only cause him pain from now on. He will see me and think of this devastating experience. I see him and think of our little Kira. She looked just like him
-Karen-“I… I don’t know yet…” He whispered feebly. He cupped her left cheek and pulled her gently into his embrace. “Joanne Marie, I love you. You mean everything to me.” He kissed her forehead, stroking her hair as she cried into his chest. I feel like there is absolutely nothing I can do…“My fate is sealed Bart. I’m going to die- I know he’s going to kill me.” She cried holding on to him. “There’s nothing that will stop this. Nothing… The sooner I accept it, the better.”“No! We will find a way out of this! We just have to get a copy of the contract.” He kissed her forehead. “I still need you, baby. I know you’re broken, but if it takes the rest of my life to put you back together, I’ll do it. I’d do anything for you!” He lifted her chin just enough to kiss her tenderly. “Please don’t give up on us Joanne. I’m begging you. Please just hold on!”She burst into tears clinging to him so tightly her knuckles were white. Bart held her protectively trying to console her until she finall
Conor had been ordered to start doing drills again the day after I was released as Zachary proclaimed he was even more determined to crush the Resistance now than before. Several thousand soldiers had been killed in the last couple weeks and it put the king in an awful mood. Michael, Conor and the Generals were charged with training the replacement soldiers that had just arrived. A couple more days passed by and we had not seen or heard from Bart or Joanne since we saw him in the medical ward. We were becoming increasingly worried about them. Conor and I had been trying to get in touch with them by stopping by their apartment but every time we went, no one would answer. We also sent Clay and some others and there was still no answer. We had decided that we were going to force our way in this time. We were both nervous that we were going to find them both dead in the apartment. I hope they are okay. They don’t deserve to lose their happiness because Octavian is a monster.Conor came b
-Karen-I ran up the servant stairs to the second floor as fast I could. I’m so hungry but I have to save my sister! I can eat after. I summoned my Soul Jewel as I passed the King’s study. I continued running past servants and guards and came to a stop in front of Bart’s apartment door. I silently slipped back into Bart’s chambers as Conor and Bart were speaking quietly in the corner. They looked up as I walked over to the bed and laid out the ingredients next to the large book. I flipped the pages open to bookmarked page and started following the instructions for bundling the ingredients. “Where have you been Karen? We looked up to ask you a question and you were gone. We’ve been worried about you…” Conor frowned with a note of relief in his voice. “You’ve been gone for hours.”“Are you going to use magic on her?” Bart asked wearily. “Can her body even handle that?”It was a good question. Honestly, I don’t even know. “I’m going to try to save her. I don’t know that this will work b