The Alpha Divorced Me, Now He Begs at My Grave novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: The Healer's Table
The healer lived behind a tannery on the river side of the city, and she opened her door before Caleb could knock.
She was old, with a grey braid down her back and flour-white hands.
She looked at the blood on my chin, and at the man holding me, and her face did something complicated.
"Put her on the table," she said. "Not the bed. The table."
Caleb laid me down on scrubbed wood under a lamp.
The pain had spread into my left arm, and I could hear myself whistling when I breathed.
"How much did she swallow?"
"Half a cup," Keely said. "Tea. Lavender."
"Silver dust in lavender. It hides the smell." The healer was already tearing open my collar. "It goes straight to the old wound and sits in the scar. It's cruel work."
"You know the scar," I said. My voice came out thin.
"I stitched half your family. I know every scar on the northern line."
She laid a cold glass cup against my chest and struck a match under it, and I felt the whole lung drag toward the glass.
I screamed.
Caleb took my hand.
Don't let go, I told him in the silent voice, and I felt him answer, from very close.
I won't.
"Hold her still," the healer said. "It's coming."
When the cup came away, the inside of it was grey.
A fine, glittering dust, a spoonful of it, lay in a puddle of dark blood.
I took a breath, and it went all the way down.
I wept, and nobody said anything about it.
"That's the worst of it," the healer said. She sat down heavily on a stool. "You'll cough black for a day. You'll live."
"Thank you."
"Don't." Her hands were shaking now. "Six years ago a young Alpha put a purse on my table and told me the girl's half of the strip was a mistake in the ink.
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Alpha Divorced Me, Now He Begs at My Grave from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 13 · All chapters · Chapter 15 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend