Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny's Lair by Amy Lane Read Free Book Online

wouldn’t feel the cold.
    “It does,” the doctor said, nothing but impartial assessment in his voice. “Really, Jeremy, this could have been so much more disfiguring.”
    Jeremy swallowed. Oh, well now—everyone thought it was good. “There’s still swelling, I s’pose,” he muttered, looking at the bright pink of the scars on his cheekbone, down his jaw, across his nose. His eyes looked out from behind two fading shiners, some of the white part of his eyes still brick red.
    He felt Aiden’s hand on his, holding the little mirror steady, and he smiled, just for Aiden, and set it down. He hadn’t realized how badly it was shaking.
    “It’s good, Jer. It’s an improvement. After the last time the bandages came off, I thought it was gonna be much worse.”
    Jeremy smiled into his green eyes, noted that small, perfect face with the bold nose and the square jaw. But then, Aiden hadn’t never sinned like Jeremy had. Aiden got to keep that face—he’d grow old looking pure like an angel.
    “Well, you know. Not like I didn’t have it coming, the life I’ve led.” He petted the quilt a little desperately, aware that a spot by one of the felted ties had gone bare and was blooming with all the fussing he gave it.
    There was a sound—sort of a comforting sound from Jeremy’s perspective, but apparently not from everyone else’s. The room fell still, waiting, and even the doctor put his kit together in a hurry.
    “I’ll let you have a word with your young man here,” he said apologetically before grabbing his tray of sutures and stained bandages and making for safety.
    “Aiden,” Craw said warningly, and the sound got louder.
    Aiden’s brows—a few shades darker than his hair—were drawn together so tightly his eyes had nearly disappeared. “Craw, could you and Ben give us a few?”
    Craw grunted. “Ariadne, are you up for a tour of the cafeteria?”
    Her reply was muted. “I’m sorry, Craw—not even in a wheelchair. Don’t mind me. I’m sort of tired.”
    Craw growled. “This people being sick bullshit is not in my skill set. Ben, let’s find steak.”
    Ben let out a breath through his nose, which told Jeremy that there was more to it than that.
    “Get Aiden some food,” Jeremy called as they clattered out. “I think he’s hungry. He’s still growing, you know?”
    “S’cuse us, Ari,” Aiden mumbled, pulling the curtain, and Jeremy looked over to her bed and saw that she was lying on her side, her peaked face etched with weariness and a little bit of pain, and that her eyes were closed. She nodded faintly, and Jeremy suddenly wished they could all—him especially—just leave her the hell alone.
    “You gonna tell me why we did that?” Jeremy asked when Aiden turned back to him.
    The boy crossed his arms and squared his shoulders like he was driving an interloper off his land. “You gonna tell me what that bullshit was about having this coming?” he snarled, and if Jeremy could have cringed back more into the mattress, he would have.
    “Boy—”
    “Call me Aiden when I’m pissed, Jer. It makes me less pissed.”
    Well, that would be a good thing, wouldn’t it? “Okay, Aiden. Look, you’re a good boy, and I know you think good of me, but we both know I wasn’t a good man before I showed up at Craw’s—”
    “I’m not a good boy, Jeremy. I’ve killed a man.”
    Jeremy’s face was too tired and too beaten for much expression, he knew that. He still managed to roll his eyes. “Yeah, well, so’ve a lot of people. The killing the bad guy makes you even more of a good boy. It’s the cheating the good people that makes you a bad guy.”
    “You are dizzying me, and I am lost.” Aiden said that, but some of the dark lines in his little face eased up.
    “You are a smart boy,” Jeremy accused. “You are probably not lost at all!”
    A grim smile flirted with the corners of Aiden’s full mouth. “Very possibly, but it’s your choice. I am either lost in your reasoning or I