Read Online Torn Sky (Rebel Wing Trilogy, Book 3) (Rebel Wing Series) by Tracy Banghart - Free Book Online Page B

die.
    The last four weeks had been an agony, partially because she wanted to fight, but also because she’d had nothing to distract her from her thoughts. Her memories. The grief that threatened to pull her down to a darkness from which she’d never escape.
    Calix looked like he wanted to say something. But he stood, suddenly, and offered her a polite smile. “I’ve got some good news for you. You’ve been authorized to move to a regular room. No more sick bay.”
    Dysis’s eyes widened. She sat up too quickly, and winced.
    “Hold on a second.” Calix automatically reached out to help her. “You’re not active yet, by any means.” He leaned in so she was forced to meet his eyes. “No combat, no activity beyond a brisk walk. And you need to come by for a checkup every day.”
    “You really know how to deliver good news,” she grumbled. Just the thought of escape made this room feel smaller. The beep of the heart monitor haunted her dreams, and that stupid scrolling image display gave her a headache.
    As for Calix . . .
    She didn’t need him touching her, listening to her heart. Holding her wrists in his big, callused hands to take her pulse. She needed him to stay away from her. She yanked on the sheets, trying to free her legs. The sooner she could get out of here, the better.
    “Ready to get going, I see,” Calix said. He helped pull back the sheet. It was odd—Dysis almost thought she heard regret in his voice.
    “Aren’t you ready to be rid of me?” When Dysis’s bare toes touched the floor, she drew them back from the cold for an instant, before setting them more firmly on the ground. “Let’s not pretend either of us enjoyed this arrangement.”
    He shrugged. “I preferred it to you being dead.”
    “Me too,” she admitted, almost under her breath. “You were right. . . . I’m . . . I’m glad you didn’t let me die.”
    Calix raised a brow, a little dimple forming in his cheek. “What was that?”
    “You heard me.” She punched his shoulder as she stood up. “Don’t push it. Who knows how I’ll feel tomorrow.” She added, “And don’t expect me to be back every day. I’ve had my share of checkups, thanks.”
    Instead of protesting as she expected, a sly smile crept over his face. “I’ll just have to hunt you down then.”
    For a second, they stared at each other, and Dysis wanted to grin and say, “Happy hunting.”
    But that would be stupid. She didn’t—
    “Dysis?” Calix had a strange look on his face, almost too focused, his leaf-green eyes pinned to her lips. He wasn’t that much taller than she was, but his broad shoulders suddenly filled the room. They were standing too close, she realized, so close her arm inadvertently brushed his, setting off tiny sparks under her skin.
    “I . . .” Dysis started.
    Calix cleared his throat just as Dysis shrugged away from the bed, away from him.
    “So, ah, I can just leave? Is that it?” Dysis fiddled with the edge of her sleep shirt.
    Calix cleared his throat again, suddenly engrossed in some data scrolling across the monitor in the corner. “That’s it. Aris told me you’ll be rooming with her and Specialist Pallas. I can show you the way.”
    “That’s okay. I’ll find it.” She didn’t need any more help from him. She needed space.
    “You’ll probably want to go to the cafeteria and grab some breakfast, too. No meals delivered bedside anymore.” Calix glanced up and met her eyes for just a second. “You’re not an invalid, Dysis, even if you can’t train yet. Don’t forget that.”
    “Um, okay,” she murmured. It felt so strange to stand in the doorway of that room, where she’d spent the last few weeks, knowing she was leaving it for good. She looked around, but there was nothing to take with her. She hadn’t let Aris bring any of her personal belongings, not even her digitablet. She hadn’t wanted it to feel permanent.
    Yet now, an odd pang shot through her.
    “Bye, Calix,” she said, as she turned