Saving Verakko: The Clecanian Series Book 3 Victoria Aveline (best book club books .TXT) 📖

A medbay. Was that where she was? Her fingers itched to reach out and beg him not to leave her alone, but the anger and betrayal she was still feeling pushed her prideful side to remain still. “Fine,” she grumbled, not meeting his eyes. “Wait!” she blurted, suddenly alert. “Alex. We need to find help for Alex.” Lily flung her blanket off and made to stand, but Verakko pushed her back down.

“I already sent a team,” he assured. “It was the first thing I did after I got you here.” He peered over to the man in the corner, who returned the glance with a raised brow. “I’ll tell you more about it later, okay?”

Lily nodded, momentary relief clouding her thoughts. She peered at the comforting hand still resting on her shoulder and shrugged it off. Verakko winced, lingering. After a long moment of charged silence, he stomped away.

“Don’t let her go anywhere,” he hissed at the annoyed-looking man in the corner.

The man frowned and quickly slid a forefinger and thumb up the point of his ear in a gesture Lily had never seen before, but somehow still looked rude. The equivalent of a middle finger, perhaps?

Verakko pressed his hand to the surface of the knobless door, and it whizzed open. He remained still for a moment, shoulders bunched and fists clenched, but then finally walked through without looking at her again. A curious pain tugged in her chest as the door slid closed behind him. Not a familiar ache of longing but a real, physical tug, as if something inside her was urging her to follow him.

After he was gone, Lily studied her doctor-turned-jailor—at least she assumed he was a doctor. His clothes were monochromatic and simple in a way that made her think it wasn’t the style, but a uniform of sorts. His close-cropped grass-green hair and green skin, a darker forest green than Verakko’s teal coloring, told her he was Swadaeth as well.

“Hello,” she began tentatively. “Can you tell me what happened to me?”

The man assessed her in silence. When his gaze paused at her neck, she had to stop herself from pulling at the collar of her pale yellow, shapeless gown. “As he said—” he nodded toward the closed door, “—you were stung by a vonilace.”

“And what exactly is a vonilace?” Lily asked, trying to keep the annoyance from her voice.

The man stood and began walking around the room, cleaning up spilled bottles and askew pieces of cabinetry. “Vonilace is a type of vining plant that hides under the sand in the Dakuun Desert. It spreads below the surface and produces one bulb at a time. If a stray creature happens to walk too close, the bulb will rise and inject the animal, or in your case, human.” He said the word slowly, like it was odd to him. “The toxin paralyzes then poisons its victim while the buried vines pull its immobilized prey under the sand.”

Lily’s gut churned anew.

Unaware of the effect he was having on her, the doctor continued, “Then, small suckers along the vine will latch on to the animal and drain all the moisture from its body. Quite a fascinating plant, in fact.”

A small grunt of agreement was all she could muster. A killer plant had almost drained her dry.

The doctor lifted a corner of the crumpled metal cot with a finger and made a sound of annoyance. “Your…” He dropped the cot with a clang and eyed her. “I mean, Verakko, dragged you away and carried you here just in time. Most would’ve died within minutes.” His look of indifference suddenly changed to one of curiosity. “It must be something to do with your race. Tell me, are you immune to many toxins?”

Lily raised her brows, not sure how to answer. “I haven’t tried many.”

The doctor gave her a disappointed look, then finished righting his office and returned to his chair. “Well, you’re very lucky. Verakko told me you vomited and convulsed the whole time he ran.”

Lily’s stomach gave a flutter, and she ignored it. “He ran the whole way?” He’d saved her life? Had she even thanked him?

“He did.” The doctor’s scowl returned. “Ran all the way to my door and demanded I heal you, then destroyed my office while I did as he asked.”

“Thank you for helping me, and I’m sorry about your office.” Lily didn’t know what else to say. Part of her clung to the image of Verakko as her hero, running through the scorching desert and passionately crumpling metal in his worry for her. But the other part continued to remind her she was out of her depth. He’d lied repeatedly, and she couldn’t help but feel he’d allowed her to be ignorant of other important things, as well.

How much did she really know about these people and this city? How much of what he’d told her could she even trust?

The doctor released a sigh. “I’ll survive. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” He shrugged and lifted the corner of his mouth. “I mean if you really are…someone he cares for, I can see why he’d be upset.”

Lily clenched her jaw and tried to rise from the bed. Vague memories of him whispering to her while pain sliced through her body came to her. Echoed words she thought she’d imagined replayed in her mind, and she pushed them away. “What’s your name again? Desy?” she asked, wobbling on her feet but feeling no noticeable areas of pain.

“Yes.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Desy. I’m Lily. Mind if I ask you a few questions?”

***

“This isn’t working. Please take it off.”

Lily sighed and lifted the bulky helmet off her head.

“I need to go for a few minutes,” my ass. For the last hour, Desy had been running test after test for