Given to the Savage(45)
Once Kara was gone, the doctor opened his kit and took out some things. “Lay her on her belly. She won’t like this but there’s no way around it. It’s the fastest way to clear her system.”
“I’ll hold her down, do what you need to do.”
“Let me go, please just leave me alone,” Rowan said, her eyes half closed, her attempts to free herself weak. “Just let me die.”
Silas looked at her, understanding for the first time her desperation. “No. I won’t let you die,” he said. “No.” He shook his head.
Dr. Stone stood silent, watching him with concern in his eyes. Silas turned her as gently as he could and put the flat of his hand against her low back. He watched while the doctor unwrapped a large white tablet. As soon as his hands were on her bottom, she clenched tight. Dr. Stone only had to look once at Silas before Silas patted her bottom twice.
“Open, Rowan.”
She clenched tighter and buried her face into the blanket. Without a word, Silas turned her onto her side and pulled her knees up, then nodded to the doctor who spread her bottom cheeks apart and pushed the long, thick tablet into her anus. Rowan groaned with the pain of its entry but Silas’ hold on her wouldn’t let her move even an inch.
“There,” he said. “Rowan, I know it doesn’t feel good but please don’t push it out. Lie here and let it work, you’ll feel better by tonight.”
“If you try to push out, I’ll plug you,” Silas warned.
She didn’t react but when Silas released her, she simply lay still, quietly crying.
“What now?” Silas asked.
“Now we wait. If she had only taken a few doses of the selenium, it would have naturally left her system daily. But two or three times a day?” The doctor shook his head. “That’s when it binds onto itself and slowly turns into a poison. If she was in so much pain, it means it had overpowered her natural defenses and was being absorbed. The good news is, it’s a slow process, the body naturally rejects it. The drug I gave her is powerful, it will essentially collect and draw the poison into her bowels. She won’t be comfortable while it’s doing its work but by tonight, we’ll be able to clear her system. I’ll be back with the enema kit in a few hours.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Silas said.
Dr. Stone packed up his things and prepared to leave but at the door, he turned back to look at Silas.
“Go easy on her,” he said. “She’s obviously terrified of getting pregnant if she’s willing to go to such lengths to prevent it.”
“I’ll wait to punish her until she’s recovered,” Silas said.
“Silas, I don’t know that punishing her…”
“I appreciate your concern, doctor, but she’s my responsibility and I’ll be the one to decide whether or not and how she is punished.”
* * *
Rowan woke some time later feeling more like herself. She wasn’t sweating any more although she was still warm, and the pain was much less severe. She kept her eyes closed pretending to sleep when she felt Silas sit down on the bed beside her. Her back was to him and he gently covered her with a blanket before brushing her hair away from her face.
“So desperate not to go back you’d rather stay here and put up with me.”
She could almost see him shaking his head but she remained silent.
“You gave me a scare, Hellcat.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?” she asked. At least when he called her Hellcat, she knew he wasn’t angry with her.
“Because that’s what you are, a beautiful creature sent from hell to torment me.”
She looked up at him.
“Is the pain better?”
“What do you care?”
“I do care. I just didn’t expect to, that’s all,” he said. “Look at me.”
She turned onto her back without arguing.
“Rowan, I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you. I just thought it would be easier when it was time to send you back.”
“Silas, the commander is a cruel man. Have you considered that he might be lying to you about your son?”
His expression was one of torment. He was struggling, it was perhaps more obvious than he intended it to be.
“Yes, I’ve considered that but if there’s the slightest hope, I have to try. If I knew where he was being held, I would go myself and get him.”
Someone knocked at the door. They both turned to find Dr. Stone and a nurse walking inside carrying some equipment. Rowan’s eyes grew large when she recognized what the woman held and she sat up on the bed, hugging the blanket tight to her.
“You look better already, Rowan,” Dr. Stone said to her, then turned to Silas. “I have the kit. I’ll just take her temperature and see if she’s ready to be cleaned out yet. The solution will have raised her body temperature a bit but if it stays in too long or is overheated, it too becomes toxic.”