Degrees of Wrong

by Anna Scarlett

  office to try to manhandle me into his arms. I passed him once in the hall—he

  didn’t even look at me. I tried to pretend that it didn’t gut me.

  And, as I heaved myself over the trash receptacle in the lab, I realized it was

  my turn to be physically gutted, as well. I emptied the contents of my stomach and sat on the cold floor.

  “You have it, don’t you?” Dr. Folsom called from across the room. Today

  was her first day back, and although she looked quite haggard, she seemed

  functional.

  “Uh-huh,” I groaned, and I thought the act of speaking would incite the

  vomiting again.

  Degrees of Wrong

  “I’ll help you to your quarters,” she said. I tried to peel myself from the floor.

  I didn’t want to drain from her what little strength she’d accrued since getting

  out of the bed.

  She placed my arm around her shoulder for support, and together we

  walked to the elevator. When we got to my room, she helped me undress and

  pulled the covers over my simultaneously fevered and chilled body.

  “I’ll be right back with the electrolytes. I’m putting a trash can beside your

  bed. Try to make it in there. I’m going to reserve an IV for you just in case. Is there anything else you need before I leave?”

  I shook my head and placed my fist under my chin to keep my teeth from

  chattering.

  When I awoke, the room was dark. I had to use the restroom but doubted

  that in my pathetic state I could gain enough momentum to even throw my body

  weight in that direction. I could see on the nightstand that Dr. Folsom had

  returned at some point with the electrolytes.

  I reached for them and groaned in agony as the weight of my outstretched

  arm sent throbbing pain to its muscles. I tried to sit up but was too dizzy to lift my head. I plopped my hollow noggin back down on the pillow in defeat.

  Suddenly, I found the energy and the need to spring from my pillow and

  over the side of the bed. I vomited and vomited into the trash can. I vomited

  until I was good and sick of vomiting. Then I vomited some more.

  I hoped the morning would come soon, and Dr. Folsom would check on me

  and help me to the bathroom. It was my last conscious thought.

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  245

  Anna Scarlett

  The false sunlight spilled into my room and hurt my eyes as I opened them.

  My bladder had reached maximum capacity, and I fervently hoped that I hadn’t

  missed Dr. Folsom already. My entire body ached, and although I was sweaty

  from breaking a fever sometime in the night, it appeared I had acquired another

  one. My teeth chattered nearly to the point of breaking in my mouth, and I curled into a ball to preserve my own body heat.

  To my great relief, the door opened and Dr. Folsom strolled in. She looked

  just a little better today than she had yesterday.

  She sat on the bed and looked at the nightstand. “You didn’t even open

  them,” she scolded. “You need those fluids, Elyse.”

  “Uh-huh,” I told her.

  “Do you think you might need an IV?”

  “Uh-huh,” I told her.

  “The only thing about an IV is that it will make it harder for you to use the

  restroom. You will need to go more often, probably.”

  “Uh-huh,” I told her.

  “Do you need to go now?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  After I emptied the contents of my bladder in the toilet, and more than the

  contents of my stomach in the shower, Dr. Folsom helped me change clothes and

  climb back into bed. After she disinfected the shower, she changed my trash for

  me. She tried to help me sip some of the clear pink liquids.

  My next project, after I found the cure to the Black Death, would be to find a

  way to make concentrated electrolytes taste drinkable. Until then though, I

  would just have to hold my nose and man up.

  246

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Degrees of Wrong

  When I awoke again, the room was dark. She had administered the IV while

  I slept and now I had bent my arm in a way that prohibited the flow. I stretched

  it out, groaning as it throbbed with the lack of use.

  “Elyse, love?” I heard Nicoli say. “What’s wrong? Do you need something?”

  That was odd. I felt sure I was awake. If I felt this bad in my dreams, then I was in deep trouble when I eventually woke up. Still, I would take the aches and

  pains in the dream, as long as I could hear the lilting sound of his voice too.

  I felt a weight on the bed next to me and cool hands brushing aside the hair

  plastered by sweat onto my face. The dream was lifelike.

  “Elyse? Do you need something?”

  I worked very hard to blink my eyes, to see him more clearly. I could make

  out the magnificent outline of him, certainly, but his handsome features eluded

  me. I groaned in frustration.

  My hand flitted to my eyes, and I rubbed them ferociously. When I was done

  assaulting them, his breathtaking face came into focus. His eyes were softened

  with concern, and his mouth was set in an apprehensive frown.

  “What do you need, love?” he asked gently.

  “Restroom,” I blurted. I meant to say I need you to stop ignoring me, I need your arms around me and I need to go to the restroom. I guess my mouth just caught the latter part of the plea. Still, whole words were definitely an improvement.

  In an instant, I was out of the bed and in the bathroom. The door shut softly

  behind me, and the IV tubing was fed from under the door.

  I stood there dazed, leaning against the sink for support. After an

  indeterminable amount of time, I managed to relieve my bladder and heave

  myself to the bathroom door. In a state of sheer panic, I thought he might have

  left again and I knew I couldn’t make it back to the bed.

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  247

  Anna Scarlett

  I put all my weight on the door and pressed the access button. I spilled out

  into my room but never met with the floor.

  “Elyse.” He scooped me up. “What are you doing? Why didn’t you knock

  when you were ready? I told you to knock, love.”

  Had he? I didn’t remember. Certainly I would have remembered.

  “Uh-uh,” I told him.

  He chuckled into my hair as I pressed my face into the comfort of his chest.

  “You are in no position to argue with me at present, Dr. Morgan.”

  I felt myself being lowered onto the bed. The descent sent a wave of nausea

  through me, and I stiffened in his arms with the dilemma. As soon as I could feel solid bed under me, I heaved over to the trash.

  Was someone feeding me while I was unconscious? How could I have

  anything left to throw up?

  I mulled over the mystery as I drifted out of consciousness.

  I looked over to see Dr. Folsom changing out the IV bags. My room was full

  of the light of day.

  “Hi,” I rasped.

  Startled, she turned to me and smiled. She seemed fully recovered. It gave

  me hope.

  “Good morning,” she greeted. “Today is day four. Day four seems to be the

  turning point. Congratulations.”

  Day four? “Day four?”

  “Yes, dear. You’ve been in and out for four days now. Nicoli is practically

  beside himself. He’s been making a nuisance of himself, actual
ly.” I knew what

  she meant. The admiral almost gave me acne with the stress of comforting him.

  248

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Degrees of Wrong

  However, given Nicoli’s complete withdrawal from my presence, I could

  hardly believe that he had concerned himself overmuch.

  “Ha. Nicoli isn’t speaking to me. He doesn’t like me anymore.” That hurt to

  say out loud. I wasn’t sure if the pain in my stomach was from the admission, or

  still from my illness.

  She huffed. “At this point, dear, I think it would be a fair statement to say

  you could have anything you wanted. He would melt like snow in the Maldives.

  All you would have to do is ask.”

  I laughed, and the act hurt my abdominal muscles. “You are wicked. Please

  tell me you’re not speaking from experience. The poor admiral!”

  “The poor admiral deserves every bit of it,” Nicoli drawled from the door.

  “And so do I.”

  Dr. Folsom made a repugnant face that indicated to me that she had been

  busted, and badly. I giggled as she hastened out the door.

  He strode in and sat on the bed. “Feeling better?”

  “Immeasurably.”

  “Good.”

  He sat there for a long time, regarding me with that impassive expression of

  his. “I don’t exactly know where to begin,” he said finally.

  I tried to sit up, and he was on his feet, helping to adjust the pillows behind

  me and tucking the covers underneath me. Satisfied that I was comfortable, he

  sat back down.

  “Should you be here?” I asked.

  “Do you want me to go?”

  I should have said yes, but I shook my head. “It’s just that…it may look

  like…”

  “Exactly what it is.” He grimaced.

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  249

  Anna Scarlett

  “What is ‘it’, exactly?”

  “‘It’ is the fact that I can’t stay away from you. Even if I tried. Even if I tried very hard.”

  “Seemed to be doing a pretty good job to me,” I muttered.

  “This is coming from a woman who has spent the last four days in a near

  coma. I’ve been sleeping in that chair over there.” He motioned to the only chair in the room. “It was uncomfortable, even for me.”

  I laughed. I knew he could get comfortable anywhere, so his admission was

  outrageous.

  “So,” I began awkwardly. “Which part of what I told you upset you the

  most? Which part made you forget that I was alive?” I hoped my voice didn’t

  quaver.

  “First of all, there is no forgetting you, Elyse Morgan. I was acutely, painfully aware of you the whole time. Secondly, the part that most upset me was…all of

  it, I would have to say.” He raked his hand through his black hair. “What were

  you thinking?”

  “About what, specifically? About not listening to you in the first place when

  you told me not to go? About my insistence that you stay out of the room during

  the examination? About talking to him when I got there, after you specifically

  told me not to? Or was it the part where I told him that I put air bubbles in his IV—?”

  “All of it,” he reiterated. “Damn it, Elyse.”

  “What happened?” I whispered. “Did he go to trial?” I hadn’t been filled in

  on any of the consequences of my actions. Either Dr. Folsom wasn’t aware of the

  outcome, or she just wouldn’t say. Nicoli hadn’t been speaking to me. The

  admiral too seemed to be avoiding me like a hornets’ nest.

  I had really outdone myself this time.

  250

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Degrees of Wrong

  “He’s still standing trial. In good health,” he added. “Lt. Weston was

  arrested for murder, and unless he starts pointing the finger at Petropoulos, he’ll be convicted of it. Ironically, he is being held at the very same prison he used to preside over.”

  I could see him visibly hesitate.

  “And?” I said.

  “In addition to the outcome of his trial, the United Nations is formally

  charging Petropoulos with the murder of your parents and everyone who died as

  a result of attending your father’s lecture. They may ask you to testify. I would prefer that you didn’t.”

  I fought back the nausea. And the tears.

  He was still holding something back. I nodded to him to continue. It seemed

  I had missed out on much.

  He didn’t try to hide his frustration. “We think there’s a mole on board. You

  said Petropoulos admitted to arranging the meeting with you. We went back

  through the communications records and couldn’t find anything. The only

  communication from the Bellator to the prison or vice versa was the incoming distress call and the corresponding response. But everything had aligned so

  conveniently for him that there is just no way he didn’t have inside assistance.

  We haven’t been able to find anything incriminating. Yet.”

  “So, that would mean…”

  “They’re still on board.” His jaw flexed again, the way it had in the transport

  pod after our visit to the prison.

  I cringed. “I’ve more than tried your patience, Nicoli. I can see why you

  would want to stay away from me. I’m a walking invitation for trouble. And I’ve

  complicated your life by leaps and bounds.”

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  251

  Anna Scarlett

  He shook his head. “That’s not why I stayed away, Elyse. Oh sure, that’s

  reason enough,” he teased, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. “But the fact is, I endangered your life. I should have seen that coming. You don’t know this man

  like I do. You don’t know what he’s capable of. I felt that maybe my judgment

  had been clouded…and the fact that he saw my attachment to…and his vendetta against my family…”

  “But this wasn’t about you at all, Nicoli. It was about me. He wanted me.”

  “He wanted you for a different reason at the time. But now he knows that

  I…how I feel about…”

  “But he’s in custody, Nicoli. What does it matter what he saw?”

  “He’s been in custody six times before, love. And history tends to repeat

  itself.”

  I gasped, outraged.

  “So,” he continued, taking my hand. “I thought I was protecting you by

  staying away. That maybe he wouldn’t go after you again if he thought I

  didn’t… But, since I’m obviously not capable of leaving you alone for hours at a time, I decided to form a new plan.”

  “Which is?” I asked warily.

  He shrugged. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

  “So…you’re not going to be ignoring me anymore?” And could I get that in

  writing?

  He shook his head. “I should, but I won’t. Can’t. So, here I am, asking you to dinner.”

  My stomach both churned and fluttered with the thought of having dinner

  with him.

  “Oh.” I clutched at the covers in that general area. “I don’t think that’s

  possible right now, Nicoli.”

  252

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Degrees of Wrong

  He chuckled. “Not tonight, love. In two days, my brother will be porting

  close to where our position will be at that point. It will be at least an hour in the transport pod from the ship, though. I was hoping you would
feel well enough

  to meet him.”

  “You want me to meet your brother?” I squeaked.

  “Yes and no,” he said dryly. “I’m nervous for you to meet him, because of

  his stupefying effect on women. I would hate to add to his medical file, love.” At this I giggled. “However,” he continued on, grinning at me, “he is still adamant

  about marrying this mystery woman of his, so I think that you, and his nose,

  should be safe.”

  I laughed, further hurting my innards. “Ugh,” I groaned. When the pain

  passed, I said, “I’m sure I’ll be feeling better by then.” And even if I wasn’t, I felt sure I could give a convincing performance of pristine health.

  Nicoli stood and gently placed my hand on the bed. “I’ll go now and let you

  get some rest. Well, some more rest.”

  I did still feel a bit woozy.

  When he reached the door, he turned. For a long moment, I thought he had

  changed his mind altogether.

  “Don’t even think about wearing that red dress.”

  I shook my head that I would not, biting my lip to keep from smiling.

  As I lay back down, I laughed—I would wear the white one just like it.

  I smirked as I inspected myself in the mirror. Nicoli would be furious. With

  that thought in mind, I slung the black bag containing my change of clothes over

  my shoulder and left my quarters, dressed to dazzle.

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  253

  Anna Scarlett

  I paid scarce attention to my surroundings as I trotted down the hall and to

  the elevator. I had little fear of running into anyone as I made my way to the

  transport hall. Nicoli had conveniently ordered most of the officers and cadets to assemble on the other side of the ship for a surprise roll-call drill and trumped-up announcements.

  The elevator released me into the hall, and I could already see Nicoli

  standing at the end of it waiting for me. And frowning.

  Delighted, I tried not to skip as I came closer to him. He was wearing black

  slacks and an olive green, tightly fitted shirt which accentuated his muscles too well for me to expect a healthy pulse for the duration of his wearing it.

  When I reached him he said, “I believe you have taken advantage of my

  manly ignorance, Dr. Morgan. When I addressed the subject of the red dress, you

  of course realized that I was speaking of it as a category in general, and not that garment specifically.”

  Why yes, yes I had. “And what category is that, Captain Marek?”