Covenant by Mel Odom

Author:Mel Odom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books

TWENTY-FOUR

Simon stood beside Leah’s bed in the surgery. From the tightness round her good eye and her elevated respiration, he knew she was nervous. He didn’t need his armor to tell him that. Round them, the OR team prepped her for surgery.

“I never much cared for hospitals,” Leah admitted.

“Neither have I, but I’m glad we’ve got a good one.” Simon felt awkward standing there as the other people worked round him.

“The surgeon’s done this before?”

“He’s the one that put Eoin’s eyes in.”

“Can they match my eye color? My eyes aren’t exactly off-the-rack, you know.”

Simon did know. Those violet eyes sometime haunted his thoughts.

“They’ll match,” he told her. “The nanobots pick up color from the DNA and push it right into the new eye they build for you.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said. “I’ve always been a little vain about my eyes.”

“You’ve got lovely eyes,” Simon told her.

Some of the tension in her face went away as she smiled at him. “You’ve never told me that before.”

“No.” Simon suddenly felt awkward.

“Are you trying to hit on me?” Her tone was playful.

“I was going to wait until they anesthetized you.”

“Maybe you should. It would be less painful that way.”

Despite the tension of the moment and all the bad things that loomed before them with the dwindling food supplies, Simon laughed. Leah joined him. Everyone working on the prep stared at them.

“Well now,” a matronly Templar woman that Simon had known since he was a boy said, “look at the two of you. Like you’re out on a lark.”

“Not quite,” Leah said.

“Scandalous is what it is. My name’s Jenny.” The woman inspected the machines hooked up to Leah and made a notation on the digital notepad she carried. “Everything here looks shipshape. Can I look at your eye, luv?”

Since she’d been in the bed, Leah had made the OR personnel keep her voided socket covered with a towel. Simon knew she hadn’t wanted him to see her.

“After Lord Cross leaves, you may,” Leah said.

“Well then, Lord Cross,” the nurse said, turning to Simon, “I believe it’s time to say your good-byes.”

“All right.” Simon focused on Leah. Her hand sought his and held it for a moment. “Quite the death grip you’ve got there.”

She frowned at him. “I’m nervous. The thought of miniature robots crawling through my brain creeps me out.”

“Oh,” Jenny said without turning around, “if those robots crawl through your brain, the surgeon’s doing it all wrong.”

“Lovely thought.” Leah grimaced.

“I wasn’t the one that had it. Let’s get a move on, you two.”

Simon looked into Leah’s good eye. “You’re going to be fine.”

“When my new eye is built, what happens to the nanobots?”

“They deactivate and get flushed out with white blood cells. After your eye’s repaired, using your body’s building blocks and some of the wiring the nanobots will string, there’s nothing left for them to do.”

“You’ve seen them do this before?”

“I’ve had them work on me. Two years ago, while fighting with demons, a Blade Minion skewered me.” Simon tapped his chest.

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