He lied there arrow-less, bandaged and sanitized with a dull pain lingering in his abdomen. All in all, it was a job well done. And a job that could have been avoided to begin with. When the nurses left him, Evelyn came into view again.
“I’m sorry for pushing you into it, truly. If you weren't ready I should have respected that, only you know you best.”
“What happened?” The question snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked at her confused. “Has someone been hurting you?”
"No, no," he answered automatically, followed by self consciously rubbing over his chest with his fingertips as if it would help erase his scars. "At least I don't think so." He frowned. "I don't....I don't know." Keith glanced down to his own foreign body. They weren't accidental or one time off scars. Tears threatened to form in his eyes. "I don't remember any of them." He met Evelyn's eyes with his own anxiety then traced over his most predominant scar. Something as big and bad as that had to be remembered and he knew he had a scar in the same position on his back. Keith wasn't much of a fighter but he did have sense of self preservation. "Look," he whispered to her and sat up slouching forward to reveal its twin on his back. "I know I'm not that strong but I would never allow myself to be tortured. That could have killed me. How could I forget something like that?" Keith winced and lied back slowly. But the physical pain was minute compared to the confusion and frustration he felt. The whole distortion of his life...now how could that be healed? "It's like the further I try dig the more lost I am. I have these gaps...these huge gaps. And it terrifies me," he confessed. He finally confessed the problem, and though he was as heavy as a rock at the bottom of the ocean, he felt some slight alleviation.
His lip quivered then he shook his head and grit his teeth looking away. Keith was sick of it but it was hard to pull himself together.
It was up to him to distract Ajax rather than leave the man high strung about Alex. "How do you travel these days?" Duke threw his head back towards the stables. "Horseback?" He smiled. It was hard to envision Ajax on a horse but anything was possible with the Valises, they continued to surprise him. More than likely it was flying since it got them from point a to b quicker and the view must have been fantastic.
"Come on, Aj, if you have any energy to spare we'll train." Duke pat his brother's back. Training would be a good release for Ajax because even when Ajax was a great brother and leader, he had his own emotions and there was never a time to let them out or express himself. The camp could endure another storm, it'd be fine.