Aiden, who was the most fortunate of the three, and knew it, and hated that he knew it.
Phei had only taken fingers. A few, from the right hand — which Aiden had interpreted, in the private arithmetic of men who measure their ruinagainst each other's; as mercy.
Compared to Zack's obliterated manhood and Anderson's permanent scar that the whole world could see, a few missing fingers was practically a gift like a love note and gentle reminder, written in amputation, that the Cosmic Dragon could have taken more and had simply chosen not to.
Aiden flexed the remaining fingers sometimes when he thought no one was watching, as though he could still feel the ones that were gone — phantom digits that had become the only honest part of him left.
He had managed, through the Collins family's healthcare empire — shadow rulers of medicine, quiet owners of hospitals that bore other people's names — to acquire artificial replacements.
