Still, the thing was pure evil and ready to kill. Trapped in a corner in the alley, scared out of mind, Havers had started talking, as much to get the job he wanted done as to keep himself from getting slain. The lesser had been skeptical at first, but Havers had always been persuasive, and the word king, used liberally, had gotten its attention. Information had changed hands. The lesser had walked off. And the die was cast.
Havers breathed deeply, bracing himself to go out into the hall.
At least he could pledge to the brothers that he'd done the best he could with the surgery.
Although that hadn't been because he'd wanted to save his own life. Such an acquittal was impossible. He was going to be put to death for what he'd done; it was just a question of when.
No, in the OR, he'd performed to the best of his ability because it was the only way he could make up for the atrocity he'd committed. And because those five heavily armed males and that fierce human man waiting outside had looked like their hearts were breaking.
But neither of those had been his truest motivator.
He'd been galvanized most by the burning pain in that dark-haired Beth's eyes. He knew well that horrified, impotent expression. He'd been wearing it himself as he'd watched his shellan die.
Havers washed his face and went out into the hall. The brothers and the human looked up at him.
“He has survived the surgery. Now, we have to see if he holds on.” Havers went over to Tohrment. “Do you want to take me now?”
The warrior stared down at him with hard, violent eyes. “We'll keep you alive to care for him. And then he can kill you himself.”
Havers nodded and heard a soft crying sound. He looked over to see Marissa clasping a hand to her mouth.
He was about to go over when the human male stepped in front of her. The man hesitated before holding out a handkerchief. She took what he offered and then walked away from them all.
Beth put her head down on the far corner of Wrath's pillow. He'd been transferred to a hospital bed from the operating table, though he was not going to be moved into a normal patient room. Havers had decided to keep him in the OR in case he needed to be operated on again on an emergency basis.
The white-walled facility was cold, but someone had put a heavy fleece on her. Evidently, they'd also wrapped a blanket around the bottom half of her body, too. She couldn't remember who had been so kind.
As she heard a clicking sound, she glanced over at the mountain of machines Wrath was hooked up to. She measured each one of them without having much idea what the readouts meant. Provided that none of the alarms were going off, she had to imagine it was okay.
The sound came again.
She looked down at Wrath. And shot to her feet.
He was trying to talk, but his mouth was so dry, his tongue was thick.
“Shhh.” She gripped his hand. Put her face in his line of vision in case he opened his eyes. “I'm right here.”
His fingers twitched in hers. And then he faded away again.
God, he looked like hell. Pale as the ceramic tiles on the OR's floor. Eyes sunk deep into his skull.
He had a thick bandage on his throat. His belly was wrapped in gauze and cotton pads, with drains leading out of the wound. There was an IV pumping fluids and painkillers into his arm and a catheter bag hanging off the bedside. A tangle of EKG wires were stuck on his chest, and an oxygen sensor was clipped onto his middle finger.
But he was alive. For now.
And he'd stirred to consciousness, even if it was just for a moment.
It was like that for the next two days. He would surface and sink, surface and sink, as if he had to keep checking that she was with him before he went back to the herculean job of healing his body.
Eventually, she had to sleep, so the brothers brought in a more comfortable chair, and someone gave her a pillow and a blanket. She woke up an hour later, still clutching Wrath's hand.
She ate when she was forced to, because Tohrment or Wellsie demanded that she did. And she took a shower in the anteroom. Quickly. When she got back, Wrath's legs and arms were flailing wildly and Wellsie had called