nurse led Sandro into the room. A doctor in a white coat followed.
“How are you feeling, Jade?” Sandro claimed the chair by the door, carried it over, and set it beside my hospital bed. “If you were trying to scare a few years off my life, you succeeded. You’re one exceptionally lucky vixen.”
“I don’t feel too lucky. Somebody shot me. I didn’t even do anything worth being shot at over.”
“Well, you’ve tentatively agreed to marry me. That’s potentially something worth shooting you over.”
While he’d explained that was ultimately the goal for acquiring me as his uncontested courtesan, why was he telling that to the doctor and nurse? “Obviously, they haven’t met you.”
He grinned. “You can’t be feeling too badly. I doubt they want to take your place. The shooter likely believes killing you will damage my reputation.”
“Give me a stick and I will correct them. Violently.”
Sandro shook his head. “There’s no need. My reputation is just fine, and your reputation is only going to improve from here. I’ve made a point of spreading word you’re in an uncontested courtesan contract with me, and I’ve decided I’ll use some of my weight. The first idiot to question my choice already got a taste of my magic, and I’m in a mood.”
“You didn’t kill the idiot, did you?”
“No. I just scared a few years off his life and trashed the papers he was waving around in my face. I took offense to that, so I made the papers disappear. Violently.”
I grinned at his choice of word, using the same grumpy inflection I’d used. “I’m okay if you use a little violence on my behalf. Being shot hurts, but the nice nurse pressed a button, and it doesn’t hurt much now.”
“Good. Hospital visitation time is limited, so I can only be here for a few minutes, but they have limited beds, and the storm survivors will need them. They want to move your care to my residence as soon as you’re stabilized and can be monitored by a nurse who’ll come several times a day. It’s less taxing on the hospital that way. I’ve already set up as much as I can for you, but it will be an uncomfortable few weeks, and you’ll have to deal with closer company with me than you might like.”
Sandro’s tone implied he was less than pleased with the situation. I was less than pleased with the situation, but it beat being dead. “I’ve cost you even more money.”
“I’m not worried about the money. I put a bounty out for your shooter, and to make it clear I’m not to be trifled with, it’s even more than your current standing bounty. Which has, since your hospitalization, gone up again. Someone informed the person who issued the bounty about the shooting, and there are new criteria added to the bounty. I don’t know who wants you, but they want you alive, as healthy as possible, and any bounty hunter who provides medical care will be compensated in addition to the doctors and care facilities being paid.” Sandro smirked. “I’ve already sent them the bill for your stay here.”
“You did?”
“I did. I’m a registered bounty hunter, and it prevents me from being required to cart you back to the East right away. For as long as the nice doctors and nurses say you’re not fit for much travel, I can keep you in Asylum. I’ve your pass at my home, so when you’re released, you’ll have that back along with the rest of your things. I recovered your various property, and after some thought, I assumed some of it was meant for your friend, Batbayar. I left those with him. Your blade is at my home, locked in my safe, so it should be safe.”
I glanced at the doctor and nurse, who watched and listened with interest. “Why do you want them to know about this?”
“Well, it definitely helps with the billing element, and I’ve made sure they give you the best possible care they can under the situation. The hospital is swamped, though.”
“Which hospital is this?”
“Asylum’s. They’ve been taking patients as the Inner Tulsa hospitals struggle to keep up, but since you have a pass and I’m sponsoring you, I brought you straight here. It was closer.”
“Well, thank you for that. It would have sucked to die in some damned alley.”
“You almost did. Do you remember anything?”
“It was a man in a trench coat, but I couldn’t make out his face. He was on the roof. I guess