She runs at him and he bends to catch her, hides the grimace.‘There’s my princess.Are you enjoying the movie?’
‘Yes, it’smuchbetter than theBlue Bird,’ Mimi whispers loudly to spare Blaire’s feelings.‘There’s witches!You watch with me and Bee?’
‘I’d love to.’
Blaire shoots him a look, one brow slightly raised in question.Lachlan nods back, flicks her a quick wink, then settles carefully onto the couch with Mimi tucked between them.They sit together watching the movie.
Every so often Lachlan catches Jules looking at him instead of the screen, clearly irritated about something, though that hardly narrows it down.
Their brief stretch of civility was never going to last.
After the movie, Lachlan goes back on duty performing checks around the entirety of the East Wing.He makes it back just before Mimi’s bedtime to give her a kiss and say goodnight.
‘Goodnight, Kestrel,’ she whispers when he hugs her.
‘Goodnight, my little Myna bird.Sleep well.’
Lachlan still has the North, West and South Wings to make his rounds through, but before he begins, he goes to Jules’ room and finds him alone when granted entry after knocking.
Jules is in pyjamas, reading a book.
Picture-perfect good behaviour.
‘What do you want?’
Lingering in the doorway, Lachlan says, ‘Checking in.How do you feel?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘It’s Saturday, y’know.’
Jules shoots him a withering look.‘I did notice, yeah.’
Lachlan nods at the window.‘Go on.I’ll give you a four-hour head start.’
‘What?’
‘You heard,’ Lachlan simply says, smug.‘Four hours.I’ll find you.Have fun.’
He leaves Jules looking thunderstruck and closes the door behind him.
The happy feeling dissolves instantly when he puts a hand to his side, body reeling with fleshy horror to be reminded of the reality waiting beneath gauze and bandages.Lachlan exhales slowly.Heshouldgo to a medic because he has three stab wounds in his body, but it’s not urgent and he’d much prefer they started to heal on their own.
He needs it, in fact.
Lachlan goes about his rounds.
Jules’threadsdon’t so much as lose heart-rate tracking for a second.
He’s so fucking clever, that boy.
If only Lachlan could bottle it.
During the four hours Jules sneaks away without detection, Lachlan feels ridiculously calm, even when he throws up.He takes a shower, organises his clothes for the week ahead and then, in the privacy of his own bathroom, properly assesses the damage before applying fresh gauze and taping it tight.
Then dresses again in a clean suit and ties his hair up.
He’s going to let it grow out, wonders what that’ll look like.
