Page 66 of Fallen Court

“No, I should get going.” He waved into the room behind him. “I’ll catch you later. We’re going to hang when you get out of here, right?”

My heart leaped when I heard Channing’s grunted response. “Sure, bro.”

Dante said goodbye to us, and I tried not to stare as I processed watching a vampire leave my brother’s hospital room.

“I should be used to this by now,” I muttered.

“Vampires have that effect on you,” Ciara said dreamily.

But I shook my head. “No, I mean this.” I pointed to the hospital surrounding us. “Channing getting hurt, getting in trouble. I tried to keep him out of this world.”

And somehow, he’d wound up shot. Again. Maybe it was a good thing he knew a vampire—I clearly didn’t know how to keep him alive.

“You can’t choose someone else’s path. You can only choose if you’re willing to walk alongside them.” She searched my face. “Are you?”

I wasn’t giving up on my brother, no matter what trouble he found himself in, but that didn’t mean I was okay with what he’d done. “Is it wrong that I’m still mad at him for going to Oberon?”

“If it makes you feel any better, Lach already let him have it,” Ciara whispered.

It didn’t, but I smiled anyway. Maybe I finally had someone on my team.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the room.

Shaw shot up from the chair in the corner before I could turn toward the hospital bed. “Cate!” He rushed toward me, enveloping me in a hug. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you alive.”

“I won’t be for long,” I croaked, “because you’re crushing me to death.” I tallied my lack of superhuman strength—or, for that matter, my weakness to theirs—in the human category.

The youngest Gage released me, taking a sheepish step backward. “Oops. I still can’t believe that Oberon and Titania…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I must have pretty bad taste in women, huh?”

That was putting it mildly, but I forced a grim smile. “I thought Oberon was my friend, too.”

He looked grateful for the out. “I’m sorry I didn’t come by the Avalon earlier.”

“’Cause he’s stuck babysitting me,” Channing called.

“Stuck, huh? You’re the one who won’t get out of that hospital bed,” Shaw said.

“Because I was paralyzed just a few days ago,” Channing argued, his tone souring.

I stumbled a step when I saw him, heat prickling my eyes as I swallowed this news. “Paralyzed?”

No one had mentioned this.

“I’m not now.” But the swift response did nothing to stop my tears from falling.

“Why don’t we give you a second?” Ciara hooked an arm around Shaw and dragged him out of the room.

Channing turned a pair of round, innocent eyes on me. “Hey, sis.”

“Why does that sound familiar?” I didn’t budge from the foot of the bed, unsure what to say to him. Anger and relief and disappointment and frustration swirled inside me, each emotion vying for their turn.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment. “I thought I was protecting you.”

And somehow that was all that mattered.

Because that’s what we did—that’s what we had always done. We looked out for each other. We tried our best, and when we didn’t, we owned it.

I was still angry, still hurt by his actions, but the truth was, I wouldn’t have done anything differently than he had. “I’m sorry, too.”