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“There we go, Mr. Westergren. Your friends are here to visit. You rest, and I’m sure the doctor will have you out of here in a day or two.”
“Drayce?” Adrian immediately asked, his voice low and rough. He stared at them in turn, his focus growing sharper with each passing second.
Caelan moved to Adrian’s bedside and wrapped one of his hands in both of his. “Drayce couldn’t make it, but you’ll see him soon. I promise.”
“Just a few minutes, okay?” the nurse reminded them before slipping out of the room.
Davi followed and closed the door behind her so they could speak more privately.
The second they were alone, Caelan tapped into his healing gift and sent the power rushing into Adrian. The man gasped and then sighed happily.
“Whoa. That’s even better than the painkillers they’ve loaded me up on,” Adrian murmured. His words were slightly slurred.
“Sorry, but I’m going to flush those out of your system as well,” Caelan replied, a half smile lifting one corner of his mouth.
“Can you at least do that last?”
Caelan snorted and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
“What happened in the pub?” Rayne inquired.
“Sure. Sorry.” Adrian lifted the hand Caelan wasn’t holding and rubbed his head. A little shaft of guilt cut through Caelan. The poor guy was stabbed and had nearly bled out. He was fresh out of surgery, and they were already grilling him for answers. But on the bright side, in another minute, Caelan would have him fixed up like the attack never happened. “Drayce and I were approached by a woman claiming that the prime minister needed our help. She was trying to get us to go with her. Drayce refused and tried to get an address. In the end, she left and I think one of Vitor’s people went to follow her.”
“Vitor had her tracked. It’s where they took Drayce,” Rayne confirmed.
“You found him? Is he okay?” Adrian tried to sit up in bed, but Eno moved quickly to the opposite side and pressed a hand into his shoulder, forcing him to lie still.
“We found him, but we don’t know what kind of shape he’s in. There hasn’t been time to free him,” Eno answered. “We literally found out two minutes ago. Besides, this gives you the chance to go with us.”
“The sooner we all leave this hospital, the better. We have no idea if they’ve figured out Adrian is from Erya. It’s likely they could have reported him or even all of us to the police,” Rayne pointed out.
“Fuck yes, I’m going with you!” Adrian grabbed the edge of his blanket and tried to toss it back as he climbed from the bed.
“I know I make this look easy, but really, this healing thing does go faster if you can lie still.” Caelan sighed loudly.
Adrian winced and settled in the bed again, tugging his thin blanket up to his chin. “Sorry, Your Majesty.”
Davi barked out a sharp laugh from where he stood guarding the door. Rayne might have even chuckled, but he was at least smart enough to cover it with a cough.
“The attack?” his advisor prodded.
“It happened about fifteen or twenty minutes after the woman left. We were getting ready to leave. Six heavily armed guys charged in and started firing before they made any demands. Drayce and I took care of them, but I guess they had more hiding outside or another car pulled up that we didn’t see. One tried to stab Drayce, but I shoved him out of the way.”
“Earning a knife in the belly for your troubles,” Eno finished.
Adrian made a disgruntled noise, and the fingers Caelan were holding tightened. “Yeah, but I didn’t see the guy come in from the kitchen. Drayce’s attention was on me. He missed the guy who came up from behind and hit him on the head with the butt of his gun. One guy tossed him over their shoulder. I think someone hit me, because I don’t remember anything after that.” Adrian cleared his throat and dropped his gaze to his lap. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I failed to protect Drayce—”
“Shut up,” Caelan snapped. “You did protect him, and against overwhelming numbers. You nearly got yourself killed.”
“My life for Erya,” Adrian said automatically, repeating part of his vow.
“Yeah, well, I’m not done with your life yet. So, no fucking dying.”
Eno chuckled. “That sounds like a royal command. Guess you’ll just have to go on living.”
Caelan released a tired sigh and pulled Tula’s gift out of Adrian. The long cut that had been sewn together was completely healed and the swelling on his head from where he’d been hit was gone as well. Caelan might have tuned up a couple of other smaller concerns while he was there, putting Adrian in near-perfect health.
With a final squeeze of thanks, he let go of Adrian’s hand and took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s the plan? I don’t want to leave Drayce in their hands any longer than necessary.”
