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‘I’ve only met these men in passing,’ Wren was saying. ‘It’s about time I got to know who’s living with my only sister, day in, day out.’
The chuckle on Thea’s lips died when they entered the far side of the healer's wing and found Kipp lying in one of the beds. Half his face was swollen beyond recognition.
Thea rushed to his side. ‘Gods, Kipp… Look what he did to you…’
He blinked at her with his good eye. ‘Fractured cheekbone, fractured eye socket…’ he said hoarsely. ‘So I’m told. They’re keeping me here under observation, lest I have damage to my brain. I told them I’m always like this, though.’
A strangled laugh escaped Thea, though her heart ached for him.
‘Worth it,’ he told her as he tried to sit up.
Thea gaped at him. ‘How so?’
‘Well, you brought your lovely sister to sit by my bedside…’
Thea slapped his arm lightly, perching herself on the side of his bed. ‘You’re shameless.’ She beckoned Wren forward. ‘Wren, this is my friend Kipp, Kipp, this is my sister Elwren.’
‘I’m thrilled to officially meet you, Elwren Zoltaire, sister of the unbreakable Thea,’ Kipp said with as much of a grin as his facial swelling would allow. ‘I assure you, I’m usually a lot more handsome.’
Wren laughed. ‘I saw you before the injuries, Kipp.’
He pressed a hand to his chest in mock offence. ‘Brutal as well as beautiful. I like you.’
Thea shook her head, throwing her sister a silent apology for her friend. ‘Good to know you’re still in there, Kipp.’
‘Oh, you know it’d take more than a Warsword’s swinging fists to rattle the spark from me. I think he was trying to knock some sense into me, alas, he failed miserably. Did I tell you about the time I got so drunk at the Laughing Fox I tried to arm wrestle a soldier from Battalon?’
Thea snorted. ‘Was that before or after the raven-haired beauty?’
‘Who could say, Thea? Who could say,’ Kipp murmured before surveying her with a critical eye. ‘How are you?’
‘Better than you, by the look of things.’
‘That’s debatable.’
‘I’m fine.’
She heard Wren’s irritated huff before she spoke. ‘You’re decidedlynotfine,’ her sister snapped. ‘You werestabbedand you haveinternal injuriesto your abdomen. If you weren’t such a stubborn fool, you’d be in the bed alongside your friend here.’
Thea gave Kipp a conspirator’s grin. ‘Unfortunately, just as there’s no beating the spark from Kipp, there’s no beating the stubborn from me.’
‘I know that, or I would have tried already,’ Wren told them.
Kipp gave a pained chuckle. ‘That I’d pay to see.’
Smiling, Thea squeezed Kipp’s hand, finding it cold and clammy. ‘Where’s Cal?’
‘Training,’ Kipp replied. ‘At least he’d better be. Someone needs to represent our misfit trio.’
Thea didn’t miss the wince as he spoke. ‘Are you alright?’
His breathing became more laboured. ‘The headaches come and go… Some are worse than others.’
Wren stepped in. ‘He needs rest, Thea,’ she said gently. ‘Is there anything we can bring you, Kipp?’
‘A growler of sour mead from the Laughing Fox wouldn’t go astray…’ he replied weakly.
Thea laughed. ‘When you’re better, we’ll get you back there. Maybe even find that girl you’re always on about.’
