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One month prior
I gripped Cian’s limp hand in mine, tears streaming down my face at the sight of all the tubes and monitors surrounding him. It was a sobering reminder about how fragile life was. The machine on his left monitoring his heart rate beeped in a steady rhythm, and I found myself staring at the wavy lines on the screen until my vision blurred.
Thora wheeled in behind me, her leg wrapped up and elevated. She placed her hand on my shoulder, and I rested my cheek on her warm fingers. We sat quietly for a moment, watching the rise and fall of Cian’s chest. The air in the room was filled with worry and anticipation, my heart heavy with fear. She sniffled, and I handed her the almost empty box of tissues from the table.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be crying so much, considering the good news. It’s just so hard to see him like this,” she whispered.
“He’s still knocked out pretty good from surgery.” He looked so peaceful lying there, and I moved his hair from his forehead. I gripped her hand. “He’s lucky to be alive. We all are.”
When we had got to the hospital, Cian had been completely unconscious. All the horrible thoughts that had raced through my mind… it was too much to handle. If he wasn’t going to make it, I didn’t know what I was going to do, how I would ever handle a loss so big.
The bullet that had hit me had just grazed my shoulder, and I’d only needed half a dozen stitches. They had rushed Cian and Eros into surgery right away, and after a few hours, the lead surgeon had come out with great news. Cian was stable; the bullet had just barely missed his liver. Three centimeters to the right, and we would have been having a different conversation. They had been able to stop the internal bleeding and repair the tissue. It was a fucking miracle that was the extent of his major injuries. The rest of his injuries were minor—a few broken ribs on his left side, cuts and bruises. Nothing that he couldn’t recover from over time.
“How’s your leg? Better?” I asked.
Her leg was propped up in the wheelchair, a thick bandage wrapped around it. “Oh, I’m fine.” She shook a bottle of pills and laughed. “They gave me some of these bad boys.”
“And Orin and Eros? Are they out of surgery yet?”
She nodded, her eyes glistening. “Yeah.” She grinned. “They pulled the bullets out of Eros’ shoulder and legs and repaired the tissue. He’ll have to do some physical therapy, but he’s gonna be just fine in time. And Orin is resting now.”
“That’s great.” My shoulders sagged, and I turned my attention back to Cian.
“Nova, you need to get some rest. You haven’t slept in over twenty-four hours.” She banged her wheelchair against the back of my chair, and I jumped. “You can barely keep your eyes open.”
She was right, even though I didn’t want to admit it. All I could focus on was Cian—making sure he really was alive, and that I wasn’t still in some fucked-up nightmare.
“The room down the hall is empty. I’ll come get you when he wakes up.” Her eyes were pleading, and I sighed, placing Cian’s hand on his stomach.
“Fine, but the second he wakes up, you better come get me. Got it?”
She gave me a salute and nodded. “Get your ass out of here.”
Every single muscle and bone in my body protested when I stood, and I shuffled down the hall, stopping in the bathroom first. The splashes of cold water did little to wake me up or make me feel better, and I dabbed my face with a paper towel, wiping all my smeared mascara off. I walked out and took a turn towards the empty room, running straight into Agent Delove. I gazed at the wet marks on his shirt, at his damp cheeks, my nose scrunching up.
“Are you OK? Are you… crying?” I didn’t know how to process what I was seeing, and I couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped my lips.
Fuck. I was delirious at this point.
He chuckled, shaking his head. “No, Nova. Not crying, although I’m glad that would make you happy. How’s Cian doing?”
“He’s doing…” I tilted my head to the side, looking into his eyes. They were completely bloodshot. But what was even stranger was one of his eyes was blue, and the other gray. “Are you sure you’re all right, Delove?”
“My contacts were irritating my eyes, so I had to take them out. I was just on my way to grab some contact solution.” He rubbed his hand over his face, sighing. “Look, I don’t want to alarm you, but you need to be prepared.”
I stared at him blankly, not understanding the urgency in his voice. Cian was OK. So were Orin, Eros and Thora. We had lost Harvey, unfortunately. My heart ached for him. He hadn’t deserved that, especially at Christmas.
“What are you talking about?” I narrowed my eyes at Delove. “Spit it out.”
“Look, Nova…” His gaze wouldn’t meet mine for a moment. “We recovered the remains of two bodies from the cabin. One being Milliani Voledetti.”
Two bodies.
“There were three bodies, Delove. Three fucking bodies. I saw Ryzen. He was dead.” My heart slammed against my chest, the hallway spinning. “He was set on fire and fucking shot in the back. There’s no possible way he got out of there alive.”
Delove’s lips set in a flat line, and he rubbed his forehead. “We don’t know that for sure, Nova. All we know is that there were only two bodies. I’m assuming the other one was one of the assailants who attacked you.”
No.
