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“We’re going in there?” Kol inquired, disbelief lacing his tone. “I don’t feel any springs near here. No way there’s a healing pool inside. It doesn’t even look like a real hospital.”
“Hush,” Brokk reprimanded. “Their magic is not the same as ours. And when did you ever see an actual hospital? That’s a human term.”
“I read,” the lad replied, lifting one shoulder.
Brokk muttered something about teaching his children to read being a huge mistake. If the situation wasn’t so grave I would have laughed.
Hugo, Phalen, Lyric, and Kree were waiting at the entrance. I studiously ignored looking at anyone but Hugo as I dropped back, closer to Brokk, my arms consciously pinned to my sides.
I will not reach for her. I will not steal her from her father’s arms. Not yet.
The large wooden doors opened up to an empty sick bay of a dozen or so beds. The Shadows training under Hugo must have been ordered out before our arrival. Luckily there were no patients needing treatment today. Either that or they had been relocated. Phalen would have known to keep everyone away.
Private rooms and offices were upstairs, but we bypassed the staircase and headed straight for the back, to the operating rooms. Our healers rarely had to perform the types of surgeries conducted in Earth Realm, but all sorts of terrible injuries could require a sound-proofed space, restraints, and drains in the floor.
Hugo quickly started barking orders. Kree and Phalen moved about the room, grabbing this and moving that while Draven drifted closer to Lyric. Brokk reluctantly laid his daughter upon the large OR table. Once the supplies were in order, Phalen conspicuously stood at my back.
Hugo reached to remove the cloak. “No!” I shouted, feeling strong hands clamp down on my arms from behind. Reaching back, I tapped Phalen’s flank twice. The commander loosened his hold, but didn’t let go entirely.
“We’ll not look upon her as though she’s an animal. Afford her some sense of modesty. Please.”
Hugo was not only an Otherland healer, he was also a physician trained in Earth Realm. He had seen and treated thousands of bodies. Nudity was nothing to him. Hell, nudity was nothing to most species of demon. But she was more than naked under that cloak. Parts were broken, possibly mutilated. There might be injuries that …
I couldn’t even voice the thought and had to use what little mental faculties I had working to lock down my rioting emotions. The fact I had complete faith in Hugo and Kree helped keep me in check.
The Navita’s shrewd regard examined me from across the bed. I returned his stare, daring an argument. Magenta sparked to blood red then black then back to magenta. Most who experienced this cycle didn’t live long enough to see what happened after his eyes turned black. Or so the stories went. I was inclined to believe them.
Brokk had no reason to quarrel with me and he knew it. Because he was having a gods-awful day, I remained silent. Something passed between us and his shoulders relaxed. His chin tipped to Hugo.
“Lyric, hand me that sheet,” the healer said, ignoring the brief tension in the room.
The warriors all took a step back so Hugo and Lyric could deal with situating the sheet and removing the cloak. Looking elsewhere, I saw Kree quietly speaking to Kol near the corner of the room, his hands clasped firmly in hers. His eyes took on a dreamy quality. I couldn’t blame the kid. She had that effect on everyone.
The purity of her aura was catnip to anyone who was hurting. It was likely why I’d been so drawn to her for years, why I’d so easily mistaken comfort and affection for something deeper. In Kree’s presence, troubles faded.
Lyric’s gasp snapped my head back to the bed. She released the sheet, expeditiously settling it across the female’s shoulders. One trembling hand lifted to smooth the hair back from the patient’s face.
“What is your daughter’s name?” she asked Brokk.
“Raveena, but we call her Raven.”
Acid scorched through my stomach. Draven’s mind brushed my own and I slammed down my shields, my muscles locking. Phalen’s fingers flexed on my biceps.
Lyric didn’t react at first. Then she bobbed her head slowly. “Raven. Yes. I think it fits.”
Her blonde head lowered close to Raven’s and whispered, “We’ll find the fuckers who did this to you, Raven. We’ll find them and we’ll rain down hell.”
When Lyric righted, she looked at Hugo. “What first?”
Hugo’s face had gone flush. His mild-mannered, sometimes teasing persona was nowhere to be found. He glared at the iron cuffs locked onto Raven’s wrists then to her abdomen.
What did they see under the sheet?
“Cuffs first. I’m afraid anything we repair won’t last if those shackles continue to drain her. I’ll go ahead and start an IV in the right arm and at the very least get her hydrated.”
Kree and Kol joined the protective circle around the table. We watched as Lyric’s fingers slipped under Raven’s left forearm, presumably to get a closer look at the cuff. She jerked back, clutching her hands to her chest. Draven was in her face instantly while Phalen and I both took a step closer.
“Did you feel the spell?” Brokk asked.
