That’s right… I got shot. And I fell off that ladder. No wonder I don’t feel great.
“Thanks.” I held in a groan as I tried to adjust my body—my brain was so fuzzy it felt furry, even though I was gradually waking up. “Did you bring me in?”
Connor took several seconds to reply. “Yes.”
“Thank you,” I said.
He shrugged.
“I mean it—thank you,” I repeated. “I remember being in my apartment, but that’s it. If I’d stayed alone and passed out, things would have gotten ugly. I was trying to get to my potion stash…” I trailed off as my brain finally started to kick in.
Wait…how did Connor know I could safely take a high grade fae potion? Those aren’t safe for non-magical humans to consume.
I craned my neck to peer at Connor again. Maybe my eyes finally sharpened or maybe my brain was operating at a more normal level, but I recognized the dark shirt he was wearing and more specifically I could feel the spark of fae magic that radiated from the spelled hood.
“Considine,” I said, the name dropping from my lips before I could think. “You’re…Connor is Considine?”
Connor—Considine—raised both eyebrows and a slight smile that I hated because it was unfamiliar on Connor’s face twitched across his lips. “You figured out who Ruin was? Impressive.”
Maybe it had been impressive at the time, but now it was dangerous.
I was in a hospital room, alone, with the Considine Maledictus. Did my team even know where I was? Did anyone know I was here?
I might die.
I’d been getting along with Ruin at night, but he didn’t know I knew he was Considine. There was no telling how he’d react to me knowing who he was—there was no telling how much Connor and Ruin had been a lie.
I’m an idiot—I should have told my family the second I figured his identity out, and now I could possibly die because of it.
Or… would I?
Why had Considine Maledictus brought me to the hospital?
Considine folded his arms across his chest as he stared down at me. “What, no threats or cursing me now that you know my secret identity?” He smirked—it was the same one he’d given me as Connor whenever we shared a joke and I used to like it, but now it felt like a lie.
There were a million things I wanted to know and most of them probably weren’t safe to ask. But… I didn’t get it. He obviously knew Jade O’Neil was the slayer he fought at night.
“Why?” I asked, the word coming out as a croak.
“Which why?” He asked, a mocking tone to his voice that was very foreign matched with Connor’s face.
I shut my eyes and pushed my head back into the pillow, misery knifing through me.
More than the concussion—more than the gunshot wound—my heart ached. I’d counted Connor as a true friend—a rare friend. And it had been a lie.
It’s a wonder he didn’t break a rib holding in laughter every day we hung out.
My eyes burned with tears I refused to shed—that would really make Considine Maledictus laugh.
“I saw you were wounded in the fight.” The smugness was gone from Considine’s voice, and when I opened my eyes again he was staring outside. “You didn’t know it, but backup pulled up shortly after you left—it’s why Gisila didn’t follow you. When you didn’t circle back to join with your team… I knew it would be bad. So, I followed you back to your place.” He pulled his eyes away from the window and glanced around the room. “Then brought you here.”
The way he finished the explanation made me suspect a lot had happened between finding me in my apartment and me ending up at the hospital.
But instead of asking about it, I scanned the room. I didn’t see my uniform or any of my weapons, which put me at a severe disadvantage. Since I don’t have my gun or daggers, what could I use in lieu of them? There must be a sharp instrument somewhere in this room.
The cream cabinet on the wall probably just had linens, but there was a lamp I could maybe use as a bludgeon.
“Your team has been informed you’re here,” Considine said.
The announcement shocked me so deeply I stopped looking for potential weapons and gaped up at him.
“They’re on the way. Someone should be here shortly,” Considine continued.
“D-did,” my voice wobbled, and I licked my lips. “Did they get Gisila?”
“No.” Considine sat back down in the chair and rested his elbows on his thighs, his posture relaxed. “The mercenaries have a geas on them, and she never personally attacked you or your teammates.”