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Zavida
“ I think we should bring the others in, too, Jas. I’m not hurt badly—not like Xerxes was.” I look at the tense as hell dragon, waiting for the doc to come back from his stores in the back. “Dr. D can look at them at the same time. Salem didn’t even shift and… I really think Kit is hiding an injury.”
I know he is, but I don’t want to say that and set Jasper off again.
His eyes narrow and he studies me for a moment, obviously warring with himself. He wants to have the doctor look at me first because he’s worried, but he also knows I wouldn’t say that lightly. Finally, he growls, turning to the room where Dr. D is gathering supplies. “I’m bringing in the other injured demons. You can triage them all at once.”
Dr. D glides out of the storeroom, nodding. “As you wish, Your Highness. If their injuries are less severe than Xerxes, I will see them now.”
“I’m pretty sure they are,” I say softly. “Mine isn’t all that bad, either. Just some toxins that you need to drain.”
Jasper gives me a suspicious look, then heads over to the door and barks, “Get the rest of them in here. I want everyone patched up and back to their rooms to rest. We’ll file the report with my father’s staff once we’re back to our floor.”
I let out a relieved breath as he comes back over and the others slowly make their way inside. Oriel guides Salem to the next table and for the first time since the battle, he shifts. The panda looks a bit ragged, which isn’t surprising since he went full rage mode on a shit ton of opponents while Kit worked to protect X. Honestly, I thought it would be worse, but being in his animal form likely helped him heal faster. He flops back on the table and O rushes to pull a sheet over his lower half before Slash walks in with Kit in his arms.
It’s pretty endearing how solicitous that cantankerous crow is of the new guy; I see why he was able to worm his way in first.
“Where are Anton and X?” Kit says hoarsely as the biggest dude in our caliphate cradles him close until they reach the next table. Slash puts him down gently, and again, I marvel at how much the new guy has changed my brothers in a short time. “Is X okay?”
Dr. D heads for Kit’s table immediately, and I get the distinct impression he’s probably frowning under that mask. “Master Kit, you are injured and disguising it. Are you able to override your magic’s instinct to cloak that weakness?”
That gets a low, dark growl out of my lover, and he stomps over to the table to join them. His voice is deceptively calm as he grits out, “You said you were not hurt. Slash confirmed it.”
“I did not.” Everyone turns to look at the enormous shark shifter as he crosses his arms over chest. Jasper snarls, but his second-in-command doesn’t flinch. “I said not to accuse me of mistreating him, not that he was unharmed.”
Pretty clever answer, if you ask me, because the Prince knows his general isn’t lying.
“Since when do you parse the spirit and letter of my questions, Slash?”
A hand waves in the air as Kit vies for their attention. “Excuse me, testosterone emitters? This is why I said I wasn’t injured. I mean, I don’t know why it’s… hidden… but I lied because the others are worse. I didn’t want someone to make me jump the fucking line. I’m smaller, but I’m not stupid. And no one has answered my question, by the way.”
“I’m doing better, KK.”
The croak draws all of us to look at the curtain drawn along the back wall and I realize the doc has Xerxes behind it. They must really be fucked up if Dr. D is keeping them separate. Kit frowns, scooting like he’s going to leap off of the table and Slash steps in front of him with a firm head shake.
“No.”
“Move. I’m going to go see them.”
“No.”
The admittedly smaller guy pokes the biggest one in the chest with a scowl. “You’re not my keeper. I’m getting up and you’d better not try to stop me.”
Slash doesn’t move and within seconds, Jasper is standing next to him, looming over Kit with a matching stern expression. “As the Prince, I forbid it.”
The snort that follows that statement is full of derision. “As the actual person in control of their body, you can go straight to… here , Jasper Eversore. I’ll get up if I want to and the two of you can glare at me until your faces get stuck that way for all I care. I want to see my friend who is hurt.”
“KK…” X’s voice is soft and everyone shuts up as they speak. “Don’t fight them. I’m still re-energizing from the energy I burned up. The doc said it’s better to be cut off by this curtain thing so I don’t lose what I’m building back up. You can see me once I’m tip-top again; you know how I hate for people to see me as less than fab, anyway.”
I don’t know when all of my brothers got so damn sneaky and conscientious, but I’m going to have to take some lessons from them.
The room is quiet for a moment until the stubborn guy finally gives in. “Okay, fine. But only because you asked me, not because these clowns think they’re my keepers.”
Anton pokes his head out from behind the curtain, his eyes dark as he studies the dark haired guy. “Thank you for worrying about them—about everyone—but you must let the doctor see what is wrong with you. If Dr. D is correct, you need to unravel the protection as you did the other. You can do this, Kit.”
His words seem to make Kit feel better, but much like in the arena, I don’t think he even knows how he’s doing it, much less how to stop it. He scoots back, lying down on the table again and closing his eyes. His lips move as he mutters something inaudible to himself, and I tilt my head. I think he’s trying to reason with his magic—something it took me years to learn. Nothing happens at first, but after a few minutes of coaxing, a warm glow emanates from his form that turns to an inky black halo where the wound must be.
Suddenly, Kit's hand flies up to cover the spot. Dark red blood covers his fingers as he holds it and he mutters,“Aw, fuuuuck.”
“This is not a small injury, little demon.” Slash’s expression is stormy, and he looks at the new guy like he’s going to turn him over his knee.
What’s more interesting is that Kit looks like he’s trying to figure out if he likes the idea.
Finally, he glares up at the shark shifter defiantly. “I didn’t say it was small.”
Confounded by his own trick, Slash huffs and Jas smirks at him. When my dragon’s gaze comes back to Kit, it’s no longer amused. No, it’s full of barely contained fury. “Kit Camponella, you lied to us. I don’t care why, but it’s unacceptable.”
Even Salem winces at his tone, but I know it well. This is the dominant side of Jasper, and that means he’s furious with our newest brother. It also means he’s attracted to him, but I’m not going to risk his temper by suggesting that. It took a while for the Prince to admit our attraction to himself because he worried that he would fuck up the caliphate and put me in his father’s sights. Kit’s already placed himself on the King’s shit list, so that’s not a concern here. But given that it’s well-known that all of us have some level of interest in the kid, Jasper would have to learn to share.
It’s not in his nature, so I’m interested to see how he handles this—or fucks it up for himself entirely.
“I knew X and Salem and Zav were hurt worse,” Kit protests. “And, um…well, it didn’t hurt anymore, so I thought…”
“You thought what?” Slash asks. “That if you didn’t think about it, it would go away?”
Kit’s face turns bright red and he shrugs, then gasps in pain. “I mean… yeah? That’s how I always dealt with shit that hurt in the past. I just… gritted my teeth and did the best I could until things healed. I mean, except the one time, but… that is not a conversation for today.”
Jasper makes a strangled sound of anger, then turns to his second. “I am leaving you in charge of handling him right now. I can’t… I can’t even deal with that statement.” His eyes cut back to Kit before he adds, “But only I will handle his punishment. Is that clear?”
“No one is punishing me for making decisions about my body,” the stubborn, partially emerged dude says. “I’m a goddamned adult.”
“Perhaps you should act like it and let Dr. D work on you so he can heal the others instead of arguing with us while they suffer.”
Damn it, Jasper.
Kit’s expression crumples for a tiny moment, then hardens as he looks away from the Prince. “Dank, I’m sorry for being a problem. I would love for you to come help me—with the fucking curtain drawn.”
“Ouch,” Oriel says under his breath as he sits with Salem. “Denied.”
“Of course I can, Master Kit.” The plague masked doctor comes over, dutifully pulling the barrier in front of Jasper and me. He doesn’t seem to move to close off the other side, so Kit does not mind them watching.
“Jasper,” I murmur as he stomps over to me with a dark scowl on his handsome face. “That was not your finest moment. You should apologize.”
He gives me a dirty look, clearly pouting about the curtain and the brush-off. “Princes don’t apologize, especially when they are right .”
Sighing, I take his hand between mine. “I know you’re worried about me, about Xerxes, about Salem, and even about Kit Kat. Not being able to control that stupid scenario has you feeling responsible for those who were hurt. And you couldn’t stop it, nor keep the dragon from taking over, so it’s even worse. Right?”
The Prince of Hell just keeps scowling at me like a recalcitrant child and it takes everything in me not to chuckle. His father broke him so thoroughly as a child that it’s amazing he’s able to fight much of the training he was programmed to follow like a good little automaton until he found our caliphate. Right now, he probably wants to lash out again, and that won’t help anything. In fact, it might ruin his chances altogether and because I love him, I don’t want that to happen.
People besides me need to know how fiercely devoted Jasper Eversore is to those he allows into the fortress of his heart.
“Kit is scared, Jas,” I whisper to him. “This is the first time he used magic and he didn’t realize it was his until it was too late. He’s feeling guilty and upset about everyone being harmed. With his issues, it’s not surprising that he made the decision to put everyone else first. He’s probably been doing it most of his life, right?”
Jasper frowns, looking thoughtful. “But he lied—several times. Zavvie, he had an arrow embedded in his fucking shoulder and sat around waiting until he was called. He could have bled out.”
I tilt my head. “He wasn’t bleeding until he forced the magic to recede. I think it was… plugging it? Fuck, I don’t know because we have no idea what his heritage really is. His powers are a completely blank slate, though I’ve never seen people lose their shit like they did in that exercise. And that magic blocking the wound was black… shadows, perhaps?”
“He’s not from my line. You know we can tell.”
Whew. I’m finally getting past his rage and spite.
“Yes, and none of us can feel that he’s part of our people. What the hell does that leave?”
Jasper frowns again then looks over his shoulder as mutters, “I don’t fucking know, Zavvie.”
That’s exactly my point.