7. HYRAN
7
HYRAN
“Make sure we can take him back with us.”
Don’t touch him, you can’t have him, Hyran thought. He wanted to crush Coldis—Col—to his chest and never let the Conduit go. Never let another Guardian near him ever again. He forced himself to not move while the physician approached.
The physician had a white ring and a dark blue one on his collar which told Hyran he was still in training and hadn’t picked a secondary specialization beyond general physician yet. He looked uneasy and glanced over his shoulder at Vin before managing a shaky smile. He stepped up to Col’s bed and accessed the patient data on the screen mounted there.
“Well, Conduit Solara is scheduled to be seen by Physician Kanela later today.” He checked Col’s meds. The infusion was just about finished. “I can remove the line for you, Conduit. That should be more comfortable.”
“He wants to leave,” Vin said.
Col smiled at the physician. “I really do. And you’ve met Guardian Vin. You can imagine his bedside manner and how he’ll force me to rest all day long. I’d just rather not do it at the clinic.”
Hyran cleared his throat. “Col, you could wait just a little while longer, have a proper meal, maybe? I can get you—I can get the protector to get you whatever you’d like.”
Mostly what Hyran hoped for was more time alone with Col, more time without Team Three being in the room, without the Guardians Col was so close to interrupting that tenuous connection they had.
On top of that, the way Vin had said take him back home with us indicated they weren’t talking about Hyran’s place, and why should they? It wasn’t home for Col, was even more unfamiliar than the housing they’d been given in the Tower.
Col put a hand on Hyran’s arm, a warming touch. “I’d much rather have breakfast with everyone. You have to join us, of course, meet everyone properly. You’ve already spoken to the butler bot. It loves food displays no one asked for, and I can only imagine what it would do if you asked it nicely.”
Vin glared. To be fair, the Guardian’s face seemed to have a permanent glare as the default, but Hyran still couldn’t help but see it as a kind of attack. For once in my life, I’m grateful his type of powers can’t touch me.
Col squeezed Hyran’s arm and went on, “Hyran. I’d be more comfortable back at the Champions’ Tower. Please.”
Which of course was both the best and the worst thing his Conduit could have said. On a certain level, Hyran could tell, on another, it didn’t matter. All he wanted was to please Col, make him smile, make him seek the physical nearness Hyran was already craving.
Hyran looked at the physician. “Can you give him a final scan and schedule a follow-up he can come in for later? He’s already far from home, and making sure he’s comfortable can only improve his healing, right? I’ll make sure he won’t be alone in case his condition worsens.”
The physician looked at Col’s file again. “Will he be at the Champions’ Tower?”
“Yes,” Hyran said. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Vin’s glare seemed to be less intense.
“Ah. You can get him here quickly if he does show signs of getting worse—lethargy, aphasia, dizziness or anything that indicates an altered mental state, Guardian Hyran? It says you’re a kinetomancer. I assume you’re familiar with symptoms after a concussion.”
“Yes, I can, and yes I am.”
“Well, I can give him a scan, but I can only sign off on his release if it’s mostly clear. Conduit Solara, you came in hours after you sustained your injury, and we always want to be very thorough with something as severe as a head injury. I know it’s inconvenient, but it’s necessary.”
“Just get him to the scan,” Vin said, and the physician jumped.
Hyran felt for the man. Guardian Vin had a way of fading into the background until he was right behind you and whispering in your ear.
“Walking out of the clinic like this is getting to be a bad habit,” Col said in the elevator.
He picked at his hair. The physician had removed the bandage, had covered the scabbed-over wound just behind the hairline on the right side of his head with fast drying wound gel that clearly still bothered the Conduit.
“At least it’s just one of us in pajamas today,” Taros said.
“At least the bots are less annoying than the first time around,” Vin said.
Hyran had no idea what that was about.
Col’s scans had shown nothing worrying, though the physician had been clear about him having to take medication for the next ten days for swelling and inflammation and just general tissue recovery.
Col had barely been willing to wait for a nurse bot to bring them all of that before he’d demanded shoes. With clinic slippers about a size too big, he was now on his way to the exit, allowing Hyran to put a hand on the small of his back as they exited the elevator, if nothing else. A nurse bot was hovering ahead of them, one set of robotic eyes fixed on Vin for some reason.
“Do you need to go to your place, Hyran?” Taros asked.
“Huh?”
“Well, we can go ahead with Col if you need to stop by your place.”
Col groaned. “You know he won’t do that, Tar-Tar.”
The purple-haired Guardian shrugged. “Had to offer.”
Just keep calm. “I’m fine, Guardian Taros, but thank you.”
Hyran was glad his mothers had never once allowed him to lapse when it came to politeness, stating they didn’t like young Guardians weren’t ever taught a sufficient amount of it. Right now, falling back on it when a part of him wanted to throttle Taros and carry Col back to his own apartment was a Covenant-blessed skill to rely on.
“Sure. Col, I was wondering, do you want me to move out of the room we were sharing, or do you want to pick a new one? Something a little quieter?”
Hyran froze, stopping in the center of the clinic’s generous foyer. He closed Col in his arms, pressed him to his chest. He was mindful of not hurting the Conduit or tried to be, but all he wanted was to lift him up in his arms and run, as fast and far as his power allowed.
Instead, he stood there, baring his teeth at Taros. “Why would you say that? I have done nothing to you. I have done nothing to him. Why would you say that right here, right now?”
Taros grinned. The panoplian’s power was exceptional and could be devastating if Hyran let Taros touch him. Blades blossomed on Taros’s face and the back of his hands. Vin was moving slowly, circling them and using the nurse bot as cover. Hyran’s hold on Col tightened.
“Guardians, please remember where you are,” the nurse bot said.
“You imprinted on him,” Taros said. “That’s what you did. And you upset Orrey and had him look around a violent murder scene. That’s not what I’d call nothing.”
The worst was, he wasn’t wrong. Not about any of it.
Col put a hand on his chest. “Hyran.” He looked down at Col, who looked angry. “Let me go.”
“No, I—” He shook his head. “Please don’t go, Col.”
“I won’t. But you’re holding me quite tightly. Please let me go.”
Hyran let his arms fall away, fear taking him when Col stepped away from him and walked toward Taros.
Col hit Taros’s chest with a flat palm. “You’re overreacting. Stop it.”
Vin was still behind the bot. “He wanted to drag Hyran out of your room in the middle of the night last night after thinking about all the things he might be doing to you, and I stopped him. He’s being reasonable now.”
“We’re not letting some quick runner take you away from us. Sen had them run a blood test yesterday because Orrey suggested that, so we know he’s not pretending the imprinting happened, but—”
“Guardian, that is a serious accusation to level against a fellow Guardian,” the nurse bot said.
“And I’ll seriously damage your circuitry,” Vin said. “Shut it.”
The bot fell quiet, though its eyes blinked as if it were panicking.
Hyran took a step toward Col, who still stood there, his palm on Taros’s chest. He’s mine. He shouldn’t be touching another.
“You would honestly think I’d do such a thing? Lie about something like that? I’d be cast out of Ferrea or any city. I’d be no better than those insurrectionists who came here and murdered people. They almost murdered Col!”
“It was Ferrean Guardians who killed one of our hospitality horrors yesterday, and the remaining one was crying his eyes out in our suite all night.” Vin crossed his arms and shoved the nurse bot out of the way. “I’ve decided I don’t like a lot of things here in Ferrea. A lot of them. How some of you treat Conduits.”
“Guardians—” the bot started.
“Everyone, shut up.” Col spun and grabbed Vin by his long hair, then Taros by his collar. “Shut up and follow my words: Hyran doesn’t deserve this. Well, you upset my little brother, Hyran, so you deserve some of this, but we already discussed that. But what you two are doing is asking him to be his worst, and that reflects very poorly on me, the person leading our team. I won’t have it. Is that understood?”
He yanked them around, which should have been comical given the size difference, but Hyran couldn’t find it so. Col was too close to those other Guardians for his comfort.
And also…touch me like that. Tell me what to do.
“Yes,” Vin said.
“Yeah, but if he—”
“Is it understood, Taros?”
The blades bloomed sharper, then faded as the panoplian controlled himself. “Yes, it’s understood.”
“Wonderful.” Col released them. “No need for me to get my office AI to set up a form with easy-to-understand language for you then. Now, can we please head to the fucking Champion’s Tower without anyone doing anything more stupid than absolutely necessary so I can use the energy I actually do have to help the two AIs not made for it to run this city’s Grounds?”
“Col, you should rest,” Hyran said though it wasn’t what he wanted to say. What you just did was incredibly hot, was what he wanted to say. He didn’t dare.
Col stepped away from Vin and Taros, fixed his blue and brown eyes on Hyran, who wasn’t prepared for the arousal that sparked in him. “I will rest when I can be sure no one misbehaves while I do, Hyran. Now, I believe we were leaving.”
Col headed for the door, and Hyran followed him. If it hadn’t been for the imprinting drawing him to physical closeness, he would have done what the other two and the nurse bot were doing: stand there and observe Coldis Solara being glorious, even in yellow pajamas and slippers that didn’t fit him.