Chapter Ten #2
“Are you a doctor, or are you just stupid? She’s my patient.
Because of you, we’ve spent the entire day doing our best to repair what you and your fucking friends broke.
I thought it was over. I hoped I wouldn’t have to see another brutalised person tonight.
But no! I now have two unconscious patients to add to my overflowing surgery, and I’m telling you, Master or no Master, she belongs to the owner of this castle, and it’s up to me to fix her! ”
“Wrong.” I stalked into her. “She’s mine, and I’ll take care of her.”
Her eyes flickered to my cut arm. Her expression said she didn’t give a rat’s ass about sewing me up anymore, but she would fight me on behalf of the jewels in her care.
Her backbone grew stupidly brave as she shook her head.
“If you think you can have more of your twisted fun tonight with a passed-out, bruise-riddled jewel, you deserve to die from that knife wound.”
I reeled backward. “Do I look like the type of man who would fuck her in this condition?”
“You’re the one who put her in this condition!”
“Give me the fucking supplies, and let me pass!” I bellowed, making Ily flinch but not rouse.
“Go jump off the roof!”
“Mel, enough!” The nurse leapt into action.
Jogging to the cupboard of many shelves, she hastily ripped out a few other things along with a vial of colourless liquid.
“I’m sorry, Master H. Please...forgive her.
We’ve had a long day with jewels being brought in from the hunt.
Many of them are injured.” Her voice turned small.
“A few are dead. It’s...just...forgive us. ”
Inhaling hard, feeling my own agonies, I nodded. “Forgiven.”
Melanie sneered but held her tongue this time.
Rose padded back to me, scooped up the bowl I’d dropped, then carefully tucked the supplies onto Ily’s stomach where she lay sleeping in my arms. “There’s a guest room two doors down from here. Please stay there tonight so we can come check on you both when we’ve stabilised Peter, okay?”
The way she watched me.
Maternally.
Kindly.
It very nearly brought me to my knees.
The weight of the world crushed my shoulders, and all I wanted to do was beg this woman to fix everything. To reverse all my actions. To heal Ily and heal me. To stop me from ever being this way.
Swallowing around the rocks in my throat, I nodded. “Fine.”
Melanie sucked in a breath as if surprised by my sudden amenability.
Stepping closer, Rose dared put her hand on my filthy forearm. “Do you give me your word that you’ll look after her? That you won’t hurt her anymore?”
I wanted to tell her it wasn’t me who hurt her, but I couldn’t.
Every wound she carried was because of me.
“On the memory of my mother, I swear I only want to help.”
“In that case...may I?” Moving her hand from my forearm to Ily’s cheek, she raised an eyebrow.
“If you intend on bathing her and treating her bruises, she’ll need something to withstand the pain.
Once she’s clean and resting, we’ll come in with the portable X-ray machine and take a few slides of her chest and abdomen to make sure nothing is broken.
I’m hoping she’ll stay unconscious while you tend to her, but...
if she wakes while you’re still treating her, she might hurt herself by trying to get away. So...I’m willing to trust you, Henri.”
My eyes flew to hers.
Another?
Yet another person willing to trust me when I’d done nothing to deserve it?
What Peter had said crowded my mind.
“I see what she does now. You did come for us. You’re going to free us. I know it—”
I had no intention of doing that.
I had nowhere else to go.
If I stepped foot outside this place, I’d die. And I was a selfish, selfish man because I had no intention of releasing Ily.
“Peter informed us that Ily doesn’t tolerate chemicals well. However, the usual over-the-counter medicines won’t dull her pain enough. So...” She flicked a look at the doctor. “Do you think she could tolerate GHB, Mel?”
Dr Belford’s eyes widened. “The date rape drug? Are you mad? You want to give a highly potent drug to someone who can’t metabolise them?”
“Her system already makes GHB. We all do. Albeit in very tiny amounts. I doubt she’d have an adverse reaction to it as long as we got the dose right.”
“I’d hope to God we got it right because the wrong one would be fatal.”
“Fatal?” I backed up, hugging Ily closer. “No fucking way are you giving her anything that could kill her. Jesus.”
Both the nurse and the doctor looked at me with matching questionable expressions.
I didn’t care we were on camera.
I didn’t care Victor would see his in-house doctor yelling at me or my responses to Ily’s condition. He could taunt me or threaten me all he wanted, but under no circumstances would I put Ily through another experience like the one she’d had in Ruby Tears.
And the fact I could look back on that night—one of the most freeing of my life—and only abhor it now broke yet another fucking part of me.
Were there any pieces left?
How much could a man keep breaking before he shattered into dust?
Rose held up the tiny glass vial. “This is GHB in liquid form. It’s practically tasteless and—”
“No.” I shook my head.
“She’s in a lot of pain, Henri.” Rose used liberties with my name again.
“She might’ve fainted because of Peter’s treatment, but I think it’s more about the fact she reached the limits of her endurance.
The kindest thing you could do for her is to let her sleep while you tend to her.
And this” —she wriggled the bottle— “is probably the only sedative she can have.”
I stepped back again.
Rose followed me. “This doesn’t work the same way as psilocybin. It’s gamma-hydroxybutyrate, and in the dose I’m suggesting, all she’ll feel is tired. If she wakes, her pain receptors will be dulled. The worst side effects would be slight inhibition and giddiness. That’s all.”
“I’m not fucking drugging her, alright?”
Ily moaned in my arms; her eyes cracked open a little.
Rose caught her hazy gaze and smiled. “Welcome back. How’re you feeling?”
“Sore.” Ily winced, trying to get away from my arm pressed against her ribs.
I shifted immediately, swallowing a hiss as her hair stuck to my stab wound.
Melanie darted forward, snatching the vial out of Rose’s hand.
“Now you’re awake...you can make the choice.
” Smiling thinly, she added, “As you know, Peter’s in a bad way, and we need to tend to him first. But...
you’re also in a state. Your Master has agreed to do the initial clean-up and tend to your bruises.
It will hurt. You really shouldn’t move.
Rose has suggested you take a micro-dose of GHB to keep you still, and... I tend to agree with her.”
Ily stiffened. “No, I can’t—”
“You shouldn’t have any symptoms like you did last time. All you should feel is drowsy and free from pain for a while. Does that sound okay?”
Ily laughed, then bit her bottom lip with a moan. “Is that a trick question?”
“Okay then.” Unscrewing the vial, the doctor sucked up the barest amount into a pipette.
“Wait.” Ily blinked and tried to be more coherent. “Are you sure it won’t make me hallucinate? I don’t think I can go through that again.”
“No.” Melanie shook her head. “You should just be a little spacey. However, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I also didn’t advise that it might cause feelings of euphoria and increased sex drive.
In too high a dose, it could cause tremors, nausea, breathing difficulties, and or death. So it’s not one I regularly—”
“No way.” I bared my teeth. “No drugs. Give her some damn Panadol.”
“Panadol won’t touch the sort of pain she’s suffering.” Her hate-filled eyes met mine. “And it’s not your choice, is it?”
Ily trembled as if the thought of existing for another moment in pain was too much. She didn’t look at me. Didn’t ask me to put her down. She just nodded. “If it will give me some peace for a little while...then, yes please.”
I sucked in a breath. “Ily, no—”
“I’ve made my choice.” She refused to make eye contact.
Melanie sucked in a breath and squeezed out all the liquid in the pipette until only a few drops remained. Holding it over Ily’s mouth, she murmured, “Open.”
Hesitantly, Ily parted her lips and grimaced as the medicine was administered. Hardly anything at all. A thimble size. Minuet really.
Catching my eyes, the doctor ordered, “If she falls unconscious again, I expect you to monitor her. Roll her onto her side and keep her airway clear. Seeing as Ily has a history of being a lightweight when it comes to substances, it’s your job to keep an eye on her and request us if her care requirements exceed your capabilities. ”
“We’ll pop by as soon as we can.” Rose smiled, her eyes far kinder. Either she was far better at hiding her true thoughts or she didn’t hate me as much as Melanie did.
“Fine.” I gritted my teeth. “You have my word. I’ll never take my eyes off her.”
“I can walk, Hen—” Ily cut herself off. “Please, put me down, Master H.”
“No. And don’t ask again.”
Melanie huffed and tucked the vial into her scrub pocket. “Two doors down. Make yourself at home. And Ily...don’t fight the effects, okay? In ten to twenty minutes, you should feel a lot more relaxed and able to ignore the pain.”
“Sounds wonderful.” Ily nodded with a wince.
Spinning on my heel, I strode out of the room before the doctor could say anything else.
* * * * *
Obeying the doctor’s commands, I guided Ily into the spare guest chamber and flicked on the lights.
Slightly smaller than our room below, this one glowed in autumn colours.
A bed frame made of dull copper, white blankets edged with burnt orange, and curtains a dark shade of bronze.
A dresser lined most of the wall with a workstation, minibar, and TV.
The view from the small Juliette balcony displayed more of the gardens, allowing us to look down upon the battlements in the distance and the beetle-sized guards patrolling with their spotlights.