Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
SEB
I limp through the door to the safe house, naked and covered in blood, and slam the door behind me. “Zoe?”
Remus appears out of nowhere, eyes going wide. “Creator bless us all. You’re free!” He rips his phone from his pocket, hits a button, and yells, “Send a message to all zodiac brothers to return to the safe house immediately. Seb is back.”
His automated assistant confirms the message as I hand him the blood-soaked shirt-sac I’m carrying.
“What is this?” he asks.
“Roman’s ring.”
“Holy fuck! Is his hand still attached to it?” Remus holds the bag away from his body.
“Yeah. He’s dead. This time permanently, unless the Order finds a way to reattach a head to a bloodless body. Now, where is Zoe, Remus?”
“She’s in your bedroom. Morwyn is with her. There’s something you should know, Seb. Seb!”
I shove past him and through the door to my room to find Morwyn and a group of nurses working over Zoe. She’s unconscious, and her legs are wrapped in bandages. A fierce growl rumbles in my chest.
Morwyn advances toward me, his hands raised. “She’s stable, Seb, but if she feels stress down your mating bond, you could set her healing back significantly. She only recently stopped thrashing. I’m guessing that has something to do with this.” He gestures at the blood on my chest.
“What happened?” The two words come out like dual weights dropping between us.
Morwyn’s astute gaze scrapes over me. “How much of this blood is yours?”
“Not much.”
His perusal stops at the wound in my hip. “The fact that you’re still standing means you’ve been drinking the water, but we need to treat that. Go get cleaned up and meet me in the kitchen for tea.”
I get up in his face until our noses are touching. “Morwyn, tell me what happened to her,” I grit out.
He folds his arms. “I will, once we get you strong enough to care for her. Now, do as I’ve requested. You’re wasting time.”
As soon as he mentions that he needs me strong enough to care for Zoe, it’s like something flips in my brain.
Everything in me only wants her healthy again.
I nudge past him to get to the bathroom and take the world’s fastest shower, then put on sweats and a T-shirt because anything else would hurt like hell against my wound.
It’s not spreading, but it’s not healing either.
By the time I reach the kitchen, Morwyn has a cup of the celestial tea poured for me.
“This dose should take care of that infection,” he says. “Drink.”
“I’ll drink. You talk.” I glare at him to make sure he knows I mean business.
Morwyn nods. “Zoe was burned pretty badly by Order magic tonight. The burns are first- and second-degree. And thankfully, she isn’t a dragon, so the curse isn’t an issue.”
“Good.”
“But she’s going to need time to heal.”
“All we’ve got is time. I’ll care for her as long as she needs me to.”
Morwyn scratches the stubble on the side of his jaw, obviously procrastinating.
“And?” I prompt.
He blows out a deep breath, his eyes falling on the gold ring on my finger. “The ring!” His gaze flicks to mine. “She finished it!”
I nod. “It saved my life—or at least saved me from a lifetime of captivity. Roman is dead. I brought back his ring.”
“Damn. It seems we owe her a debt of gratitude. Remus had us all out looking for you, but we couldn’t track your location.”
“They had me under a compound in Colorado. Not a place we had on our known list. Looked new. Now, tell me what’s going on with my mate, Morwyn, or my dragon is going to get involved.”
“Zoe used something called gold dust to ascend to a plane where she could perform the magic necessary to get that ring to you.”
“I’m aware. It’s how she’s been helping us this entire time.”
Morwyn frowns. “She’s used a lot of it, Seb. And afterward, when we found her, she was dead.”
“Dead?”
“Her heart had stopped. Patrick performed CPR, and then my team and I took over, and we were able to revive her. But she never regained consciousness. She’s alive and stable.
Her heart is beating steadily. Her lungs are working.
But although her eyes occasionally open, she’s never responded to any stimuli. ”
I set down the teacup, a chill causing me to hug myself and rub my outer arms. “So, she just needs rest and to heal, right?”
Morwyn frowns. “We’re not sure. She still has brain waves, but out of respect for you and her, I didn’t enter her mind.”
“Good choice.”
“But I did try to elicit a response from her. I failed. I’m afraid she’s suffering from postascendant psychosis.”
I frown down into the remains of my tea.
“Judging by your expression and lack of questions, I’m guessing you know what that is.”
“Yeah. She told me.”
His brow wrinkles. “Has this happened to her before?”
“Once.”
“Dammit, Seb. This condition comes about from prolonged overuse of gold dust. If she’d had this happen before, she shouldn’t have been using—”
“Fuck off.”
“Excuse me?”
“We sat around that table in LA and I told you all that I didn’t want to use her, but the entire fucking brotherhood said she was our only hope.
Zoe didn’t use because she was an addict.
She used to save us, to save dragons. And this last time, she used to save me.
We all owe her our lives, not our fucking judgment. ”
Morwyn’s back to scratching his jaw again. If he keeps that up, he’s not going to have to shave that side of his face. “I’m not judging, just reassessing my prognosis.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we need to give her time to heal and then pray for the best. Pray she comes out of it. If you can get her to wake up, she’s got a good chance.”
“What do you mean, if?”
“In some cases, witches never come back from this, Seb.”
“She gave me permission to enter her thoughts. I’ll go in and get her out.”
Morwyn shakes his head. “You may want to leave that one as a last resort.”
“Why?”
“Her psychological state is fragile right now. She’s alive, which means she’s likely working hard to heal herself mentally as well.
We don’t know what is going on inside her mind, but whatever she’s built so far is crucially important.
If you go in and knock down a wall trying to get to her, you could collapse whatever house of cards she’s constructed inside her head.
You could end up ruining what recovery she’s been capable of. ”
“Are you saying there’s nothing I can do to help her?”
“I’m saying, you need to be patient.”
The empty teacup shatters in my tightening grip.
Morwyn shoves his napkin into my bleeding hand. “You can do this. I know you can.”