Page 2 of Bound By Roses

Before he can stop me, I pull back the blanket from his lower half. The blood drains from my face the instant I see the blood draining from him, seeping from the wound on his thigh. It seems our quickness to become one has torn open whatever stitches the healers already put in place. I quickly apply pressure, though I’m not sure if I’m even making a difference. There isn’t a lot of blood, but my hands seem to do nothing to stop its flow, regardless.

Quinn sucks in a sharp breath as I press harder.

“Serves you right,” Aurelia mutters. “Healers.Now.”

“We’ll be right there,” I promise her, hoping the authority in my tone matches hers. What the fuck was Quinn thinking allowing me to be so rough with him?

“We’ll need to see if that locks,” he mutters as Aurelia exits, shutting the door behind her.

Is that all he has to say? I push myself away from him and hastily begin the search for my shirt. I can feel his eyes on me.

“Stabby?”

I don’t answer him. My heart is pounding in my chest, and my head feels like it’s spinning. I have to grab hold of the bed so I don’t lose my balance. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Quinn try to stand. He slips, either on the blood or the inability to put enough weight on that leg to hoist himself upright.

“Stabby, talk to me.” There’s genuine concern in his voice now, and my panic turns to anger.

I risk the dizziness and whirl around to face him. “You can’t keep doing this!” I don’t mean to yell the words, but I don’t regret them in the slightest.

“Doing what?”

I drop to my knees in front of him so that he can look me in the eyes and see the seriousness in them. “Not taking care of yourself. Last night showed me how it would feel to lose you. I can’t go through that again. Not ever. It would destroy me.”

He presses his hand softly against my cheek and catches a tear that I didn’t realize had fallen. “You’re not going to lose me. The only reason Aurelia is on my ass is because I dripped blood on her floor. This will be nothing but a scar in a matter of days.” He takes my hand in his and presses it flat against the scar on his chest. The scar I created when I drove my knife into it. Although he doesn’t say it, I know this is his way of telling me that he’s survived worse.

“I’m not worried about your leg.”

His face hardens. “Then what?”

“It’s just…” I groan, exasperated. I take a moment to find the right words, and he waits for them in silence. “This is what you do. What you always do. Tess isn’t here to put you in your place, so I need to be able to trust you to ask for help when you need it.”

“Okay,” he agrees.

“Okay?” I was expecting some kind of argument.

He leans forward and kisses the top of my forehead, letting his lips linger there.‘The last thing I want is to be the source of your worries.’He pulls away and offers me a smile. “Help me get dressed?”

I pull him to his feet. He buttons his pants as I search for both of our shirts. It isn’t until I pull mine back over my head that I realize how desperately we need something new to wear—and a bath. We’re both still covered in sand and dried blood from the night before, but getting clean is going to have to wait until Quinn’s leg is taken care of.

I let him lean on me as we hobble out of the room and down the glass tunnel hall. There wasn’t much of time to appreciate the design of this place when we arrived yesterday, but now thatno one is trying to kill us—at least not right this moment—I find myself marvelling at the shimmering hues of blue and green that encompass us.

I finally understand why they call this the Jade Coast. The water seems to turn from blue to green the closer it gets to the bottom, and I can’t help but wonder what gives it that striking colour. I think back to the glowing algae that lines the pool where Jade still floats, but quickly stop myself.

I can’t think about him right now. Not yet.

As we move deeper through the tunnels, they remind me less of Lunae. Sure, there were tunnels beneath the city just like there are here, but Lunae’s are scattered and disorganized. This underground city is nothing but ordered.

From what I can tell, it’s divided into four quadrants of sprawling tunnels lined with rooms on either side, leaving the heart of the city a communal dining hall. I won’t know for certain until we eventually make our way inside, but from the small glimpses we’ve had when we passed by some of the various entrances, I’d say my theory is correct.

It doesn’t take us long to reach the quadrant that houses the infirmary. It’s just how I remember it from last night—except much busier. Last night, the only occupied bed before the battle began was the one Rhett sits on now. And after the battle? I have no idea. This room could have been just as busy as it is now and all I would remember is the pain in my chest from two broken bonds, and the choice I made to keep Jade alive.

Rhett’s eyes brighten when he spots us. “You two look like shit,” he says when we reach him. Quinn stumbles and has to grip the edge of the bed to maintain his balance, the blood trickling down his leg already beginning to pool beneath where he’d stopped. Rhett’s eyes move from the crimson puddle to me. “I know you said you didn’t want to see me out of this bed, but—”

“Yes,” I say hastily, giving him permission to slide off the raised thin mattress so Quinn can clamber atop. “You’re not going to be the next to bleed out in front of me, are you?”

Rhett laughs, but it turns into a wince. He pulls up the side of his shirt to show me the bandage wrapped tightly around his waist. I assume he has a matching one over the injury on his shoulder. “They’ve got me so wrapped up that I could probably do a backflip and nothing would tear.”

“Let’s not test that theory,” I mutter before turning my attention back to Quinn. There’s a look on his face that tells me he already knows what I’m thinking.

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