Exton

The sun goes down and I get up; I can't wait to look in on Raina. Gareth and Ky left me a note today, telling me that Raina had been awake and had spoken a few words before the pain meds put her under again. I want to see her, make my own assessment, then - maybe - speak to Rowan about taking her home. The Manse is a nice place to visit, I guess, but I wouldn't want to live here. Hell, I wouldn't want to die here.

Ky gives up her chair right willingly and staggers off - to do naughty things with Gareth, I'm sure. Raina looks better today. Her color hasn't all come back, but she's not that icky pale she was earlier. I settle in the armchair by the bed, silent as the dead, and just watch her breathe.

Some ten or twelve minutes later, her nose twitches; then she yawns. It's a baby yawn at first, then it turns into one of those I-can-see-your-tonsils yawns. I hear her jaw muscles pop and in the middle of it, she opens her eyes.

I raise a hand but say nothing. When she re-hinges her jaw, she raises her hand in her turn.

"How."

"I know how. What is want to know is when."

"Me, too." She looks around appreciatively. "This is the nicest mausoleum I've ever been in, but a mausoleum is a mausoleum for a' that."

"How's your head?"

"I've never had any complaints... ohhhh, that head!"

"You're better," I say with satisfaction. "Hang tight, I'm gonna go find Rowan and see if I can take you home. You want anything, ring for a sylph."

"Creepy little fuckers," she mutters. "Still, I could use a drink, maybe some of that tasteless broth...."

"I'll see what I can do."

I listen for Rowan's heartbeat and find it four doors down, on the opposite side of the hall. I rap quietly at the door and hear an equally quiet "come in."

Rowan is working on Star, cleaning and dressing the acid burns with some kind of ointment. She turns as I enter. "Sorry, Nick, you're dead. I can't cure that."

I grin. "Actually, I came to ask about Raina. She's champing at the bit to go home."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you have nothing to do with that.... Let me finish here and I'll look in on her. BUT" - she turns those Irish eyes on me, and they're not smiling - "if I let her go home, she needs rest and quiet. No fighting, no riding, no acrobatic sex. Got it?"

"Got it." I make a face. "Damn, she might as well be drugged again...."

"If she doesn't follow my orders, I'll drug her till she's as energetic as a string bean, and you can tell her I said that."

I snap a salute. "Yes, ma'am!"

She flips me off and I go back to Raina's room to await developments. "Sorry, babe, the doc says no swinging from the chandelier...."