Page 34 of Midnight Queen

Confused, I look at Lorcan for an explanation, but all I get is a shrug and, “Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it. I believe your boyfriend did though.”

Boyfriend… I don’t know what Silas and I are, but I know that mundane terms like boyfriend or girlfriend don’t come remotely close to encompassing all that we are to each other. Right now, it really doesn’t matter what our titles are, either way, I’m really fucking annoyed with him.

Just as we reach the cracked door, the nurse wearing red-framed glasses raises her voice at us from behind the nurse’s station. “Hesaid there would be only one person staying here with Mr. Greyson.” I don’t need her to elaborate further. I know theheshe’s referring to is my vampire. “Why do more of you keep showing up here? This is the ICU. We don’t exactly have an open-door policy. You can’t come in here whenever you please,” the bitter woman bites at us, instantly making me come to an abrupt halt.

Spinning slowly on my heels, I turn toward the circular desk she hides behind. “We’re just here to check in on Duke. I can assure you, we won’t get in anyone’s way,” I promise her tightly, while pulling the hood off my head. Silas has kept me from seeing Duke all week, I’m not going to allow anyone else to do the same. “If you’re going to hinder us from doing so, I have no problem making a phone call. Though, I would really hate to havehimcome here, and sort this all out.” Her eyes behind her glasses grow wide at the possibility, confirming what I already assumed. Silas was here and he left alovelyimpression. “But it’s truly up to you and whether or not you’re going to make things difficult for us.”

Her thin lips flatten and twitch as she thinks over my offer. A couple times, I swear I even see her nose twitch, like she’s an angry rabbit or some other rodent. “Fine,” she relents. “But don’t touch anything.”

How stupid does she think we are?“Well, shit, there goes my plan to jump rope with his IV tubing,” I mockingly pout before I roll my eyes at the absurdity of her request.

Lor snickers, following behind me when I turn away from the desk.

I’m met by the familiar beep of a heart monitor and the steady sound of a ventilator as I slide the door open and step into the room. The blue curtain is drawn, cutting the space in half and concealing Duke’s bed.

Holding my breath, I gently pull it back far enough that I can slip around it.

I’ve seen many patients in hospital beds with tubes shoved down their throats and IVs stuck in their arms, but I’ve never seen someone I cared about in this state. The sight of Duke, strong—lively—Duke, like that makes my heart hurt.

This never should have happened to him,I think, just as a small voice comes from the chair in the corner of the room. “Quincey?”

Following the sound, I find Della sitting with a thin blanket over her lap and a half-read book in her hand. I’ve never seen the older woman without her makeup and hair done. Without it, her dark circles that could rival mine are clearly on display. I wonder if she’s slept a wink all week.

“Della,” I sigh her name in relief. I’m moving across the small room toward her before she fully has a chance to pull herself out of the chair.

Up until this point, I didn’t know if we were close enough to hug each other, but when she meets my embrace with equal enthusiasm, I discover we are.

“It is really good to see you,” she whispers, her hand patting my back. “I wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, but I knew Silas would find you.” Pulling back, she cups my face with gentle hands. “How are you? Are you healing alright? Silas has been frustratingly vague when I’ve asked for updates on you.”

Seems I’m not the only one he’s keeping things from.

Della’s face falls when she takes in the yellowish bruises and scabs on my face. Collecting her hands with mine, I retreat with a reassuring smile when she attempts to tilt my chin toward the light so she can get a better look.

“I’m okay,” I tell her, which only causes her to frown. “Really, I’m okay. The only thing that still hurts are my wrists.” And my heart. My heart still hurts for Ira. “If the doctors are right, and I have nerve damage in them, it will probably take some time for them to heal.”

That is,ifthey can ever heal—there’s some worry that for the rest of my life I will suffer from weakness and numbness in my fingers. I knew as I hung there by my wrists that the damage would be severe, but I really hoped it wouldn’t be permanent.

“If you think she looks bad now, you should have seen her when we found her. Twas not a pretty sight,” Lorcan pipes up unhelpfully from where he leans against the wall. “She looks like a pretty penny compared to that.”

Della scowls at the vampire. “Good Lord, are youstillhere?”

Laughing softly, I tell her, “I said the same thing just a little while ago. Silas had to leave and handle something, so he left Lorcan behind as my bodyguard.”

“More like a glorified babysitter,” Lor mumbles to himself.

Dropping Della’s wrinkled hands, I step toward the bed where my sleeping friend lies. “How is he doing? Has there been any improvement?” Lorcan had filled me in more on Duke’s status on our way here. I’ve seen this before and understand what the doctors are doing for him. The hardest part now is the waiting game to see how Duke’s body will respond.

Stepping closer to the bed, I wrap my hand around Duke’s larger one. His skin feels dry and cracked from the hospital air, but I don’t care. My lips twitch at the sight of his overgrown facial hair. Duke has always had a five o’clock shadow, but now there’s a visible layer of scruff on his face. There’s a bandage on his forehead, presumably from where his head slammed into the steering wheel or window in the crash, but still, he looks as handsome as ever.

Della’s face breaks into a watery grin. “They saw a lot of improvement in his last scan. They’re going to try and lighten the sedation in a day or two and wake him up.”

My breath catches in my chest at the good news. “He’s going to be okay,” I speak it into existence because I need more than anything for it to come true. We’ve already lost Ira and losing Duke as well would be unacceptable.Unfathomable.

“They won't know if there’s any permanent damage until he’s fully awake,” Della explains, coming to stand on the other side of the bed. I stare at her while she lovingly brushes a hand down Duke’s face like a worried mother. I don’t know much about Duke’s past or family, but I get the feeling that Della is the closest thing he has to a mother figure.

In the end, we’ve all become a weird dysfunctional family. For a long time, I thought Lucy was the only family I had, but now I have all of them. Which is something I never would have guessed would happen when Silas brought me in.

Shit… Lucy.I haven’t reached out to her all week; she’s probably losing her fucking mind over my silence. I promised her when I started working for Silas that I would talk to her every day. She’s probably thinking the worst right now. For all I know, she has a search party out there looking for me as we speak. Truth is, I haven’t seen my phone all week and I haven’t made any effort to search for it.

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