Page 21 of Kian's Devotio
Karalee was swallowed up in hugs from Ailith and Gran.
Ailith asked how life had been since they moved to Scotland.
Karalee told her most things, but Kian could tell she hadn’t told her everything.
And he had to clench his hands into fists to keep his anger in check at all she had gone through.
Ailith had hugged her again and had whispered something in her ear that Kian didn’t hear.
When they pulled away, Karalee was smiling, and Kian was too.
He left to go to see Reid and knew that he would do anything he could to win her over.
He crossed his fingers that he could get her to trust him again and when he made it to the burn unit, he washed up and was gowned and gloved.
Then he was led to Reid’s room. He was awake, and Kian grinned.
Reid gave a small smile back and Kian sat at his bedside.
“How are you today?” He asked and Reid gave a tiny laugh, “Burnt to a crisp. How are you?”
Kian shook his head and grinned, “Better than you. I didn’t get burnt to a crisp.”
Reid gave another small laugh, and then gave a tiny groan.
“This sucks. Just so you know. It’s worse than I ever imagined.”
Kian sobered, “I wish that you hadn’t been injured so severely.”
Reid shook his head, just a bit. “I would have done what was necessary to save Trace. He didn’t deserve to die when all he was doing was saving our sister. They just found each other, and I have no one to go home to at night. No one to hold close.”
Kian shook his head, “Reid,” he went to say but Reid cut him off. “I don’t regret it. At all. I knew what I was doing when I did it. And I'm grateful that it wasn’t worse. That's all. It's just is hard for me, I am normally up and about, doing things. Getting stuff done. But I can’t. That is the hardest thing.”
Kian let out a breath, “I can’t even imagine. I'm sorry.”
Reid smiled, “I'm not. Talking to Trace and knowing how much he loves Emery? That in and of itself makes this worth it. I never in a million years could have believed that they were so in love after knowing each other for just a short amount of time, but the fact that he was willing to give up his life to save hers? That made me realize that their love isn’t just lust. That it’s real love. So that alone made this worth it. I wish I could find a girl like that for me.”
Kian chuckled, “You will. Trust me. There is something in the air here.”
Reid gave another soft laugh, “I know. I kinda like it. Hope that I can breathe enough of it.”
Kian snorted, “Me too.”
Reid looked at him, “You want to find someone to fall in love with? I thought you were stuck on Karebear.”
Kian rolled his eyes at the nickname Reid called Karalee. “I am. She just moved here to be with Em. I just hope she breathes enough of the magical air that she will forgive me and start to trust me again. As it is, she still will barely acknowledge me.”
Reid shook his head, “You were an ass. I know ma told you to wait, and I understand her reasons, but you took it to a whole level that I don’t understand. Why?”
Kian ran his hand over his hair, “Because, if I didn’t distance myself from her, if I let myself be nice to her at all, and she gave me one of her smiles that lit up my entire soul, I was going to forget every single word of what ma wanted and make everyone in town know that she was mine. That she was loved. And then, I was going to take her on every single surface in our house and against every wall until she forgot her name and only knew mine. And since she was too young, and I was as well, I needed to heed ma’s advice and I had to do it in a way that made her hate me, because otherwise, she would already be pregnant with our child and we would have gotten married the minute she turned 18.”
Reid’s jaw dropped open, as much as he could, and then he started laughing, which shook his body and his laugh turned into a pained groan.
The nurse came in and glared at them both. “Reid, you can’t be this excited. You will jar your shoulder and your wounds. Do I need to have your brother leave?”
Reid gave a tiny shake of his head, “No, I'm fine. He just shocked me is all.”
The nurse put her hands to her hips, and then glared at him again, she then gave a quirk of her lips and dropped her hands, then checked Reid’s machines. “You are set with pain medicine for now. You need more soon.”
