The Worth of a Coin (BxB)

Chapter 35

-Ruarc Brennan-

He was awake, that was all I could focus on. I didn't expect him to wake up when I felt the pain shooting through my stomach. When I saw how pale he was, and the blood that he had lost, I had expected him to be dead by the time I returned to him.

The angels had led us to the hotel, after stating that they knew the owners would be more than happy to let us stay there for a little while. I tried not to question it, and I didn't need to once I found out that old friends of Harlen's owned the hotel. It was a family-run business, and I had met a few members of staff throughout my life. I had not gotten close to any of them, but they knew me well enough.

We received some strange glances, but we were given a three-roomed studio which held at least six beds inside. Sara, Aubrey and Kenji immediately took their pick of beds, and fell asleep. I didn't care enough to check and see if the settee could turn into a bed, because I had immediately run to Quan and began trying to bring some life back into him.

Even Cappi looked better than Quan, which I supposed was due to their superior healing factor. We didn't want to draw attention to them, so we moved to our rooms without letting the staff know what was happening. In retrospect, we might've had a better chance of transferring blood to Quan, as opposed to our very makeshift, yet well-informed, method. Jade had found some needles, still in their wrapper and never been used, when she was on a search for bandages in the back room. We used those to the best of our abilities.

The bandages were wrapped around Quan's middle, I couldn't stand being in the same room when he was being bandaged. I was struggling to stay in control. I couldn't remember the last time I had been to the bar, but I would need to go very soon. The bandages quickly became red, and we had to use far too many by the time the blood had completely stopped.

"What happened to you?" I asked quietly. I was right beside him on the bed, holding his hand, which twitched and shook.

"My dad's a jerk, my mother's alive, and I honestly have no clue what Modu wanted," Quan explained slowly. He had to take large and long breaths after each part of the sentence. The sound of his voice made coolness pool in my chest. He must have really damaged his vocal cords at some point, because his voice was hoarse and scratchy. Maybe he'd been screaming? Or maybe something was poured down his throat and he didn't swallow it well? Maybe he choked on something, or something could have cut the back of his throat?

"I'm not sure that answered the question," I said quietly. "Everyone's asleep, by the way. Other than Jade, Luka, and Fewesi." I wasn't sure if he was scared that we would be overheard by anyone. I wanted to reassure him and tell him that this conversation was just between the two of us, but I wasn't sure that I could say that confidently after what happened. I hadn't experienced fairies before, and it completely threw me off balance.

"Good," he said with a sigh. "Is anyone badly injured?" The worry was clear in his voice, which I was sure he didn't appreciate. His voice sounded like all life had been taken from him, which it nearly had been.

"Besides Cappi, who is nearly healed, Aubrey has a few broken bones. We've all got scratches or missing feathers, but we'll all be fine after a while." I wasn't sure if I'd already said some of this, I didn't care if I was repeating myself. I was tired, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to have any kind of break from this constant flow of thought.

"C'mere," Quan muttered. He winced as he shuffled to the side of the king-size bed which he was lying on. There were plenty of free rooms in the hotel, which was a surprise given how well the rooms were decorated, and how good the facilities were.

I couldn't get any closer to the side of the bed though. "What?" I asked with furrowed brows. "I'm as close as I could get to you."

Quan gave an unimpressed sigh before he slowly lifted a hand, even this movement looked as though it was filled with pain, which was only emphasised by the bandage, which was on his wrist and arm, covering scratches and burn marks. He searched until his hand found my trouser leg, and he tugged gently.