Magpie (9 page)

Everet scooped up some of the cold water in his hand and used it to cool Kane’s brow as he listened.

“His fever should break within the day, he should come back to himself a little at that point. In the meantime, keep him as cool as you can.”

Everet nodded. He could do that.

“After that, put him to bed. He should sleep for quite some time. It’s probably for the best considering his other injuries—”

“I wasn’t the one who beat him,” Everet cut in.

While Everet’s attention had been on Kane, the doctor had produced a pair of reading glasses from somewhere. He stared at Everet over the top of them for several seconds but made no comment on that.

The doctor cleared his throat again. “In the second stage. He’ll complain of being in a great deal of pain.” Pausing, the doctor made a note on the pad.

Still on his knees beside the bath, Everet glared up at him until he resumed.

“You’ll have to watch him carefully. His cravings will be intense. He’ll do whatever he can to get his next fix. As far as he’s concerned, the only thing that will help will be quicksilver. You’ll have to be strong, no matter how distressing you find it.”

“In the third stage, things should get easier. His body will adapt to being denied quicksilver relatively quickly. He won’t need it, but he’ll want it. Strict supervision will be required. Addicts get very adept at finding their fix.”

“I understand,” Everet said, coolly, and not just because the arm behind Kane was once more frigidly cold.

The doctor made a few more notes, put his things in his bag, promised to come back and check on Kane later that day, and left.

Everet bowed his head against the edge of the bath as he found himself once more alone with Kane.

“When they said you’d be trouble, this wasn’t what I expected.” He muttered as he lifted his head and brushed Kane’s dripping-wet hair back from his face. The water had washed away whatever makeup he’d used to cover his bruises.

His skin was pale between the remaining patches of fading purples and blues.

“I was right,” Everet informed Kane, just in case the magpie hadn’t been paying attention to the doctor’s words. “You’re going to be fine.”

Once more, a cough let Everet know that someone was in his bathroom doorway.

“Did Dr. Jenson help?” Ambrose asked as he joined them in the small room.

Everet relayed the scant information the doctor had been able to provide, skipping over the bits that implied magpies’ flaws couldn’t be tamed.

He shook his head as he fell silent.
Wait it out
wasn’t the miracle cure he’d hoped for.

“Dr. Jenson seemed like a nice guy,” Ambrose said, as he fidgeted with the tube of toothpaste propped up alongside the washbasin.

Everet glanced over his shoulder. In spite of everything he should have been worrying about, or maybe because he desperately needed something, anything, to distract him from it all, he found himself smiling. “Really?”

Ambrose squinted at the perfectly acceptable toothbrush that lived alongside the toothpaste as if it had personally offended him. “It can’t be fun, having to rush away from your breakfast every time anyone in the nest you’re visiting is taken ill.”

“Good point,” Everet murmured, bathing Kane’s face with another handful of water. Despite his best efforts, his fingers shook slightly. The water was so cold it was a wonder that a layer of ice hadn’t formed over Kane by now.

“He didn’t even hesitate to come and help.”

Everet made a vaguely approving noise in the back of his throat. Part of him had always wondered what kind of man would eventually be the one to catch Ambrose’s attention. Now, he apparently knew.

Everet’s annoyance with the doctor eased a little. It was hardly the guy’s fault he didn’t know anything other than petty rumors about magpies—most people fell into that category. If the doctor made Ambrose happy, he’d forgive his uneducated comments about Kane. On the other hand, if he didn’t treat Ambrose the way the gentle giant deserved…

“His breakfast probably went cold when he was up here,” Ambrose added.

Everet glanced up at him. “Maybe you should go down and make sure he gets a fresh plate. He’d probably appreciate some company. You haven’t eaten yet, right?”

Ambrose shook his head vehemently. “No way!” Everet might as well have asked him to throw himself at the doctor’s feet and beg to be screwed right there in the middle of the dining room.

“Are you sure?” Everet asked, just a touch of teasing in his voice.

Ambrose’s cheeks flushed as he met Everet’s gaze for a moment. “I’ll stay and help you here. I mean, I can wait around in case I can help, or…” He took a deep breath. “I’ll get us both some coffee.” He nodded as if he really believed that everything would be better once there was coffee. “You could probably use something hot.”

Everet turned his attention back to Kane as the albatross scurried from the room. “If you heard any of that, you’re not going to use it against him. I’ll throttle you if you do.”

Kane made no response.

Everet tried his best not to be disappointed. At that moment, he’d have relished hearing even the brattiest comment from him.

* * * *

“Wa hap-ed?” Kane frowned. He had a vague memory of slurring his words before. That just made the fact that his tongue still didn’t appear to be under his control even more annoying. A man couldn’t stay that drunk forever, could he?

“You’re coming off quicksilver.”

Kane squinted up at a figure looming over him; it was probably the same guy who’d just spoken. A hand came to rest on his forehead. The same man or someone else?

No, it was the same guy. A name floated into Kane’s mind.

“’Ret?”

“Close enough,” the guy allowed.

Yes. That was definitely Everet’s voice. For some stupid reason, Kane felt a bit better knowing that it was Everet who stood alongside him.

“Where?” Kane managed to say.

“You’re in my room at the nest.”

“Nest…” Yes. Kane remembered now. Everet had taken him to the nest. And Everet had told Kane that he had to tell him when he stopped feeling like he was being boiled alive from the inside out.

“Cold,” Kane managed to whisper.

“Your fever broke.”

Kane bullied his eyes into focus just in time to see Everet spread another blanket over him. From the weight pressing down on every part of his body below his neck, there were already more than a few layered up on top of him.

Kane cleared his throat. “You look…like hell,” he croaked out.

Everet made no comment. Kane peered up at him. The only color in the raven’s face came from the dark circles beneath his eyes.

One brain cell finally fired up and sparked its neighbors into action. Kane’s first clear thought since waking appeared inside his head. If Everet looked bad, how did
he
look?

Kane tried to sit up. Everet must have a mirror in the room somewhere.

“Whoa. No, you don’t.” Everet put his hand on Kane’s shoulder and pushed him back.

It didn’t take much pressure to make Kane collapse against the soft pillows. He tried to glare at the other man, but he wasn’t sure if his facial muscles cooperated.

“You’re allowed up if you need to take a leak. Apart from that, you’re staying right where you are,” Everet informed him, as if someone had died and made him king of the whole damn world while Kane was asleep.

Kane squirmed as much as the weight of the blankets allowed. Every bit of him ached.

“You said…” Damn, even talking hurt. “You said, you’d get me something for the pain,” Kane whispered.

“No, I didn’t.”

Kane huffed. It had been worth a shot. “Say it now,” he ordered. “I need something. I’m in so much pain. Please?”

“You’re going through withdrawal,” Everet stated that fact as if it was one he’d said a great many times before.

Kane scrolled through his memories. Nothing. “Wh-what day is it?”

“You were in and out for three days.”

“What?” Kane tried to sit up again. Once more, Everet’s hand came to rest on his shoulder. He didn’t even need to push this time. Kane fell back, his body filled with a writhing mass of poisonous snakes that forced more and more agony into his body every time he tried to so much as take a deep breath.

Everet sat down the edge of the bed. “Do you remember a doctor visiting you?”

“What doctor?”

Everet started talking and didn’t seem to be able to stop. He babbled on about all the reasons why Kane needed to rest and take things easy, all the bull about why he shouldn’t take any more drugs.

He said the pain was all in Kane’s mind. Kane didn’t bother to disagree.

Within a few minutes, it was obvious that Everet wouldn’t be the source of what he needed. Kane had to find someone else who’d get him what he wanted.

“The doctor,” Kane whispered, already feeling too exhausted to attempt anything louder. “I want to see him.”

Everet frowned. “You shouldn’t be in that much real pain anymore…”

“Doctor,” Kane repeated. Doctors had drugs. That was pretty much the whole point of doctors’ existence—to give people drugs that made them feel better, and Kane knew exactly what would make him feel really fantastic.

Everet stepped away from the side of the bed for just long enough to ring down to the servants’ hall and ask someone to find the doctor. Kane would have breathed a sigh of relief, but even that was beyond him. His whole body pulsated with need. The inner part of his elbows itched with the desire for a nice, sharp moment of pain that would lead to such perfect bliss.

“Are you up to eating anything?”

“No.” If he put anything in his stomach, he’d have just thrown it up. The only thing Kane needed went straight into his veins.

Everet fell silent.

Kane tried to turn his back on him. He failed.

“Do you need help to get comfortable?” Everet asked.

Kane ignored him and settled on turning his head away from him.

His forehead tingled. Kane frowned, wondering why some random little part of his body should expect a gentle touch from the other man at that particular moment.

It seemed to take an age for the doctor to arrive but finally, a stranger walked into the room as if he had every right to be there. He had a doctor’s bag with him—a bag that was easily big enough to carry more drugs than an avian body could handle in one sitting.

Kane managed a small smile, but it died as Everet greeted the doctor and completely failed to leave the room.

“Private,” Kane whispered.

“No.”

Kane tried to frown. Everet showed no facial reaction whatsoever. “You belong to me, Kane. I’m responsible for you. Whatever is said between you and the doctor, I need to hear it too.”

There would be no moving him. He had that look in his eyes. With a grunt of displeasure, Kane turned his head toward the doctor. “I need something for the pain.”

“Anything I give you will only prolong your pain in the long run,” the doctor began.