Page 2 of Forge the Blade

“Don’t use your ankle,” Sevastyan said.

Rei nodded. He crawled away. Only then did Sevastyan realize Rei was naked.

“Rei.”

Rei paused, turning around on his hands to face him.

“Put clothes on. You’re going to be cold from shock.”

“Yes, master.” Rei bent his head in a bow and continued to crawl towards the bedroom, keeping his left ankle off the floor as he went.

Lisa used his hands to drag himself over to Sevastyan. He discarded the disposable gloves he’d been wearing and pulled on a new pair.

“Have you been seen to?” Sevastyan asked.

Lisa grimaced. “Yes. There’s not much to do with a concussion other than stay awake. We bandaged my leg first. If I have to do anything strenuous, I’d like to tape my ribs, but it’s better if we can avoid any restriction. Compression can lead to pneumonia.”

“You need ice on your face.”

Lisa growled in his throat. “Maybe the three of us should just go swimming in that sea you say is called a lake. Now shut up. It’s been a long time since I took care of a bullet wound. When I was a medic, all I had to do was get injuries like this to the hospital.”

“Sorry,” Sevastyan whispered. “I can clean it.”

Lisa slapped Sevastyan lightly on his arm. “I’m helping you, you big lout. So shut up and take it. Rei’s better behaved than you.”

Sevastyan laughed, and laughed again, and then he couldn’t stop. It hurt. And he knew he shouldn’t be laughing. Nothing was funny, and yet everything was. He buried his face into the cushion and shook.

“Bogoroditsa, and now he’s lost his mind.”

Sevastyan held the back of his head. Laughing made the bruise there hurt, but he couldn’t stop. It had to be something to do with the drugs and the shock. His brain suddenly remembered that there were eight dead bodies stacked against the wall on the other side of the room.

Of course he would become bare to Ellisandre surrounded by death.

Lisa was getting on with cleaning the wound, even though Sevastyan was still shaking against the couch cushion. The movement came at a cost, but not enough to take the nervous hilarity out of him.

An actually sobering thought crossed his mind. Sevastyan caught his breath. “Lisa.”

“What?” Lisa sounded pissed. His fingers kept working at the wound in Sevastyan’s side. “Trying to clean this and now you’re going to need more blood. Stuck pigs have nothing on you.”

Sevastyan glanced under his arm to see what Lisa meant. There was blood everywhere again. Lisa was pulling bits of fabric out of his side. “Ellisandre is ordering blood.”

Lisa glared at Sevastyan and pushed his hair back from his cheek. It was beautifully long and colorful. And now there was blood on his face.

“I always knew you wanted to have my blood on your hands.”

Lisa narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. He poked his gloved finger into the wound. Sevastyan hissed.

“You had a question.” Lisa turned back to cleaning the open injury. Whatever he did next sent a shock wave of pain through Sevastyan’s nerves. He bit down on his own hand to keep from screaming.

Sevastyan caught his breath. “Did Rei kill any of them, or was that you?”

Lisa’s hands stilled for a moment, then continued with their work.“There were three of them. I tried.”

Sevastyan blinked, not daring to look at Lisa.

Regret and defeat laced every level of vibration in Lisa’s voice. “I think I delivered the final blow for each, but Rei did his part. He fought, hard. His hands . . .” Lisa faltered, gathered his air, pushed forward. “Be careful with his hands. He might have broken some of the small bones and there’s damage there. He used the cord from the keyboard to strangle one of them. It was almost enough. I was down. He bought me time. I finished the job with a knife.”

Sevastyan blinked. He didn’t realize he was crying until he was rubbing water out of his eyes.