“I can help you with the autopsies if you want,” Felipe said as Oliver adjusted the sling. At Oliver’s pointed look, Felipe sighed and rolled his eyes. “Or I can stay inside the house and sit quietly with the dog.”
“That’s more like it.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Recovering
Oliver stood by the front door, waiting for Gwen to come down and fighting the urge to shake out his hands and pace. They wouldn’t be gone long, but— His gaze slid in the direction of the parlor. Checking on Felipe one more time before they left couldn’t hurt. In the ten minutes since he last checked on him, Felipe hadn’t moved from his spot on the sofa, except now, he was snoring softly against a stack of pillows. Oliver wasn’t sure what he had expected to find, but him sleeping wasn’t it. He had half expected Felipe to whip his arm out of the sling and start practicing his knife throwing the moment he left. Felipe sleeping was preferable, if not a little worrying. Then again, neither he nor Felipe had gotten a decent night’s sleep.
As soon as he had gotten Felipe dressed, Oliver had pressed the last of his jerky and cheese supply on him and tried to send him to bed, but Felipe had eaten and stubbornly waited in the kitchen as Oliver scrubbed it down, cleaned his tools, and put everything away. By then, it was late enough that they could hear people coming to check if theroad had opened. It hadn’t. When they finally got to bed, Oliver had stacked their pillows, so Felipe’s arm was properly supported, which meant he had to sleep nearly upright. Oliver had awoken at every stifled wince or huff of annoyance until Felipe finally fell into a fitful sleep.
After dozing until an unseemly hour, Mr. Allen had awoken them with the promise of a very belated breakfast of coffee, toast, eggs, and bacon. While Oliver would have happily spent the whole day in bed recovering from the previous night’s chaos, Felipe needed to eat, so he forced himself to shave and dress. Felipe had refused, claiming that he was allowed to “look like shit” if he had to wear the sling and stay inside. Oliver thought he just didn’t want someone else holding a razor to his throat, not that he could blame him. At breakfast, Oliver had slipped his bacon onto Felipe’s plate, and by the end of the meal, he looked less like death warmed over. His hand still shook and the dark circles remained, but when Oliver had taken a peek at his collarbone, the bruise around it had already gone from red to deep purple with hints of green. Depending on how everything else healed, he might only need a day or two in the sling. The stitches would need to wait until he could visit the pharmacy.
Quietly crossing the room, Oliver picked up the book that had fallen from Felipe’s lap and landed upside down on the floor at his feet. A sphinx stared up at him as he closedThe Time Machineand set it on the sofa beside him. As Oliver watched Felipe’s chest rise and fall in a sleepy rhythm, a small smile curled his lips. He wasn’t accustomed to seeing Felipe with so much facial hair. After a day’s worth of growth, he looked rakish, and Oliver had to resist the urge to run his palm across his cheek for fear it might wake him.
“Ol, are you ready?” Gwen asked softly from the doorway.
“Almost.” Pulling the horse quilt off the back of the armchair, Oliver draped it over Felipe and kissed his forehead. His skin was warm with sleep but not fever. He would be fine with a few hours of rest. “Now, I am.”
Drawing in a centering breath, Oliver followed Gwen out of the house. After everything that happened, his brain was screaming for himto stay inside, but dealing with Felipe’s wounds had wiped out most of his medical supplies. For Felipe, he would go into town. As Gwen grabbed a wicker basket from a stack near the door, Oliver’s gaze roamed over the empty pasture.
If he looked closely, he was sure he would find hunks of flesh or Felipe’s blood spattered across the grass, but apart from the bullet holes and the chunk of molding missing from the stable’s wall, there was no evidence that a battle had been waged there less than twelve hours before. Anyone passing down the road would never know, and that was probably for the best. Following Gwen onto the main road, Oliver took the empty basket from her hand and studied her expression. Like all of them, Gwen looked tired, but she didn’t look nearly as haunted or traumatized as he feared. Still, Gwen wasn’t an investigator; she hadn’t signed up to risk life and limb or to haul dead bodies around, and the guilt of knowing he had dragged her into itagaingnawed inside him.
“I didn’t want to ask in front of Mr. Allen, but how are you holding up?” Oliver asked.
“Not too badly. I mean, this is not how I expected this trip to go, but if there had been vampires here, it probably would have been worse. I think I have had my fill of corpses for a while.”
A sad, nervous laugh escaped his lips. “So I should expect that you’ll be avoiding my lab for a while?”
“What? No, your corpses are polite. I take back what I said about Aldorhaven’s corpses being better quality. Yours don’t try to kill people. And don’t breathe a word of this to my sisters. They weren’t thrilled with me going on a trip away from the society without them, and if this gets back to them, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” He didn’t need Ivy or Vanessa coming to the lab to rain holy hell on him, especially when he deserved it. “Seriously, though are you sure you’re all right, Gwen? Last night was… I never meant for you to get so involved. I don’t ever want to put you in danger.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say I was in danger this time. I mean, I wasupstairs out of the way. The Jed Monroe incident was far more terrifying than this was, up until Felipe got hurt. Though, I’m starting to think I should take up knife throwing. Maybe I can convince Felipe to teach me when we get back to the society. How is he doing? Really doing.”
“He says he’s fine, but he’s tired, in pain, and annoyed that he’s been sentenced to a day of rest, even if he obviously needs it. At least he seems to be healing well.”
“And you?”
Oliver sighed and chewed his lip. “I’m fine, mostly guilty. I shouldn’t have blown up at him yesterday. I should have waited until I had dealt with all his wounds and he was better, but seeing him like that… It was my worst nightmare come true. I still can’t believe he tried to downplay how bad everything was; meanwhile, his intestines were hanging out.” Oliver sighed. “I hate how he throws himself into danger like that, like he isn’t worth protecting too.”
“You knew what you were getting into when you set your sights on him, Ol. His reputation was well established by the time we came along.”
“I know, but there’s a difference between taking dangerous cases where you might get hurt and literally throwing yourself on a knife. We talked about it, and we’re fine now. I still don’t like that I yelled at him, even if it was because I don’t want to see him hurt. I want to do something to remind him how much he means to me.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
As the road curved on the hill, Oliver’s eyes snagged on something bright peeking through the scraggly trees lining the road. Stepping through a gap in the brush, Oliver’s eyes widened in wonder at the meadow of wildflowers spread out before him in a kaleidoscope of color. During their walks to town, they had always cut through the cemetery or taken the steamer, so he had never noticed the field. The flowers’ heads bobbed in the breeze as their light scent chased away all thoughts of the Dysterwood looming in the distance. The last bees of the season ducked between purple asters and orange helenium while amonarch butterfly flitted on a black-eyed Susan. The meadow looked like something out of a painting, and all Oliver could think was how badly he wanted Felipe to see it too.
“Oliver?” Gwen called in alarm.
“Right here.”
“What did I say about disappearing?” As she reached his side, her mouth opened in surprise. “This is beautiful.”
“It is. What would you think if I proposed to Felipe here?”
“You brought the ring with you?”
