“Sometimes it is required and necessary,” Setsuna said with all the distaste of a person stepping in dog shit.
“Good luck with that.”
“You’ll want to keep some of that luck for yourself. I’m transferring you here to New York City.”
“What?”
Setsuna didn’t seem bothered by his anger. “You helped save this city, and that’s goodwill I refuse to give up. The Rapid Response Division here lost a couple of agents in the fight. You’re more than capable of taking over one of their spots.”
“No.”
“This isn’t negotiable, Patrick. The transfer paperwork has already been drawn up.”
Patrick knew this was an order he couldn’t argue against. His contracted government job was one of the few barriers between himself and the demands levied by immortals. He wasn’t keen on giving up that defense, even if it meant he bowed to the demands of what the SOA needed from him instead.
A tiny voice in the back of his mind pointed out that staying in New York City meant staying with Jono.
Patrick ignored that voice.
“You could have at least asked,” Patrick said angrily.
“You’ll have a month to get all your affairs in order in DC and move out here. I’ll even give you time to take your vacation.”
“It’s a little late for bribes, and the agency better reimburse me for the vacation I had to cancel.”
Setsuna tapped the point of her cane against the floor, her gaze never leaving his. Patrick thought she might reach out to try to comfort him, except she didn’t. He didn’t know why, in that moment, he wanted her to. Setsuna had taken over guardianship of him when he was a kid and relinquished it when he turned seventeen and joined the Mage Corps. She’d provided almost a decade of year-round boarding schools away at an Academy and an apartment shared with her in Washington, DC, during holiday breaks that never felt like home.
She cared for him but had never seemed to careabouthim.
For once, Patrick wished she would.
“I’ll expect your report by the end of the weekend. I believe Chief Casale would prefer it earlier, but take your time. I will handle everything else,” Setsuna told him quietly. “Goodbye, Patrick.”
Patrick didn’t watch her leave. Nadine came into the room with the doctor a minute later. “I’m leaving,” he said.
“I would advise against that,” the doctor replied.
“Advise away. It’s not going to change me walking out that door today.”
“Can you give us a minute?” Nadine asked the doctor, flashing her a polite smile.
The doctor left, but not before giving Patrick a stern look, which he ignored. Nadine went to his bedside again and reached out to card her fingers through his dirty red hair. “You still have mud in your hair. Guess the sponge bath didn’t get rid of it all.”
“I can take a shower back at the apartment.”
“Stay another day, Patrick. You need the rest.”
“Nadine—”
“One more day. Then I’ll escort you out of here no matter what the doctor says. Whatever you think you need to do, it can wait.” She paused, settling her hand on his shoulder and looking him in the eye. “Jono can wait.”
Patrick closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “I hate hospitals.”
“We all hate hospitals. Now don’t bite the poor doctor’s head off when she comes back in.”
Nadine left to go fetch his doctor once again. Turned out modern medicine and a witch’s brew could cut his healing time in half, but it wasn’t a cure. The soft tissue damage in his left thigh was weeks ahead in the healing process, but the muscle there was still delicate. He’d scar and need a couple of weeks of physical therapy, but the doctor believed he’d regain full range of motion in the leg.
The stab wound in his left hand had healed up as well, but the skin there was still delicate. The bandage was to hold the last salve treatment in place, and the RN witch promised the marks in his skin would fade in a couple of months.
