The one called Serpent looked at her. He didn’t so much as blink. Didn’t smile. Didn’t ask who she was. He just stared.
Calliope shivered.
“Found him in a heap two streets over,” Drake ground out. “Pair of cutthroats dogging his heels. Devil’s own luck I chanced upon him when I did, or he’d be finished.”
Serpent grunted.
Maxen turned to her. “Upstairs. Now.”
“What happened?” Calliope asked, voice rising.
“We’ll talk later.”
“Maxen—”
“Go.” He paused. “Please.”
She hesitated, but one look at Serpent’s blood-covered body and Drake’s unreadable stare and she made a decision. “No. Whatever it is, I can help.”
Maxen turned slowly, dark eyes flaring with more warning. “Calliope—”
“I am not made of porcelain.” She crossed her arms. “I’ve seen blood.” Duvessa had often beat the servant girls in a fit of rage, and Calliope had always helped patch them up. “I’ve seen blood, tended wounds, stitched flesh. Do not mistake me for something breakable.”
Serpent groaned, swaying slightly. “Let the chit help if she’s so eager,” he muttered. “Or I might bleed out just to spite you.”
Maxen gave her a long look before giving a single, curt nod. He joined his brothers, slipping beneath Serpent’s other arm to take the weight across his shoulder. Together they half-hauled, half-carried himforward. “Upstairs. Second door on the left.”
She nodded, already moving. “Come on, Prince,” she called, though the hound was already shadowing her steps, nose twitching at the scent of blood. She led the way to the designated room and held the door open for them. The men helped lower their brother carefully to the bed.
Serpent let out a raw groan when his body hit the mattress.
“Where does it hurt?” Maxen asked.
“Every-bloody-where.”
Calliope stepped up to the bed while Drake retreated to lean against the doorframe, arms crossed, jaw clenched.
“We need to clean and wrap the wound,” she said, concerned.
“I’ll go get what you need,” Drake said, then disappeared.
“Who did this?” Maxen asked softly.
Calliope almost flinched. She’d never heard his voice that soft before.
“Don’t know,” Serpent muttered through clenched teeth. “Got jumped. Escaped.”
Drake returned, and Calliope launched into action. She took the water from him and filled a basin. He handed her a cloth, and she soaked it thoroughly before she knelt by the man and started wiping the blood from his face.
Maxen dropped to his knees beside her and reached for the bloodstained shirt, but Serpent stopped him. “Don’t.”
“Serpent.”
“Just see to my head. I need that more than anything else. I’ll do the rest myself.”
Was that an attempt at humor? It utterly failed!
Maxen withdrew his hand with a curse.
