What if that was the man I met at the bar? Is Haydn in this hospital?
At the far end of the hall and around a corner, an open set of double doors led into a large room with high ceilings. The space was long from the doorway to the opposite wall, with windows along the left and right sides. Four rows of cots spanned the length of the room, one below each bank of windows and another two down the center.
There must be a hundred beds here.And none of them are empty.
No one looked at her while she lingered in the doorway, the Healers too busy to notice and the patients too hurt to care. The hospital wing, meant for soldiers wounded in battle, had transformed into a burn unit for bar patrons and residents of the partially destroyed neighborhood.
Damien made it sound like the survivors would be home in time for dinner. But this… This is a nightmare.
Skin that hadn’t been bandaged was blackened or pus-filled or missing altogether. The smell of burned flesh and hair mixed sickeningly with the scents of medicine and disinfectant. Evelyn grew lightheaded as her eyes flicked from one patient to the next. A cacophony of cries, moans, and screams echoed off the walls. But the silent patients were just as spine-chilling.
“Evelyn?” said a voice behind her.
She wanted to turn around, but her legs wouldn’t move. She couldn’t take her eyes off the people she had allegedly saved.
Leo stepped in front of her, his hands gripping her shoulders. The sight of him broke the spell she was under.
“I did this,” Evelyn whispered.
“You saved their lives.”
“Can they live without their skin?”
Leo threw an arm around her waist and pulled her out of the room. She didn’t resist, didn’t think about what was happening, didn’t want to make any decisions.
He led them around the corner and stopped in the hallway she had come from. “Why are you wandering the hospital? Why did you leave your room?”
“I… I don’t remember,” Evelyn said honestly.
Leo muttered a curse. “I thought you were sleeping?”
“I woke up… There’s a man covered in bandages in room eight.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t think he has eyes anymore.”
Evelyn was shaking. Leo gave up on the conversation and scooped her into his arms. She let him because the feeling of being cradled was so, so comforting.
“You smell like smoke,” Evelyn whispered as Leo walked them to her room.
“There should have been guards outside your door in case you needed something,” he complained.
Leo laid Evelyn on her cot, clearly intending for her to go back to sleep. But she sat up and he settled beside her.
“Damien was here earlier, right?” Leo asked.
“Yes. He said Angelina died. And that some of the bodies can’t be identified because they were burned so badly.”
Leo’s temper flared. “That’swhat he chose to talk about? I swear to the gods?—”
“He said King Gerard was yelling at you because we almost died.”
Leo huffed. “That was to be expected. The king loves yelling at me.”
“Damien said last night wasn’t my fault.” Evelyn’s voice was higher than usual.
Leo’s anger faded. “Damien is right. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
