Lennox waits until Sierra is out of the room before turning to us. “Sorry about that. Sierra has been really emotional lately, so I thought it would be best for her to have a moment. Plus, I asked her to fix up some Leamux Tea for your Door Knight. It will help heal him while he’s here.”
I don’t know where to start in my processing. First, it didn’t even occur to me that his parents could possibly communicate like Lynx and me. Second, I wasn’t sure how to bring up the factthat nothing was going to heal Knots until we got him back to Purgatory.
“Why did mom act like that?” Lynx asks, obviously as bewildered as I am.
His dad—Lennox, if I remember correctly—smiles and goes about cleaning up his supplies as he answers.
“You might not remember, which I don’t hold against you since you were just a baby when you left, but Storm Shifters are treated differently depending on their sexes. Although we are rare, our tradition is to name our females at birth while the males earn theirs from their mates when they receive their calling.”
My mouth drops at his explanation. “Oh man. I am so?—”
“Don’t,” Lynx cuts me off, placing a finger against my lips. “I love my name,” he says, and I reply with an annoyed look.
‘You didn’t say that when we first came to Hell,’I remind him.
‘Yeah, well, I also didn’t remember who the fuck I was, now did I?’he says and sticks out his tongue.
‘Touché,’
Lennox clears his throat and brings us back to him. “So, don’t worry about your mother. She had tears of joy that you kept the tradition even if you didn’t realize it.”
I hug Lynx quickly before approaching Knots and gently moving his hair out of his closed eyes while I reach out to his shield.
It feels as if it was shredded. I reinforce it as much as I can but feel myself weaken, and Lynx wraps his arms around me.
“Take it easy, Rez. You need your strength too.”
I give him a small smile and nod. I know he’s right, but I can’t lose my Door Knight. I can’t lose any of my guys; they each mean so much to me.
I turn to find Lennox giving us a thoughtful look.
“He’s more than just a Door Knight,” he says as a statement.
“Yeah. He’s mine, and what Lynx said before is true. He’s dying,” I choke out past the urge to vomit. “And the only way he’s going to get better is by getting back home, to Purgatory. He can’t be here in Hell. The longer he stays, the greater risk he takes of dying and possibly being stuck here without being able to leave,” I explain, trying to hold back the tears I feel burning my eyes as Sierra walks in carrying another mug. “He’s not a fallen angel,” I pause, waiting for the room to shake from speaking Hell’s equivalent of blasphemy, and take a mental note that it doesn’t before carrying on. “He’s a pure angel like the original demons before they came here. He truly was pushed out of Heaven, so he’s experiencing negative effects down here. He needs to leave,” I insist.
Lennox gives me an understanding nod and smiles. “Well, the good news is, he’ll be able to heal here.”
A sigh of defeat rolls out of me as I shake my head. Lennox didn’t understand.
“Dad. He’s only going to get worse here,” Lynx tries to make him understand.
Lennox chuckles. “No, you guys don’t understand,” he says as he walks over to a cabinet and pulls out a thick blanket. “Even though we are in Hell, this place”—he pulls his arms wide, indicating the room—“is neutral. That means we have no pull from Hell’s influence,” he explains as he carefully covers Knot’s torso.
A weight dares to lift off my shoulders at his words, leaving something behind. Hope!Knots won’t be affected here? He can heal?
“Well, that’s great for the hunk of wood, but what about the others?” Lynx asks, and I’m thrown back into our other dilemma.
“What others? Your group in the waiting room? They seem fine, if not a little worse for wear.”
I notice Sierra walking into the room with a smile as she brings the tea for Knots.
“L.A.M.B.,” a weak voice coughs out, and I immediately jerk at the roughness, sounding like music to my ears.
“Knots!” I shout before carefully leaning over him and focusing intently on his face.
His tongue darts out to lick his dry, cracked lips, and a ghost of a smile graces his face. “Rez,” he whispers, and his brown eyes peer up at me.
“Here,” Lennox states, handing me the Leamux tea. I bring the warm liquid to Knot’s lips as Lynx helps raise him up enough to take a few sips.
