The infirmary doors open again, and Professor Gimble enters in a cloud of over-powering perfume.
I make sure my expression is neutral. Theo told me Lisa Gimble had been at the ascension and is definitely pro-Conclave.
“Alexis.” She takes the medical tablet from the healer, and starts looking over Wes’s vitals. I don’t comment on the intrusion of his privacy. “Interesting, don’t you think?” she says after a minute. “No significant brain readings at all.”
I turn to the window, watching the frost on the manicured lawns. “Yes. Interesting. Any word on a visit from his parents, Lisa?” I ask.
She tuts. “The Harts are important people, Alexis. I’d be disappointed if they shifted their attention from Conclave matters to a weakling child.”
It’s a good thing my hands are in my pockets; it hides the way they’ve curled into fists.
“They’ll make the necessary decisions if it turns out he’s fully gorked,” she continues airily.
Gorked.
What a repulsive woman.
“Anyway, let me know if anything changes. I’m off to a department meeting, see you later.” She sweeps out of the room, her cloying scent lingering along with the echo of her unfeeling words.
Gorked.
To his parents, Wes is no longer a son; he’s a failed experiment laying abandoned in a sick bed.
I have every sympathy with Wes Hart. A year ago, I was also lying in a hospital bed.
A year ago, I was listening to a Lieutenant Colonel tell me I was a failure and my time in the Royal Guard was done.
Completely over.
“Why didn’t you tell us about your father?” my commander had sighed.
Why?
Because I knew what the fallout would be. I was a by-blow, an embarrassment.
The King’s nephew, born to a servant.
Bastards don’t count in the Kormovian primogeniture system, but we sure as hell make for bad PR if we get killed in the line of duty.
Lieutenant Colonel Heikkinen stormed out, taking my only sense of purpose with him.
I was no longer a soldier and had no purpose.
But I do.
I’m a soldier in Theo’s army.
My dove.
I know she loves me, but I also know she loves the boy dying in front of me. I won't let her suffer that loss.
I lean over and put a hand on Wes’s cold shoulder. "Hold on," I whisper. "Theo needs you."
???
It’s getting dark again by the time Wes is settled in the new unit.
I’ve spent the day researching how Donovan’s centaur didn’t trigger the wards or biometric scanners.
