Page 188 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

They’re in a moving vehicle.

Kade can feel it.

He just can’t think.

‘Where…?’ he slurs, tongue thick, reaching for the name he needs, but it’s not there, nothing is there except Lachlan Tanner.

‘You’re fine. All you need to do is breathe.’

Breathe.

‘H-hurts.’

‘I know. In and out, nice and slow.’ Lachlan’s hand is warm on his cheek. ‘You’re gonna be OK.’ A female voice mutters something Kade can’t make out. Lachlan tells her, ‘We’re almost there.’

‘Riley,’ Kade utters before the memories have even formed. ‘Luca.’

‘Take a deep breath for me.’

‘Can’t.’

‘You can, just go slow.’

Kade tries opening his eyes again, no javelins of light this time. Lachlan’s face is a blur, but he recognises him instantly. He forces his sore lungs to breathe and expand, wincing in pain but managing to achieve it.

‘Bodyguard.’

Lachlan swallows hard but otherwise shows no emotion. ‘That was real good. Let’s do another.’ He’s taking Kade’s pulse while Kade lies on the back seat of the same car they came in. Kade tries, finds it easier that time. ‘Good. So good. Keep that pace for me. We’re one minute out.’ He glances towards the driver’s seat. ‘Right?’

‘Less than.’ It’s a new female voice Kade doesn’t recognise at all.

‘There we go. You’ll be back in your Tower in less than a minute and we’ll get you fixed up.’

Kade’s fingers are kitten-weak when he grabs Lachlan’s shirt, trying to pull him close, but the pain of tensing his muscles is enough for his mouth to flood with saliva, cheeks tingling in warning that he’s about to throw up.

He lets go, bites back the nausea.

‘Riley,’ he says again, gives it all he has, which isn’t much.

‘I don’t know.’ It’s delivered in that same calm voice, stripped of everything. The flawlessly measured composure of a man taught to survive by disconnecting all that’s unnecessary in the moment.

Kade sees so clearly then the soldier, the bodyguard.

Only his hand betrays him, thumb passing over Kade’s cheek again and again to make circles, the way he did in the bathtub.

The car slows and then stops.

Hiru and Juno quickly help get Kade out and onto a stretcher. The journey from the underground garage to Medical is a disorienting blur.

Lachlan stays with him the whole time.

‘Where’s… Riley?’ he manages to ask, looking around.

The front of Medical is open and brightly lit, three treatment stations divided by curtains for the everyday damage of Iron Star life.

Cuts, burns, dislocations.

They wheel him straight past.