AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe I’m trying to get drunk with cold water, but this doesn’t seem that bad.” Nikolett pointed at each of them in turn without looking away from the ceiling. “And anything I say while?—”
“—under the influence of painkillers is not to be repeated,” Nyx finished for her, passing Elena a capped syringe of lidocaine.
In the past five months, Nikolett had needed far too much medical attention, and she’d learned that injectable and IV pain meds made her talkative and emotional.
She didn’t wince at the first poke of the needle near one of the swollen cuts in her leg. Bit by bit, Elena numbed her leg, and it wasn’t long before the admittedly gentle poking made Nikolett’s leg throb, even with whatever it was Nyx had given her.
“I’d still feel better if we got a hospital X-ray,” Elena said, though they all knew she was just making conversation.
“Walt Hayden’s backpack X-ray is good, and good is better than great, if great means going to a hospital.” Nikolett wouldn’t be going to the hospital for treatment unless she was actively dying. Something like getting an X-ray wasn’t worth the risk.
After she was poisoned—that had been a fun one too—they’d gone to the hospital for treatment and instead she’d nearly died. Luckily, as they raced to the hospital, a worried Vadisk had called in Elena, the only member of their territory who was both a doctor—in Elena’s case, a surgeon—and lived in Budapest. He’d wanted someone else there whom he could trust to listen and assess the doctor’s diagnosis and treatment plans.
The diagnosis had boiled down to, “We’re pretty sure she’s been poisoned, but can’t tell you what she was poisoned with or how.”
At first, Elena had seemed a little confused why she was there, since she wasn’t a pathologist or hematologist, both of whom would have been more useful in a poisoning case. That was, until she caught sight of the medication name on the syringe a nurse was preparing to inject into Nikolett’s IV.
It should have been an antihistamine but instead had been a high dose of blood pressure medication. Since Nikolett’s blood pressure hadn’t been high, the medicine would have tanked it, and might even have caused a stroke. While the hospital called it an error, they had to assume the mistaken medical order had been another attempt.
After that, Grigoris convinced Elena to quit her job and become aharco, though instead of helping enforce territory rules or conduct investigations, she was there to be in-house medical support. Knights were full-time employees of the territory, and Elena had at first objected, saying she was happy to help whenever she could, but surely Nikolett didn’t need her full-time.
Two days later, Nikolett was shot, Elena did the repair surgery at a private hospital, and once Nikolett was discharged, Elena quit her job and took the knight’s oath.
“Are you feeling anything as I clean the wounds?” Elena asked.
“Nope.”
“Good.”
“I wouldn’t care that someone is trying to kill me,” Nikolett told the ceiling.
“You really should care.” Elena’s voice was steady and slightly muffled by the surgical mask.
“I wouldn’t care,” she repeated, “except why is it always so…” Nikolett waved a hand dramatically in the air. “Like a cartoon. Poison and bear traps.”
“I don’t think it’s like a cartoon,” Nyx said. “The assassination methods feel…old. The snake. Poison. They’re almost archaic. Except the shooting, that’s a bit more modern.”
Nikolett nodded. “My assassin might be a time traveler.”
Nyx smiled. “I enjoy high Nikolett.”
“Shuddup.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Okay, done with this side.” Elena came to the top of the desk turned exam table, peering down at Nikolett. Nikolett smiled at her, and Elena shook her head before repositioning her uninjured leg so she could work on the inside of the wounded one.
“It might be time to ask for help again,” Nyx said.
“I didn’t ask for his help the first time.” Nikolett swallowed hard. “And I told you that I can’t talk to Eric anymore. Not after…”
A year ago, he’d summoned her to the Isle of Man. As a territory admiral, she had to go. While she was there, Maxim, theharcowho’d traveled with her, had let it slip to the Spartan Guard that there’d been a venomous snake in her bed. Hearing that, Eric had…
She could still remember their conversation, almost word for word.
“Goddamn it, Nikolett, you’re so vulnerable.”
“I’m no more vulnerable than any other admirals.”
