Chapter 21

I argued that Remy needed a surgeon, but he insisted on going to an apothecary. How someone with knowledge of medicines was going to dig glass out of his flesh and stitch him up, I couldn't imagine. But Remy was adamant. So, here we were entering a shop with more plants than I'd ever seen in my life and a gaggle of well-dressed, middle-aged ladies buying skin cream.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I trailed after him. Blood had now seeped through all three layers of clothing and his complexion was turning the color of sour milk. When the apothecary, a blonde woman with fae ears, noticed him, she excused herself from a customer and came over. As soon as she saw the spreading blood, she pointed to a curtain at one end of the shop.

"Go to the back room, Remy," she said, before calling to a young fae male. "Finn, please see to Mrs. Lapstrom. You know what she likes."

The boy nodded and moved behind the counter to finalize the woman's purchases.

I headed toward the curtain following Remy but halted when the apothecary spoke. "I'm sorry, miss, but you can't go back there."

"I'm with him," I said and pointed at Remy.

Remy turned and said, "Why don't you go home, Ziola? Ellia will patch me up and we can meet at the guild house later."

I planted my feet and stared him down. "Unless Mistress Ellia tells me I can't accompany you into the backroom, I'm staying. I've wiped up enough of your blood so far that a little more won't bother me."

The apothecary hid a smile behind her hand and her eyes twinkled. "Please, just call me Ellia. And you are quite welcome to come back with us."

As we pushed through the curtain, a handsome, broad-shouldered man with long black hair and chocolate eyes looked up from a pile of parchment spread out on a desk in the corner. His brows lifted as he took in Remy's battered appearance and my defiant stance stomping in behind him.

The man smiled, pointed at Remy, and asked me, "Is this your handiwork?"

"By the gods, Alix," Ellia said, looking to the heavens before pushing Remy into a chair next to a well-worn worktable. "Get these ruined clothes off," she instructed briskly. She strode to a work sink and began washing her hands thoroughly with soap.

"Can I help?" I asked.

"Not really, although I might ask you to hand me things as I work."

The man pulled a chair over to the worktable and held out a hand. "I'm Alix, Ellia's husband, since no one seems inclined to introduce me."

Remy paused in peeling off the vest, and said, "This is Ziola. She's also with the guild."

"Are you the one—" Alix started.

"Yes. The one Petra was helping," Remy interrupted.

Alix looked surprised, but just nodded. "I see." He gestured to the chair. "Have a seat, Ziola. I received an urgent message about a job down in City Center and am headed there now."

Remy glanced at me, then regarded Alix steadily. "Did they say what it was about?"

"Something to do with an intruder at a fancy auction house. Supposedly, a gargoyle chased him off but caused quite a bit of damage in the process."

Remy must have squirmed because Ellia snapped, "Hold still. There's glass in this cut." Holding a pair of tweezers, she said, "Ziola, can you please move that lamp closer?"

"I thought you were no longer taking bounty work," Remy remarked, then winced as Ellia withdrew a long sliver. I held out a bowl for Ellia to drop it in before she resumed probing.

"Normally, no. But they are offering an extraordinary bonus."

"Such a shame you have a prior engagement," Remy said, completely straight faced.

Alix slowly turned and stared at him. "I do?"

"Yes. It's your grandpa's birthday and you promised to attend."

"That should be quite a party since he's been dead for years," Alix said dryly.

"A dead man's party. The best kind."

Alix scrubbed his hand down his face and dropped into the desk chair with a sigh. "You're fucking impossible. You know that?"

Remy blew him a kiss. "That's why you love me."

Alix looked at me and asked, "Do you know anything about this?"

I gave him my best wide-eyed innocent look and replied, "I never met your grandpa. I don't know anything about his parties."

Alix glowered and returned to his paperwork. "You two clowns deserve each other."

"I think I've got it all out," Ellia announced.

Remy wiped his forehead and let out a breath. "Thank the gods for that."

Ellia's hands were covered in blood and the gash looked even more gruesome from my perspective. She stepped to the sink and washed her hands again before returning with bandages and ointment. She thoroughly cleaned the wound and in the better light, I thought I could see some exposed bone. After applying salve, she wrapped the bandages tightly around his chest.

Ellia shrieked when Remy picked up his blood-encrusted shirt and started to put it on. Snatching up the three articles of clothing, she dumped an insane number of knives from the vest onto the table and whisked the rest to the trash bin.

"Wait," I called. "One of those shirts is mine."

Looking down at the clothing, Ellia shook her head. "There's no saving any of this."

My shoulders slumped and I chewed on my lower lip. That was my only exercise top and I hated to spend the money for another. As if sensing my distress, Remy said quietly, "I'll buy you a new one."

"No. It's OK." I tried to smile and act indifferent.

"Don't be silly," he murmured. "I owe you."

"You're the one who drew the gargoyle off so I could escape." My smile was turning watery.

He reached over and squeezed my hand. "I want to."

Ellia glanced back and forth between us but said nothing and disposed of the ruined clothes.

"What now?" I asked, forcing my tone to be bright.

"I'm going home to sleep. I need to finish casing our target tonight."

"You are not doing anything tonight, Remy," Ellia said sternly. "I know you heal quickly, but any strenuous activity before tomorrow night will have it bleeding everywhere." She placed her hands on her hips and glared. "Even tomorrow night is too soon, but I doubt I can keep you quiet longer than that."

Remy stood and grinned. "Define strenuous."

"Go home and sleep!"

Alix also stood and said, "I'll get you a shirt. You'll scare the biddies out front looking like that."

Ellia huffed. "I'm returning to my biddies. Ziola, see if you can get him to rest."

"Me? I have no influence over him," I protested.

"If you say so," Ellia replied and pushed through the curtain.