The Villain Wants to Quit

A book delivery

Moonlight was glittering in the fount of Elain when Theo met Marc.

Theo barely had the energy to slide off his horse's back and walk to Marc. It had been a long day of riding to arrive in town on the day he had agreed to meet Marc.

"Your medallion," Marc said while handing Theo the medallion he would need to enter Dullahan's base.

"Thanks. Where's Carrot and Scourge?" Theo asked, tucking the item away in his pack.

"Stable near the hospital. Same for Scourge. They're gorging themselves on all the food they can get. We can walk there."

"I see you've learned how to keep them happy," Theo said with a chuckle as he started to follow Marc to the hospital.

"I wish. Carrot's been a harpy. Scourge is surprisingly cute."

"I told Carrot to play nice. Did he help, at least?"

"Yeah, we couldn't have done it without him." Marc paused. "But, seriously, how'd you get that unicorn to be so loyal to you?"

"We were raised together." Theo shrugged. "He's my family."

"If that's so, wouldn't he resent you for- "

"He probably hates me." Theo cut Marc off. Theo felt sick already. It was a sentence he didn't need to hear the rest of.

"Um, doesn't seem that way."

"Wouldn't you hate me?" Theo scoffed.

Marc snapped his mouth shut at Theo's words.

After a few more minutes of walking, they were at a large building made of white stone. It was the hospital.

"This way for the stables," Marc said while jerking his chin to the left before suddenly pausing. "You know, you could see Owen if you wanted. You did help save his life, after all."

"Is that a thing that I can do?"

"Yeah. Owen's not awake, but you should see him."

A rush of adrenaline hit Theo as he walked to the hospital room that Owen was in. He knew he should be safe.

Marc still wasn't allowed to tell anyone who he was, and his face was not widely known.

However, there was still something intimidating about walking into a hospital room with an enemy spy and the people who had saved him.

"Have you alerted Owen's unit that he was rescued?" Theo asked.

Marc shook his head 'no.' "We'll let them know, but nobody can get here until tomorrow. His sister is here, though."

"You told her before you left?"

"Yep – ah – here we are." Marc gestured to a room door before swinging it open.

Owen was asleep in a hospital bed.

His external wounds were healed, but Theo was sure there were still internal ones.

Two women sat by Owen's bed, their backs turned to Theo and Marc. A man with coppery hair was asleep in an armchair.

"Well, there he is." Marc nodded toward Owen.

"Who are you talking-"One of the women turned her head toward Marc.

Her ebony curls bounced with the movement, and her face filled with shock as she saw Theo.

"Why the hell are you here?" The woman grabbed a pistol from a holster on her leg and pointed it at Theo.

"Hell-hello, Marie." Theo held his hands up while inching backward. "Fancy meeting you here."