Loved -- Golden Guard

Chapter 4

TW: none

"Eda, you can't keep him! You can't just adopt every single kid you find that needs a place to stay!" Hunter stares blankly at the ceiling as Eda and Lilith argue.

"I'm not adopting him!" Eda argues. "He's hurt and I hid his little magic stick and according to Luz, he can't do magic without it so what can he possibly do?"

"He is the Emperor's nephew for titans sake!! Coven members are loyal to the coven and Emperor, the only reason I ditched them is because blah blah blah family but his family is in the coven!"

"And we still don't know how he got those injuries! He felt so unsafe getting help in the coven that he came here."

"It could be a ruse! He could be faking it and trying to finally get you caught and arrested for good!" Hunter felt his anxiety spike, though he knew they'd probably be suspicious of him no matter what.

"You can't fake an infection like that, Lilith. If we don't get that treated- it could cause some serious damage and he could die. I am not abandoning that kid."

"Fine, but it's your funeral. I'm going to go back to mom's house. I will not save you from the Emperor when this bites you in the ass," Lilith hisses.

Lilith storms out of the kitchen and out the door, slamming it behind her. This is followed by a short scream from Hooty and an apology on Lilith's part.

"Well... that went... about as well as one could expect, I guess..." Luz comments.

"Wait, you guys could hear that?" Eda cringes.

"You weren't exactly quiet, so yes. We heard you," Hunter scoffs. Eda rubs her hands together and then against her thighs. A nervous habit, Hunter notes.

"Well..." She sighs. "Look kid, I trust you. I don't think you'll hurt me, or Luz or King or even Lilith if she ever shows her face around here again. I don't believe her and you don't have to worry about me dumping you on the street, or turning you in should a bounty ever come out about you. Alright kiddo?"

There was a pang of guilt in his heart as he curled in on himself and nodded silently.

"Alright, with all the sad depressing stuff outta the way, Luz, ya wanna show blondie to his room?" Hunter hears Luz scramble to her feet.

"Heck yeah!" Hunter, however, was perfectly content on the couch and it took quite a bit of poking and prodding on Luz's part to get him to agree. Due to his not being allowed to walk, he was instead sitting against the door to Luz's room.

"I still could've slept on the couch," he mutters. Luz peeks into a room, before sneezing violently and closing it.

"Not on my watch!! Ooo~ what if we shared a room and had sleepovers every night!!"

"Absolutely not, I'd rather be homeless."

Luz looks into another room and seems satisfied. It's one door down from her own and has a strange carving on the door.

"Here! Eda and I can help you decorate it tomorrow if you want!" She walks over to Hunter and helps him up and into the room which seemed to be a bedroom used as a storage/junk room.

"It's fine, I just want a bed really." Luz helps him sit down against the wall and sets up a sleeping bag. "You're sure you don't want help decorating? I mean if you reallyyy~ don't care maybe I could decorate it?"

Hunter sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Fine, just as long as I get a mattress and a bed." Luz grins and jumps around.

"Yes yes yes! Thank you!!" She stopped jumping and instead settled for flapping her hands.

"Okay, do you need help getting to your sleeping bag or no?" she asks.

"I'll be fine, now get out and go do whatever it is you do normally," Luz gives him a thumbs up and practically skips out of the room.

He sighs and carefully scoots himself onto the cushy sleeping bag. It was surprisingly comfortable for being on the floor.

He rolled up his pant leg gently, careful to avoid bumping his injury, and examined the infection.

He'd heard of this. It was an aggressive bacteria found in forests and sometimes rivers that can cause fevers, cold sweat, slowed heart rate, paleness, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fainting and if left untreated can result in death.

He was so stupid! If he hadn't worried about his wound looking fresh it wouldn't have gotten infected and he wouldn't be running the risk of dying just so he wouldn't out himself as a coven member to Eda and Luz!

"I fucking hate myself..." he mutters to no one as he covers his eyes with his arm, laying down finally.

He'd only get sicker and sicker until Eda could get the antibiotics for the infection and properly treat it. If he tried returning to the castle he might not make it in time as flying and teleporting took energy that he didn't have and they might not be prepared to treat this specific infection.

All he could do was hope Eda could get her hands on the medicine before he had to return to Belos or before he fucking died, and honestly, of the two, he'd rather die.