The Arcane Rebellion- The Arcane Series #1

Chapter 17

Xavi

The morning was unusually cold.

I looked up through the window to see it was merely the breaking of dawn. I groaned, but I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, so I got up from bed, going to the bathroom, pleased to see it was unoccupied- sometimes, very often actually, it was occupied by someone and only on very rare occasions, like this one, was it empty.

After I had finished everything in the bathroom, I didn't know what to do. Going back to bed was pointless, I had no patients to check on, so the only thing I could really do was... nothing. So, to the common room it is. I slowly and quietly made my way to it, making sure not to step on any of the creaky floorboards in case that'd wake up someone.

I opened the common room doors and was horrified with the sight- Layla was sleeping, or maybe even passed out, on the piano, a half empty bottle of gin next to the piano seat, her back completely bloody, so much that the blood had seeped through her nightgown and dripped on the floor. I ran over to her, shaking her gently to see if she really was asleep.

She jolted awake, getting the revolver from under the piano seat, pointing it at my head. She lowered it the moment she noticed it was me and I breathe out a breath of relief- she was fine. She dropped the gun to the floor, looking deep into my eyes with an apologetic expression on her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had dark circles under them so she obviously didn't sleep well.

"Layla, are you okay?", I asked her, still a little shook up from the sight of her. I cupped her cheek- it was cold, per usual, and pale. She was shaking. She was either cold or in pain. Or both. I got a blanket from one of the couches, covering her shivering body with it, pulling her up to her feet so we could go to the bathroom. She needed a hot bath.

"I'm fine." she mumbled out.

"The fuck you are.", I told her, closing the bathroom door behind us and having her sit down on the toilet while I fill up the bathtub with hot-but not too hot- water. While the tub was filling up, I helped her get undressed and even if she did feel uncomfortable, she didn't show it. She held my hand tightly as I slowly lowered her into the bathtub, hissing when the water reached her back.

The water started turning pink from all her blood.

She tried getting up but I gently pushed her back into the water. "Xavi, I'm fine.", she argued, trying to get up again.

"You're not fine, Layla.", I retorted, crouching down next to the tub, looking deep into her eyes. She avoided my gaze. "Let me help, little raven.", I pleaded and for a moment she contemplated it before giving me the slightest nod.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Layla! Layla, are you in there?! We've got a situation!", Amir's voice sounded through the door and Layla immediately got up from the tub, drying herself off with a towel before slipping on her nightgown once again. I tried stopping her but she was already out of the door.

"What's going on?", she asked, urgency lacing her voice.

"Come on down! Quickly!", Amir gestured with his hands and both Layla and I followed him down to the tavern.

The first thing we saw when we got downstairs was commotion. A lot of it.

"What's going on?!", Layla yelled out and I could just see on her face how much energy that took. The people cleared out to reveal Miss Frost, a fairly young woman with white hair like Layla's. She was shaking and crying. She was hysterical.

"Mona, what's going on?", Layla asked, her voice now gentle and soothing.

"They-they", she swallowed her words and cried, not getting enough breath. Layla came over to her, and Miss Frost took her hands, tightly latching onto them.