Queen of Diamonds

Eight Days After The Sorting

I'm wrapping my hands in makeshift bandages to help with my grip when Hugo limps into the kitchen. I don't know whether to look up at him or stay focused on wrapping my hands. After two hours of frantic doctoring, Felix said Hugo was fine, but Sonya stayed at the side of the table all night, until sometime yesterday morning, she fell asleep. And now Hugo is standing in the doorway of the kitchen, limping and bandaged, face contorted in pain. 
"Where's Fi?" he grunts, sliding weakly into the chair across from me. 
"I don't know," I mutter, but I can barely hear myself. I tear my eyes away from him and try again. "I don't know."
"Figures. Eff it, I guess," Hugo sighs, shutting his eyes. 
"Are you okay?" I ask. It's a stupid question, and we both know it. 
"No Greenie, do I look like it?" he snaps. 
"I'm sorry," I mutter, but he waves me away, his eyes still closed. I study his features. His face is paler than usual and shallow, and glistening with sweat just from the exertion of coming into the kitchen. I can tell why he calls himself Princess. His face is angular and regal, and in another life, he might have been royalty. I could almost picture him at a ball, dancing around with a glass of champagne, flirting with women and men alike. But now, he looks defeated, a shaking mess bleeding through his bandages. He opens one eye and sees my expression. 
"Oh, Greenie," he sighs. "You look so worried. It's almost sweet. I'll be fine, you know. I've had worse things in me than a knife." He offers me a smile, and suddenly I realize he must have come here for a reason. 
"Do you want something to eat?" I ask, jumping to my feet. I've seen Sonya and Felix cooking enough times that I think I could do it without any help. Hugo nods mutely, gently running a hand along his bandages, which are slowly blooming in red again through the white cloth.
"Like the haircut, by the way," he says. I feel myself blush, even though I don't want to. 
"Thanks," I say quietly, ripping open one of the vacuum sealed packages and pouring it into a cast iron pan. 
"Was Enya there all night?" Hugo asks, his voice breathy.
"Who?" I ask, wracking my brain through the names and nicknames I've had to pick up fast for even member of the Rats. Hugo curses under his breath.
"Sonya, I mean," he says. I glance back at him.
"Yeah," I mutter. "She was there all night." Despite myself, a hard lump of jealously lodges itself in my throat, and I don't know if I'm jealous of Hugo or Sonya. Hugo mutters something under his breath. "What?" I ask.
"Nothing," he sighs with a rueful smile, "nothing at all, Greenie."

Hugo eats quickly and gratefully, and he's nodding off at the table when Sonya appears in the doorway. Her thick curly hair is flying around her face, and she has dark circles under her eyes. Her dark skin is beaded with sweat. She looks like she's been through hell. I don't know if he hears her coming or just knows she's there, but Hugo sits up quickly, twisting around and then gasping in pain, trying to drink in the air. Sonya, who had been walking so slowly, dives to his side, and in one swift motion sweeps him off his feet and into a gentle hug, careful of his bandages. Hugo puts his shaking arms around her, running his hands through his hair
"Enya," he whispers, half laughing and hard crying, "Enya, I'm sorry." I get the deep feeling that I'm intruding on something private, so I turn away, but I can still hear Sonya admonishing him in a language I don't recognize. 
"Ya bespokoilsya o tebe, Lyubov. Ne delayte etogo," she mutters. She's annoyed, obviously, but she's also gentler than I've ever heard her. I focus on stirring the pan in front of me, keeping my eyes trained down. I can feel my cheeks heating. I was just adjusting to life here, starting to feel normal, and now this. Hugo gets stabbed and Sonya freaks out about it. I get the sense that even though this kind of thing doesn't happen often in the Spade sector, it's also not unheard of. I mean, I assume that when Felix, Sonya, and Hugo go out on patrols, they aren't just going for a stroll. And they've come back once or twice with black eyes or bruised knuckles, but nothing like this. Nothing that they were worried about. I wonder if me and Chris would've stayed together here. I try to imagine what it would be like to worry about his death. I don't know if I could. I push the thought away, clicking off the oven and turning around. Finally, Sonya notices me, wiping away her tears and standing up. 
"Nova!" she says with a watery smile. "Sorry, I didn't-" She cuts herself off with a wave, walking to me and taking the pan from me. "Thank you for this. Not everyone is willing to cook for this idiot, even if he is bleeding out." Hugo says something to her in that other language, and she playfully flips him a rude gesture, which makes both of them laugh with the kind of relief that can only come from living through the day. I sit back at the table, trying not to stare. I wonder how the two of them met. My gut tells me that Hugo isn't from the diamond sector like Sonya and I, but they also aren't that much older than me, so they can't have been here long. I want to ask them about it, but I don't want to break the moment, so I let the unlikely pair just be together, laughing and joking half in English, genuinely happy for the first time in the week I've been here.