The Crow that Wears the Crown

Chapter 18

Waking was a painful and disorienting process. The sound of singing birds and crashing waves told her exactly where she was. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the bright midday sun as a cool breeze swept through the room.

She tried to sit up to see if her assumption was correct when she was hit with unbearable pain.

"Ah," she winced falling back onto the soft bed.

"Rook?" She turned her head to the see the voice that had called her name. At this moment she could have thought she was dead, as what she saw could only be describe as an angel. Standing in the window with the bright sun shining behind them was Sy. "You're awake," the look of pure relief on Sy's face would have filled her with joy if only it wasn't for the dark circles under her eyes, signs that she hadn't slept.

"You look like crap," Rook's voice came out as croaks, but she managed to speak with her usual air of confidence.

"Seriously, you should see yourself," Sy sat on the side of the bed, brushing strands of messy hair from her face with a look of fondness, "Although I must admit you don't look terrible for someone who was bleeding all over my bedroom carpet no less than twelve hours ago," Sy said with sternness.

"You can send me the bill for that," she joked, but the look of disapproval from Sy showed that now wasn't the time for jokes.

She joked because she didn't know what to say. Sy was right this wasn't a laughing matter, Rook honestly thought she was going to die last night. Die without telling Sy the truth, she thought as she recalled the blurry memories of Sy discovering her.

"I'll add it to your tab." Sy smirked, "Along with the years of therapy I'll need to recover from the trauma of performing surgery in my bedroom, like some back ally doctor," she was thankful Sy was still seeing the light side of the situation.

"Will a thank you, suffice?"

"It's a start, but I'm not the one who saved your life, you should be thanking my sister."

As if speaking her name had summoned the woman, there was a stern knock followed by the door opening.

"Sy, I told you to get me as soon as she woke up," Mae scolded upon seeing the pair sat so casually on Sy's bed.

"She just woke up, I was going to come get you," Sy answered jumping from the bed and smoothing out her dress.

Mae gave her a doubtful look, "Well I'm here now," Rook watched as she placed a bag on the bed side table, "I need you to strip"

"What is about you Lockhart girls and trying to get me-"

"Rook!" Sy snapped at her seeing where Rook's tease was leading.

"Do you want to get an infection?" Mae asked.

Rook reluctantly pulled the white shirt over her head, one that she assumed was another of Sy's. She gritted her teeth trying to hide the pain of moving her arms. This was the first time she'd actually seen her injury. The chaos of yesterday was still fuzzy and all she could really remember was the warmth of her own blood staining her shirt, the rest of the time she was numb with adrenaline.

Mae peeled back the soaked gauze, even though Rook could see her being as steady as possible, it still caused her discomfort.

"I can't believe you got shot," Sy said from the side of her, "I watched the fallout on the news, there was so much gun fire, what happened?"