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I glance at the computer but the doctor makes an annoyed little noise in the back of her throat. I look back at her.

“It’s already been entered,” she says, smirking a little. I grin, thinking I should have already guessed that. “You’re doing well, Nadia. Keep up the good work and remember that you’re replaceable. Still, I like to have a good nurse on my side, especially with all these big bully Alphas around.”

She gives me a wink and pats me on the shoulder briefly before she strides for the entrance, cool and efficient. I smile as I watch her, deciding that I already like this doctor very much. I’m still grinning as I hurry off to Arnav in our tiny pharmacy area, which is really just a bunch of locked boxes full of medicine.

As the doctor says, it’s going to be a long night, and I’ve got patients in pain who need my attention.

I carefully consider my next move as I collect the pain medication from Arnav, slowly walking over to Grace, Jade, and her sister. I have a feeling that this is about to get…tricky.

“Grace,” I say calmly as I offer the little paper cup with the pills to Jade and indicate the bottle of water next to her. “Would you mind asking Jeanie to come in here for a minute?”

“What?” Grace frowns at me, confused. “I still have –“

“Jeanie,” I say, interrupting her and giving her a significant look.

Grace’s eyebrows go up but she doesn’t hesitate again, trusting me. She gives Jade and her sister a wink before putting the bandages down and heading for the door.

“What’s that?” Jade’s sister asks, peering into the tiny cup.

“Pain medication,” I say quietly. “For the wrist.”

She looks up at me, baffled.

I realize quite suddenly that she’s maybe never seen medicine in pill form before. I do my best to hide my pity and just nod towards it. “If you swallow it,” I say. “Your wrist won’t hurt so much.”

Jade looks up at me, eyes narrowed. “Sorcery? We don’t take with sorcerers. We are good, clean women -” Her words are ended by another hacking cough.

My mouth spreads into a slow smile, and I shake my head. “No, not sorcery,” I say. “Just modern medicine. I promise it won’t hurt you, and you don’t have to take it if you don’t want to. But your wrist will be glad of it if you do. Are there questions I can answer that will help you understand?”

Jade and her sister – whose name is Ivy, I soon discover – ask lots of questions and I do my best to answer them. By the time they decide that the best solution is for Arnav to produce another pill identical to the first for me to take alongside Jade to ensure that the medicine isn’t harmful, Jeanie and Grace return.

“Is this standard procedure in your medical practice?” Jeanie asks, smirking at me as I pop the second pill into my mouth and chase it with a long swig of water.

“Nope,” I say, grinning at her and then turning to Jade, lifting my chin at the pill in her hand. “If I have to do this with everyone, though, I’m in for afunnight.”

Jade narrows her eyes at me but her sister nudges her and she sighs, taking the pill, struggling to swallow it but getting it down. She coughs for a while afterward and her sister rubs her back until she catches her breath and again raises her head.

“Nice,” Jeanie says, holding her hand up to Jade for a high-five.

Jade just looks at Jeanie’s hand, confused and a little freaked out. Jeanie laughs a little and drops her arm.

“So,” I say, half turning to Jeanie to include her in the conversation as Grace gets to work on Ivy’s final scrapes. “I asked Jeanie to come in because she’s one of our counselors and I thought she might be able to help you better understand some of your options.”

“Options?” Ivy asks, looking warily between us.

“You can do whatever you want,” I say, wanting it to beveryclear to these women that they’re not trapped. “But the doctor has ordered a transport for you in the morning. We’ll make you comfortable tonight, but we’d like to send you down to a hospital a little north of here to –“

“What?” Ivy asks, her eyes widening, the word falling from her mouth on a huff of breath. She snaps her gaze between us, horrified. “N-no! We can’t go north! They’ll – they’ll enslave us! They’ll make us work for them! They’ll keep us in a room and sendmento us –“

Grace stands straight, staring at the sisters, shocked.

I exhale slowly, trying to stay calm for their sake. I was worried this would be their reaction. I’ve heard rumors about the Children of Solace before and it’s not positive, regarding how they treat women. “I promise you,” I say, shaking my head. “Noneof that is going to happen –“

“Weknow, all right?” Jade snaps. “Weknowwhat happens up north – all the violence, and the people in chains, and the horrible King and Queen making everyone work for them, just sitting back and eating all day and counting their jewels –“

I fight hard against the humor that wells up in me at that because these womenclearlyhave no idea that they met thatKing’s son and heir a few minutes ago. But I pat that all down, aware that their fear is very real and it’s my job to help them.

“Where on earth did you get the idea that –“ Grace says, looking between the women, clearly shocked.