Page 61 of Inferno
“Gosta does not like humans,” Kit went on, “and she most certainly does not like humans finding out about us. What I would recommend is you answer any questions she asks you quickly and to the point, and say as little as possible aside from that. Are we clear?”
Yorin hesitated. He didn’t like the idea of being treated like a disobedient child. He was as invested in this rescue attempt as any of the rest of them, and losing Nerik would cut his heart open in a way he might never recover from. And after only just having discovered such a wonderful treasure.
But at the same time, he was very much the newcomer here. This was likely not the first time this group had banded together to save one of their own, and his interference might just disrupt the team. And besides which, a lot of these people were quite possibly going to end up risking their lives to save Nerik’s. Playing the game by their rules was a small price to pay for their assistance. In the end, Yorin decided to obey Kit’s instructions. His pride could throw a tantrum about it another day; right now, they needed to save Nerik.
“Understood,” he said succinctly. “And just to reiterate, I would never do anything to harm any of you.”
But rather than being reassured, Kit looked more unhappy, her mouth twisting in a sour grimace. “That’s easy to say here and now. But when someone’s standing over you with a hot poker that they’re about to use to brand your skin, tongues have a way of suddenly coming loose.”
It was a grim image. “If I’m ever in that situation,” Yorin said, “then I would kindly request that you and yours find a way to grant me a quick death.”
Kit looked away, and Yorin wondered if he’d managed to annoy her again. But when she looked back, she seemed to be trying hard not to smile. “The gods damn it all, Yorin, you make it far too easy to like you.” Yorin had to repress a smile of his own at that. “Come on,” Kit said. “Time’s a-wasting.”
She led the way into the hospital, and as they were crossing the waiting room to the reception desk, Kit muttered to Yorin, “Just play along. No matter how weird this gets, just go with it.”
Yorin nodded, then plastered a smile to his face as they arrived at the reception desk. “Henrietta, so lovely to see you,” Kit said to the nurse behind the desk, and Yorin was quickly learning that she could turn her charm on and off like a tap. “I’m afraid I need to speak to Gosta fairly urgently. I got a delivery in recently that was supposed to be a bag of emeralds, but I’ve got a pouch full of herbs instead. Terrible mix up. I’m really hoping that the gems were delivered to the hospital instead.”
“Oh dear, that’s no good at all,” Henrietta said. “It’s not like Nerik to mix up a delivery like that!”
Yorin found himself suddenly clenching his teeth at his boyfriend’s name, and he bit his lip to stop himself hurtling into a downward spiral of fears about all the things that could happen to his lover.
“Ah, well, Nerik didn’t do this delivery,” Kit said, maintaining her upbeat image. “He had too many other things on, so I was forced to use someone else. I don’t even know if the gems would have ended up here, but it seemed like the easiest place to start.”
Henrietta nodded sympathetically. “Gosta’s just in with a patient in room two. Down the hall to the right. I’m sure she’ll know if anything showed up.”
“Thank you so much. Have a good day.” Kit turned to leave, Yorin close behind her, but then Henrietta interrupted.
“Wait a second… Yorin, what are you doing here?”
Yorin froze, but Kit jumped in before he could either panic at the question, or come up with a sensible reply. “Some of the emeralds were for Yorin. I thought it would be quicker if we all just came together to get things sorted out, rather than running back and forth all over the place.”
The answer seemed to satisfy Henrietta. “Oh, well, sure, go ahead.” Yorin shot her a grateful smile and hastened after Kit.
“In my line of work, you get used to pulling bullshit out of your ass,” Kit muttered to him, as they headed off down the hospital hallway. “It’s a handy trick, but the hard part is remembering what story you gave to each different person.” They arrived at room two and thankfully found Gosta easily. She was finishing wrapping a bandage around a young girl’s arm, the girl’s mother watching fretfully from the side of the room. “Now, you be careful next time you’re out in the forest,” Gosta said to the girl, stern but friendly. “We don’t want you getting an infection, okay?”
The girl nodded solemnly, then accepted a small square of honey cake that the hospital kept on hand as a treat for its younger patients. “Thank you, Gosta,” she said solemnly. Gosta helped her get down off the bed, then dismissed the pair of them, with instructions to the mother to bring the girl back in two days.
Gosta waited until they’d both left, then turned to her new visitors. “Kit. Yorin. What can I do for you?” She seemed a little perplexed, not so much that she was getting a visit from either of them, but due to them being heretogether.
Once again, Yorin let Kit field the question. But her answer surprised him. “There’s been a terrible mix up with a delivery,” she said, sticking to her original story. “I got a bag of herbs instead of a bag of gems, and I was hoping the gems might have ended up here.”
There was a telling pause as Gosta processed the story, and at the same time, Yorin tried to figure out the subtleties of what was going on. Why hadn’t Kit just told Gosta what was happening?
“You’d better come over to my office, then,” Gosta said. “Yorin, you may as well wait in the waiting room. I’m sure we won’t be long.”
“Yorin can come with me,” Kit said, in a tone that would brook no arguments.
Gosta’s gaze landed on Yorin, and he felt like a bug about to be squished by a large boot. He maintained a carefully neutral expression, not wanting to upset the woman any more than necessary.
“Fine,” Gosta said, through tight lips. “Come along then.”
They went down the hall and into a small, cramped office, which seemed to get even smaller when Gosta shut the door behind them. “Now, what’s this about some mixed up herbs?”
Kit wasted no time. “Nerik’s been captured. He’s being held in the town square, in infernal form. As far as we’re aware, no one currently knows that he’s really Nerik. But they’re going to execute him first thing tomorrow morning. There are guards on his cage-”
“Wait, wait, wait, slow down!” Gosta snapped at her. She gestured angrily towards Yorin. “What the hell ishedoing here?”
“He and Nerik started dating each other sometime in the last week,” Kit said, not sparing much attention to the details. “Things happened, as they are wont to do, and he accidentally found out about Nerik. So… here he is.”