She woke slowly, groggy and exhausted to find herself lying on the bottom bunk still, her body sticky with blood and her mouth feeling like she had stuffed it with cotton.
Rolling her head, she found Jagum had fallen asleep at her side, his lanky body stretched out on the floorboards and his head tilted back to rest against her thigh.
He was such a pretty specimen, and she smiled as she lifted her hand and rested it atop his head, her fingers light on the stiff fur.
His eyes snapped open, and he looked at her, relief showing on his face.
"Killing me would have been less punishment," she croaked, and he snorted, shaking his head as he got up and he vanished from sight for a moment.
"Your butt is covered in blood," she said, and he swore, returning to her side with a large mug.
She snatched it from him and downed the sweet, cool water with a loud moan of pleasure.
"You bleed more than a stuck pig," he complained, and she lifted her two fingered salute to him, making him chuckle as she drained the mug and held it out to him.
"No more until you eat, or you'll be sick," he said, and his brows lifted at her glare. "Don't test me, woman."
She flopped back onto the bed and groaned at the hardness of it.
"No wonder you're all so angry all the time. Don't you believe in mattresses?" she complained, her back complaining even louder.
"I have one in my house, but they're hard to clean so the hospital gets none," he said and vanished again.
A smell hit her, and her mouth was watering before he rounded the corner. He was carrying a plate of meat that was big enough to be almost a whole animal and he laughed at her intent stare.
There was a fork, but she ignored it, instead rolling up the strips of animal flesh and biting into them eagerly, the herbs and spices making her jaw ache from the sudden flavour.
Sitting down at her side, he held the plate out until she had scoffed almost half of it and groaned, belly full.
"You don't eat much," he said, eyeing the plate.
"Have the rest, my stomach is smaller than yours."
He made a happy sound and started eating, freezing at a growl from the door.
Looking up, she found the female in the doorway.
"She said I could," he said immediately, and she nodded quickly.
There was something about nurses that made them feel like they were disobedient children, it made most soldiers feel like that.
"Did you give her any of it?" the woman demanded and he looked at her, eyes wide.
"I ate half of it," she said, meeting his scared eyes with her own.
"Good, you get out, I need to check her wounds."
Jagum slipped from the room, his tail low and she remained still, allowing the woman to check the wounds.
They were pink and angry looking, but they had sealed over. Inside she knew they hadn't knitted together and her stomach wasn't happy with the amount of food she had forced into it, but she was no longer at risk of dying.
"Good, you heal fast," the woman said and Etani smiled slightly.
"Not as fast as normal."
The woman's brows lifted and Etani shrugged, pushing herself up into a sitting position and groaning as her spine popped angrily.
"Where are my friends?" she asked, trying to move as little as possible now that the bandages were removed. The skin felt like wet parchment and she didn't want to tear it open.
"The Fae and demon?" she asked and Etani nodded. "Out in the cages. They've been asking for you."
Etani sighed, rubbing her eyes and frowning at the blood coating her hands.
"You can see them later, after you've had more time to heal and bathed," the woman said and Etani nodded obediently.
***
It was another several hours before she was allowed to get up and bathe, Jagum standing with his back to her as her guard while she turned the bath water crimson and then got dressed in a simple grey dress that had been provided for her. Her clothes had vanished while she bathed.
Following Jagum out, her eyes immediately went to the cage and Daemon looked up from his intense conversation with Uzo.
"Etani!" he called, and she waved to them, smiling slightly. Uzo whipped around and his eyes were burning with fury, but she didn't think it was at her.
"Are you okay?" he called out and she nodded.
"Healing," she called back, following along behind Jagum to get closer to the cages.
"Are you both alright?" she asked, several feet still separating them, but she didn't have to yell as loud to be heard.
"Better now. They underestimated the dosage and Uzo woke up soon after they took you to the surgery," Daemon said, his eyes lingering on her stomach.
Jagum shuffled and she looked up at him, the movement catching the attention of both men. They both stared at Jagum with murderous intent in their glare.
"This is Jagum, the one we were looking for," she said and Daemon's face spasmed as though she had slapped him, unsure of how to react.
"You were looking for me?" Jagum asked, shocked.
"We didn't come here for the fun of it. We came to get your help," she said. Daemon growled and Uzo was still staring daggers at the tiger.
"What kind of help could I offer?" Jagum asked but she didn't have time to answer.
Her conversation with the caged men had brought the elderly tiger out and he stared down at her, smiling grimly.
"So, you're all better. That was quicker than expected."
"Not better—" she started to say and then she staggered back, his paw coming out of nowhere and she tasted blood. His claws had raked her face and pierced right though her cheek and into her mouth.
She nearly went over the railing under the force of his blow, and she gasped, clutching her face that poured blood.
"You weren't given permission to speak," he snarled, and she whimpered, clinging to the railing.
Daemon and Uzo had gone entirely silent, but she could almost feel their fury radiating off them in waves.
Looking down at her blood-soaked hand, she spat out the blood pooling in her mouth and tested the area as it healed over.
"What worth is she?" the old man was saying to Jagum, who shrugged.
"She might not be worth anything to them," he said, and she yelped as the old man gripped her by the front of her dress and she was suddenly being bent backwards over the railing. She clutched at his paw, very aware of how lethal that fall would be.
"What worth are you, girl?" he demanded while she clung to him, terrified that he was going to let her go and she would be ended.
"I'm valuable to Summer, and Winter wants me dead, but if you kill me you're going to regret it in a week when this world is brought down," she gasped, glancing behind her and whimpering as the ground seemed to be further away than she remembered.
"What are you talking about?" he snarled, pulling her up a tiny bit.
She wrapped both arms around his paw, knowing he could shake her off if he wanted to be free of her.
"I'm the reason the world wasn't brought down nine hundred years ago. When I lost my magic the creators got theirs back and they're coming to bring down the human world. They want Faerie to be at full magic again so they can try again. If you kill me you'll be killing everything in this world including yourself. You will be responsible for the entire world being ended."
He stared into her face and finally he jerked her away from the edge and clean off her feet.
He was strong for an old man and she hung from his grip, his face mere inches from hers.
"How do we know if you're lying?" he growled and she laughed, a dark sound that had his ears flattening.
"In a matter of days you'll find out, an instant before you get vanished," she said and he bared his teeth at her.
Shoving her forward, she screamed as he held her out over the abyss. She clutched at his paw, entirely at his mercy.
"Why did you come here then if you're so important?" he demanded and she glanced at Jagum, his eyes glowing in anger but he refused to move.
"I need magic and we hoped we could get to Jagum without coming to a fight," her dress made an ominous ripping sound and her face went pale, terror filling her. "I have been going around collecting magic from various species who I need to return me to my powers. I knew Jagum from the war, we thought he might be willing to help but we didn't expect the ambush. We wanted to get in and out quickly!" she saw the tear in the fabric, it was slowly growing bigger the longer she hung there.
"And I suppose this means you want us to let you go free?" he demanded and she nodded.
"Staying here would make it difficult to get to the others. After you we still have seven and then we need to get back to Ayathian for Epharis. You have to believe me!" her body jerked as the fabric tore, and she whimpered loudly, clinging to his fist.
He considered her, what she was saying while in danger and then to the two in the cages before he finally pulled her in and let go.
She slumped to the ground and clutched at her dress, torn down the front.
"We will have someone sent to Winter to confirm this," he said and she looked up at him, her eyes wide.
"They want me dead, they don't care about the human world, they just don't want me taking the throne."
His eyes snapped down to her and she thought back over what she had said, realising she had told him too much.
"Is that right?" he breathed and she cursed, even Jagum was watching her with more interest.
"You can't keep me here," she said but he was no longer listening, he motioned for someone and she was jerked to her feet.
Rope was bound around her arms and she whimpered as it was pulled tight. Looking up, she found her rope was attached to a pulley and as it pulled tighter, she was dragged backwards towards the edge of the platform.
"You have to let me go or we're all dead! I'm not dragging you to Faerie!" she snarled and he only smiled.
Glaring at him, she swore and drove her foot into his shin, making him howl but then she was yanked backwards and she shrieked as her feet left the balcony and her shoulders burned.
She swung several times before settling a few feet from Uzo's cage, hanging painfully by her wrists.
"I hate this world and everyone in it," she said to Uzo, who snorted.
"Could always shut it down when you're in power," he said and she glanced at him, her shoulders settling into a steady burn.
"Tempting… very tempting," she sighed.