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Couldn’t be a house for their bloodline’s news, and God forbid if it was her mahmen? Ivie’s father would have shown up, not her cousin

Plus, hello, none of her family would be admitted with the rich people

Maybe it wasn’t a VIP issue--nope, they were entering the unit now, pushing their way through the any doors that were marked with the family seal of Havers’s bloodline

Just as with luxury hotels, there was a front and a back side to the high-rent district, the latter being a series of hidden, utilitarian halls that were conduits for quick access to the fancier, formal treatment rooms and ORs Once inside, Rubes hooked the her pass card to unlock the steel door so they could hurry down the bald passageith its linoleuhts

One way you knew you were in the VIP area was that the scent of fresh-cut flowers overlaid the antiseptic s after her cousin, she breathed in deep

"Rubes, you want to givein on?"

As they continued onward, they started passing by a long series of doors that opened on both sides of the corridor These were the back ways into patient rooms, the discreet entrance/exits provided so ht in without undue disturbance to the rest of the ward

While they went along, Ivie nodded at the other staff they encountered Rubes, on the other hand, just kept her head dohich was also not like her

They were quite a ways along when the feht, she waited as an orderly pushed a laundry cart past them

She didn’t say anything until he ay out of earshot

"Look, I could lose e tone "But I don’t knohat else to do"

Ivie put a hand on her cousin’s shoulder "Listen, whatever it is, you and I will deal with it, okay? Don’t worry, Rubes We can handle this"

Rubes knocked softly, and when a muffled voice answered, she pushed her way in As Ivie entered behind her cousin, she tugged her unifor froh to deal with, their sense of entitle them to channel reasonable anxiety into unreasonable demands and critiques of staff

And she didn’t want to coht on before her head did, her feet stopping, her breath sucking in, her heart ju into a confused chaos even as her senses grounded her in an inscrutable yet undeniable reality

The suite was as grand as anything you’d find at the Four Seasons, the hospital bed fitted with satin sheets and aequipment hidden by a silk screen with a French courtesan scene on it The marble bathroo room out front, with a decor and accoutrements worthy of a Vanderbilt estate

But none of the luxuriousness registered

The patient was across the way, pulling on a shirt "I have to be so--"

That hen he stopped

And slowly turned around

Silas froze as their eyes met And Ivie was the first to break the connection--because her stare swept over his torso The gap between the two halves of that button down showed her the feeding tube that had been surgically implanted off to one side, as well as the port up by his chest, and the drain on the left

There were scars, too, evidences of surgeries that should have been well healed, but were lingering

Because he was clearly very, very ill

"Rubes," he said roughly, "not fair"

"You’re not well enough to go and you know it I did what I had to do"

Ivie covered her mouth with her palm She didn’t want the shock to show Too late for that

And then things got worse

A feait like that of a drill sergeant, her attitude one of total superiority

She was a stranger, but Ivie recognized her immediately

It was the retainer who had turned her away at thatmale find his way unto the Fade