Syn

"Why did they call me here?" I asked dryly as I looked at Cain who was in the hospital bed. He smiled through the pain evident on his bruised face and I looked at him in boredom.

"Because I put you on my emergency contact, little brother," he joked in a weak voice.

"How did this even happen?" I asked as I took a seat on the chair beside him.

"I just wasn't paying attention, I guess."

The door opened and the older woman who had been treating Cain walked in. "Good news," she said as she walked towards us. "You'll be fine. Your vitals and heart rate are completely steady. Truthfully, Cain, you should not have survived that crash. It's a miracle you're still with us."

"Miracle my ass," he groaned.

The doctor gave him a grim smile and turned her attention towards me. "We're going to give him some vampire blood and he should be good to go in a few hours."

I gave her a simple nod and she left the room. "Did you call Queen?" He asked.

"You told me not to," I muttered in irritation. Yet another secret added to my heavy load. If she ever found out, I was sure that would be another reason for her not to forgive me already.

"Just checking," he said in a relief-filled tone. "I just don't want her to worry when it's nothing."

"How is you getting into a car crash nothing?"

With a wince, he adjusted himself on the bed and laughed softly. "I can't exactly die."

A commotion outside the door to the room made the both of us look towards it and I frowned. I closed my eyes to listen to what was going on and froze as I recognized a voice.

"He's my fucking brother, move!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, please wait for us to look at the guest list."

"There's a guest list for a damn hospital visit?!"

"Mr. Cain has specific instructions."

I opened my eyes to look back up at Cain and I shook my head. "Are your guards going to let your sister in?"

"Yes."

"Then what's the point of the list and guards?" I asked.

He looked far off at an empty wall and sighed sadly. "To keep someone out."

Queen

"Your name, Ma'am?" One of the guards standing in front of the door asked.

"Zeke! You know who the hell I am!" I snapped. Mia held me to make sure I didn't attack him but I was about to lose it.

"Name please," he repeated.

"You're fired after this," I said lowly through gritted teeth. "Queen SinClaire."

He looked down at the clipboard in his hands and looked back up at me with a grin. "Go in, your highness."

"Bitch," I muttered as he stepped aside. I walked towards the door to open it when a force separated Mia and me.

"Ma'am!" The guard said loudly as he looked down at Mia. "Name."

"Mia," she said slowly. "Mia Everton."

The guard looked down at the paper and shook his head before looking back up at her. "You're not on the list, sorry."

"How do you control a damn hospital?" I muttered as I snatched the clipboard from his hand. I looked down at the paper to find Mia's name but froze at what I saw instead.

Mia looked over my shoulder at the paper when I tried to hide it and her face dropped. "He doesn't want to see me."

"I'm sorry," I whispered as I looked at her. My heart fell at her solemn expression but she tried her best to replace it with a smile as she looked at me.

"No, it's okay," she assured. "Just let me know how he is, okay?"

I nodded and she squeezed my hand before turning and walking back down the hall. When she was out of view, I turned to the guards and glared at them. "If she was the only person not allowed in here, why did you give me such a hard time?!"

"Precautions, ma'am."

"Oh, fuck off." I walked past them and stormed into the room. My steps slowed down as I saw Syn sitting calmly in the chair beside the bed, looking down at the floor. He didn't look at me as I walked in but I ignored it and walked towards my brother who rolled his eyes at me.

"Don't even start, Queen," he begged. "I'm perfectly fine."

"You don't look perfectly fine," I snapped. Both of his casted legs were suspended by strings and one of his arms was broken. His face was a mix of blue and purple and the area above his eye was swollen.

"I look handsome," he joked.

"No, you look like a clown."

His smile dropped and I kissed the top of his head before sitting on the small space in the bed that he wasn't occupying. "Who told you I was here?"

"I missed calls from the hospital but thankfully they called Mia. We rushed over. How did you crash? I've seen you drive, Cain."

"Mia came?" He asked softly.

I pursed my lips and shook my head at him. "That's not the important part but yes, she did. Thanks to your list she had to leave though."

"Really?" He asked sadly.

I momentarily dropped my rude demeanor and my shoulders slumped as I looked at his somber expression. "Yes."

"Oh well," he shrugged as a grin replaced his look.

"Seriously?" I asked deadpanned.

"Don't look at me like that," he said as he pointed a finger at me. "She broke my heart and told me she hated me."

"You beat up her boyfriend," I pointed out.

"Okay, but he hit me as well. I've known her longer, she should've let me explain before immediately taking his side."

"That's about to be her husband Cain, it's a different type of relationship. Besides, I'm sure you threw the first punch."

"I mean..." he trailed off as he rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Exactly. She feels bad enough and she didn't mean what she said, Cain. You should talk to her."

"No," he said seriously as he looked directly at me. "Even if she meant none of it, she still said it. I also think it's just time that I move on from her, Queen. She's told me to do it so many times before but I never listened."

"You never cared about that before, what changed?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he whispered as he looked away from me again. "I just give up."

As I studied him, I noticed the sadness behind his eyes. I always admired how aloof and carefree he was in almost any situation no matter how serious. He was  even his happy self when talking about his crash but when it came to discussing Mia, I saw a side of him that I never wanted to see again.

Mia was my best friend and I loved her dearly. But Cain was my brother and before anyone else, I had to think about his well-being just as he would for me.

"I understand," I said.

His head moved back to me and he gave me a confused look. "You're not going to try to convince me to keep going for your best friend?"

"I just want you to be happy," I said.

He smiled at my words and I took his hand into mine as I looked around the room. Syn still hadn't spoken so I didn't say anything to him. We'd sit here in silence all night if we had to.

"So, when can we leave?" I asked.

"The doctor is bringing vampire blood for me, then we can go."

"Okay," I said.

The hospital door opened and a woman with green skin walked in. Her fairy wings disappeared as she walked further into the room and she gave us a shy dimpled smile.

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Iris," Cain said with a smile from the bed. "What are you doing here?"

"Umm, I heard you were in here so...I brought flowers." She held out the bouquet with a get well soon card as she shifted between her feet. Our eyes met but she quickly diverted them and I smiled at her awkwardness.

Cain sat up and I could tell it pained him but he took the flowers and gave her a small smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said softly as she looked down at her feet. From the way she carried herself and avoided looking at me, I could tell confidence wasn't her strong suit but she was a beautiful woman.

Cain's women were usually thin and size two and almost all of them looked the same. I liked how different Iris was. Her supernatural features were almost ethereal. Fairies were able to hide in plain sight and disguise their skin tone but I loved that she wore it with pride.

"Iris...you know what to do when you meet new people," he said in a smooth voice I didn't recognize.

Oh...Umm sorry," she apologized as she turned to me nervously. "I'm Iris."

"Queen," I said sweetly. She turned to Syn and said hello but he didn't bother lifting his head to greet her. I rolled my eyes at his rudeness and smiled at her. "Don't mind him, his name is Syn."

She nodded and I looked between her and Cain. "Well, I'm going to get a snack. Do you guys want anything?"

"No, thank you," Iris said in her small voice.

"Did you eat today?" Cain asked.

"I had breakfast earlier," she said.

"It's almost six, Iris," he said in exasperation as he turned to me. "Get her something please."

"Like what?"

"Something filling," he said simply.

"Helpful," I muttered as I walked out of the room. I followed the signs in the hospital until I made it to the food court. I looked around at all the long lines in each of the restaurants, but with a groan, I planted myself in one of the lines and took out my phone.

1 Notification From: 🙄

I sighed as I looked at the notifications on my banner from Syn but I couldn't help but open it.

🙄: Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?
6:12 pm

Me: Where?
6:12 pm

🙄: Wherever you'd like.
6:13 pm

Me: No, thank you.
6:13 pm

🙄: Why ask "where" if you were going to say no anyway? What if I got my hopes up?
6:14 pm

Me: That's not on me.
6:14 pm

🙄: No, but I could be...
6:14 pm

I involuntarily smiled at the suggestive text and shook my head. It was torture that no matter how upset I was at him, he could do one thing and it would give me butterflies.

🙄: If only you could let yourself smile like that around me.
6:15 pm

At the text, I lifted my head from my phone and looked around. If he saw me smile, then he was watching me, it was just hard to see where from in the crowded area.

🙄: You're holding up the line, Princess.
6:16 pm

I turned my head to look again and I jumped as I saw him standing directly behind me in line. He smirked down at me and shoved his phone into his pocket before crossing his strong arms.

"Hey."

꧁꧂

Author's Note
To all the threats when I specifically said Cain was immortal like 100 times😌

So it looks like Cain doesn't want to see Mia. But yk what? I get it. I wouldn't wanna see her right now either.
But IRIS! If y'all don't remember she was in an earlier chapter where she was naked on an elevator with Cain and wanted to be a sub🤪.
Lmk your thoughts ✨