The Wildness Within

Rules and Consequences 2

'Can you stand a little longer?' Augus said. 'I'd like to get this finished if I may.'

Gwyn blinked at him sleepily, then nodded again.

He was quiet as Augus kept working. Wiping blood away and then pressing coagulants to the wounds themselves, back on his knees and not feeling remotely subservient with Gwyn shaking weakly in front of him. Eventually, he encouraged Gwyn to strip out of his pants to see the rest of the bruising, rubbing arnica cream into the worst affected areas. Gwyn would heal from the bruises fast, but doctoring him soothed Augus' nerves.

Eventually, he had a pile of blood-soaked rags and strips of cloth, as well as Gwyn's clothing. He'd dispose of it all. Gwyn's wounds had closed with the assistance of the coagulants, and Augus wet a tiny bit of flannel with warm water and wiped the blood smear off his cheek. Gwyn met his eyes quickly, then his gaze darted away.

Augus took each of his hands and scrubbed at his palms, between his fingers, the places where his hands were a sticky, dark red-brown mess.

'What did you do with the cuffs?' Augus said, looking over his wrists and stroking them gently.

'I put them back,' Gwyn said, his voice croaking. 'I wanted to keep them but...I was breaking your rule. I thought I didn't...I thought that I shouldn't- that you wouldn't think-'

'You didn't think you deserved to wear them, did you?' Augus said, not letting Gwyn escape his gaze this time.

Gwyn swallowed once, shrugged with his uninjured shoulder.

'Then you'll not be getting them back until after the punishment,' Augus said, staring at him.

Gwyn's eyes closed, resigned, but he nodded all the same. The next breath he took was huge, the sigh that followed heavy. But he was returned, and Efnisien was dead, and the Raven Prince had actually helped them. For a while there, Augus wasn't sure. The Raven Prince's personal Page – a goat-horned pan with wide, thickly lashed eyes had explained that the Raven Prince was caught up in heavy matters pertaining to diplomacy, and that there were more lives on the line than just Gwyn's.

When Ash had heard that, the growl he'd let loose had been so fierce that the Page had taken a step back and stared at them both as though he'd just realised what kind of fae he was talking to.

'Do you want to stay here while I get fresh clothing?'

Another nod.

'Sit down then,' Augus said, nodding over to the chair. 'Unless your hips are too sore.'

He left Gwyn still standing in the bathroom, closed the door behind him, a pile of blood-soaked cloth in his arms. He walked further down the corridor, entering the room where he kept most of his cleaning equipment. He opened the wooden door that led to the outside of his home. There, he deposited the clothing in a trough and then rinsed his hands in a sink of black stone and shell.

He stared at his fingers, at the blood he scrubbed out from beneath his sharp fingernails.

No time to dwell. Once he was done, he sought Ash out, and found him in the lounge sitting in the armchair, leaning over his own body, elbows resting on his knees and hands out in front of him. When he looked up at Augus, his gaze was haunted.

'Sorry, man.'

Augus waved the apology away.

'How's he shaping up? You get anything out of him?'

'Mm,' Augus said.

Augus sat on the armrest of the chair and placed a hand on Ash's shoulder, rubbing at his back in the way he wished he could do for Gwyn as well. But he had the sense that Gwyn – while receptive to some touch – was not in the mindset for more.