Yuche carried me through the front door before I could come up with a convincing argument for why watching Meilan suffer was more important than having functioning legs.

To be fair, I had several excellent arguments, only nobody seemed interested in hearing them, and I wasn’t interested in saying them.

I knew I had to be treated... that Luo Xin and Yuche were right. But that didn’t make it all that easier to admit it. It didn’t make it all that easier to walk away from Meilan when she was still alive and chirping.

The moment we crossed the threshold, the sounds from outside became muted. Meilan was still screaming. The flowers were still hissing. The jungle was still having the time of its life. The walls had dulled most of it, but that just left the house strangely quiet after all the chaos of the yard.

It should have been comforting.

Instead, it just made everything hurt more.

Pain reminded me that it was my new best friend and rushed back into every part of my body the second there was nothing left to distract me.

My ribs complained every time I breathed. My shoulder felt like someone had attached it incorrectly. My back throbbed in a slow, steady rhythm that seemed determined to remind me that I had, in fact, broken my spine and should consider myself to be lucky that I was... walking? Upright?

Ugh... my brain was refusing to brain at the moment.

Just when I thought the whole universe was flipping me off.... The giant sectional came into view.

Thank God.

Yuche lowered me onto it carefully, still crusted with blood and slime and everything else from the Devourer, his one hand supporting my back while the other kept my leg from moving.

The amount of concentration he put into something as simple as sitting me down was deeply insulting.

I was injured.

Not fragile.

There was a difference.

The problem was that nobody else seemed to agree.

The second I settled against the cushions, after Yuche had tucked me under a blanket that would now have to be burned, Luo Xin appeared in front of me.

He looked exhausted. His clothes were stained with blood, his face was pale, and there were dark circles beneath his eyes that made him look like he had aged ten years since this morning.

I felt a brief flicker of guilt, knowing that I was the cause. But then he looked at my leg, and all the guilt that I was feeling completely disappeared.

"Absolutely not," I said.

"I haven’t said anything."

"You are looking at me like you’re about to."

Luo Xin sat down on the coffee table that somehow still existed despite everything else that had happened to the house.

"Let me see it."

I looked toward Yuche.

Yuche looked toward Luo Xin, and the two men stared at each other for several seconds. Finally, Yuche very carefully shifted the blanket covering my legs, letting the other man pull it back completely.

The room became quiet as everyone, and I do mean everyone looked down at my leg.

That turned out to be a massive mistake.

My leg looked worse than I remembered.

At some point during the fighting outside, I had stopped paying attention to it, but now there was nothing left to distract me.

The lower half of my leg twisted slightly inward... okay... more than just slightly. My foot pointed in a direction that had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of my body.

Even worse, the skin looked wrong.

The swelling had gone down enough that I could see where everything had started settling.

A cold feeling settled in my stomach as I tried to think of something to say. "Well," I started, only to drift off.... "That seems.... not quite right."

Luo Xin rubbed both hands over his face in a manner that was anything but encouraging.

Slowly, he reached out and pressed two fingers against the side of my shin.

Pain exploded through me as my vision went white.

Every muscle in my body locked up at once and the only reason why I didn’t scream was because I refused to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me weak. Even Yuche and Lingyun.

Yuche’s arm immediately wrapped around my shoulders and Luo Xin pulled his hand back. The expression on his face somehow became worse. "That is definitely not encouraging," I muttered, glaring at the top of my thigh.

It was still in good condition... given everything. It was one of the only safe places to look at the moment.

Commander Li frowned, clearly knowing his medic better than I did. "What?" he asked, his voice actually sounding concerned. Right. I had already determined he was one of mine... he was allowed to be concerned for me.

Luo Xin looked up and a look of indecision was spreading across his face. "The bone started setting."

The room went silent at his words.

I looked at the leg.

Then at Luo Xin.

Then back at the leg. "The bone did what now?"

"It started healing," replied Luo Xin like that was the worst thing possible.

I stared at him. "Isn’t that your entire job?"

"Not like this."

That answer sounded suspiciously like a problem.

Luo Xin leaned forward and pointed toward the twisted angle near my ankle.

"The alignment is wrong. It started setting before I could finish repairing the damage."

The words took several seconds to fully register. When they finally did, I felt my stomach drop.

"You’re telling me my leg healed broken."

"Yes."

"That seems like poor planning."

Luo Xin closed his eyes and Commander Li covered his mouth.

Lingyun laughed and I could see even Zhenlan, as silent and as brooding as he was now, trying to fight back a smile.

I pointed toward Lingyun, knowing that he was one of the safe ones. "You are a terrible person," I pointed out, raising an eyebrow. That’s right Lingyun... distract me. Be the you that I need right now and stop me from being scared.

"You already knew that," he replied, his voice a deep purr like he knew what I was screaming inside my head.

I looked away from him and at the leg. The more I stared at it, the worse it became. I could see it now. The angle, the twist, the not so subtle way everything sat wrong. If it stayed like this, I would never be able to walk again.

That realization slowly worked its way through my head.

"Wait," I said, letting my mouth catch up with my brain.

Nobody spoke as they wait for me to work though all this... this... stuff.

"If that has finished healing..."

Luo Xin nodded once.

"You will always walk with it like that."