Joedan woke up to the sunlight beaming through the window. The sheets covering him were white.
Looking to his left shoulder, he saw a bandage had been applied. He winced as he tried to sit up. Halting that, he chose to stay laying down. A nurse came through the door to his right.
"Oh, good. You're awake," she said. "You lost a lot of blood, young man. You're lucky we were able to work so quickly."
She checked his bandage, lifting the sheet, she checked his thigh as well. Seeing nothing of concern, she settled the sheet back down and smiled at Joedan.
"Thirsty?" she asked, handing him a glass of water.
Joedan took a few sips as he handed the glass back to her. The nurse excused herself and Joedan was alone in his room.
Amelia entered not too long after. Wearing her familiar traveling clothes and her mace tucked behind her back, she strode over and plopped down in the seat next to his bed.
"Hey," she said sweetly. Joedan rolled his head towards her and smiled at her.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Like I got stabbed a couple of times," Joedan deadpanned, cracking his smile at the end. She swatted his arm.
"Ow," he said.
"Oh, hush, you big baby, that's not even your injured side." She paused in her teasing.
They both made eye contact. Neither one said anything for a couple of minutes before Amelia broke the contact with a slight blush on her cheeks.
"Where is everyone?" Joedan asked, sparing her discomfort.
"They're busy helping Father handle all the aftermath after everything with Count Reginald." she said.
"And the Count?" Joedan asked.
"Father said he could not justify giving him another opportunity to manipulate his way into a position of power. He's set to be executed." she said.
Joedan nodded along with understanding. It sounded harsh to some, but he had seen how much the count had been able to do and for him it had only been a few weeks. You could not give a man like that any leniency.
"And Ralph?" Joedan asked, looking back over at Amelia.
She took a few minutes to look back at him before responding. "He has been sent to work at one of our mines. It will count as time served." she said plainly.
Joedan nodded. He could understand why they chose to sentence him. The man had done a lot of terrible things under the thumb of the count.
After a few more moments, Amelia spoke again, "But after he serves his time," she said, looking back at Joedan, "we will give him a chance to serve in our estate. Provided his rehabilitation goes accordingly and the officers over him say he's improved," she finished.
Joedan smiled at that. He hadn't known Ralph that long and most of their encounters had been with each of them on opposite sides. But in that last skirmish, Ralph had stepped up and aided them. Plus, he felt he owed the man something for killing his brother those many weeks ago.
"So what's next?" Joedan asked her.
She smiled, her brightest smile yet. "Father has said that you passed your promotional exam," she beamed.
He sighed, "ohhh, man." he groaned. "What now?" He widened his eyes as he looked at her.
"Silly boy," she chuckled. "You're my new bodyguard." with that she laughed hard.
"Bodyguard?"
"Well, this oughtta be exciting," Joedan said, as he rolled his eyes.
**** END OF BOOK 1. *****