Once the two human-shaped monsters left, Iris looked down at the fragile girl in her hands. Lily was trembling, her head lowered as tears streaked down her cheeks. Her breakdown was silent, but for ragged intakes of breath.
Iris wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. What was one supposed to say to a child who was just abandoned by their parents?
They sat in silence for a long while, until Lily cried herself to sleep. By then, Iris was numb all over. When she tried to stand up, she almost fell. If she hadn't managed to grab hold of the armchair's back, she would have certainly met face to face with the floor.
'What to do… What to do…' As much as Iris wanted to take care of the problem herself, she wasn't qualified for the task. 'I really need to do something about my life…'
While thinking that, she whipped out her phone and found Kyro's number. He might be busy, but she really needed some assistance at the moment. Leaving Lily here was not an option, but she couldn't send her home either.
Kyro answered on the second ring of the phone. "Did something happen?"
"Uhm…" She quickly narrated the story to him and asked if he had any thoughts on the matter. In the end, it was his best friend's sister she was dealing with.
"Call Gale, taking care of Lily will prevent him from acting out for a day." He then sent her Gale's number with a message telling her to be safe and not dally outside for too long.
Iris smiled a little at his words, then called the number she'd been given. The call was canceled, so she wrote a message telling Gale to return to his room.
Done, she frowned at her phone. Was he going to come? If he didn't bother to answer to strangers, would he heed her words and return? She herself didn't wish to stay here for long, but she couldn't leave until Lily had a place to stay where she wasn't alone.
Every minute took forever, and Iris was ready to go and look for Gale herself than the door opened and the man himself strolled inside. "What's going on?" he asked with a cold glare.
"Your pare—"
"They don't deserve the name," he muttered, going past her to the next room where he saw Lily curled up on herself in the armchair. Her face was red and blotchy, tear-stained.
"Well, they left Lily, making it obvious that they didn't want her to return home."
Gale turned on Iris, his expression full of fury. "They left her?"
She nodded. "Lily wanted to come with them, but they shut her down, and mocked her for being useless."
They had spoken in low voices, but the noise still woke Lily. She opened her swollen eyes that were tearing up all over again. Unlike before, she no longer ran into Gale's embrace. There was no hope or expectation on her face, just unpalatable sorrow.
A number of curses left Gale's lips, then he went to his sister and picked her up. His movements were slow, but well-practiced. Lily also seemed to be used to being princess-carried, for her lips curled up the slightest bit before falling down again.
All of them then left the hotel together, but Iris didn't follow them to wherever they were going. She had her own home to return.
To her surprise, Kyro was already home and watching some business channel. When she entered the house, he didn't stand up to greet her, just nodded in acknowledgement.
A little miffed, Iris went closer. Was he that tired that he didn't even care what happened or...
She soon saw the reason why Kyro didn't move. On his lap, Lucy lay purring. The cat was still lying on his good side, putting the bare and stitched one for all to see, but his mood was a lot better. With eyes closed, he was enjoying his back's fur being brushed.
Joy spread through Iris, and she dropped to a crouch to pet the black emperor. Lucy opened one eye to give her a glance, then closed it as he moved his head so she could scratch his ear better.
Laughing a little, Iris turned to Kyro. "He's feeling better!"
Her answer was a nod and a smile, and both their gazes returned to the black cat. The whole of last week, Lucy hadn't moved but for when the pain pushed him to crawl in search of something. Most of the days he spent in a daze, somewhere between the living and dreaming worlds.
Yet he was clearly awake at that moment. He was also receptive to attention, instead of shying away from it like a vampire from light.
Iris scratched his ear, allowing relief to flood over her. Lucy was getting better. These few words were like a joyous symphony in her head. Silently, she promised to buy Lucy all the treats he might possibly want when he could eat them. He deserved all of them and more.
After all, he was a hero who had finally weathered his injuries to stand up from what many would have a seen as a deathbed.