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A heartbeat later, feet appeared in my vision, then knees, as Aiden squatted in front of me.
“You okay?”
I looked up at him. “I’m feeling weaker than a newborn, I’m in need of chocolate and coffee, but yeah, I’m okay.”
He glanced at Belle. “And you?”
“What she said.” She drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “I gather you couldn’t find Ashworth inside?”
“His scent was vague and hard to track. He wasn’t in the protected area, but whether he was in another part of the building I couldn’t say. That purple stuff attacked me the minute I stepped out of the protected zone.” He hesitated. “There were a couple of other bodies in there though. From the brief glimpse I got, it looked like their throats had been cut.”
Meaning I’d been right—the heretic witch had fueled his spell with the blood of others. And it also meant that Ashworth hadn’t been a third fuel source; he’d probably lost his life when the building first fell. I hoped it was quick. Hoped he hadn’t suffered. “What about Eli and the HIC witch? How are they?”
“The HIC witch was out cold. Eli is now floating in and out of consciousness.”
“The net that protected them both must have been his, because that sort of magic generally needs consciousness to hold steady.”
“Given the utter destruction, it’s a goddamn wonder anyone was alive.”
“Which is odd,” I said. “The heretic witch was obviously stronger than all three, so why did he leave two of them alive—one of them being the man who was sent here to kill him? It makes no sense.”
“Unless,” Belle said, “that purple haze was intended to finish what he’d started. It did attack anyone who got too close to the building, and Eli’s strength would have given out sooner rather than later.”
“I guess.”
She raised an eyebrow. “In other words, you don’t agree.”
I waved a hand. “Something just feels off. Why wouldn’t he just kill them when he had the chance? Why leave it to fate to decide?”
“Maybe the HIC witch will be able to answer that question once he comes to,” Aiden said. “Are you two ready to go home?”
A somewhat wry smile twisted my lips. “So much for it being someone else’s turn to do the late shift tonight.”
His phone beeped before he could reply. He pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at the screen, and then grunted. “Eli is refusing to go anywhere until he talks to you.”
I frowned and pushed onto hands and knees. My head swam with dizziness but overall, I felt better than I had in the past when the wild magic had swept through me.
Maybe you’re acclimatizing, Belle said.
I’m not sure it’s something you can acclimatize to.
Aiden jumped upright, grabbed my elbow to steady me as I rose, and then offered Belle his hand and hauled her upright easily.
She hissed softly and a sliver of her pain ran through the connection between us. She’d pushed herself—pushed her magic—well past what either of us had thought she was capable of, and she was now paying for it.
“Looks like I’ll be making you a potion tonight rather than the other way around,” I said.
She groaned again. “You don’t have to say that with such glee. Really, you don’t.”
Belle—with Byron close by her side to make sure she was okay—went one way to collect our spell stones, while I went the other. I handed her my pile at the front of the destroyed building and then, with Aiden at my side, made my way to the remaining ambulance. Its rear door was open, and Eli was sitting up on the bed inside. His head had been bandaged, as had his left leg, and he was as pale as a ghost, but he certainly didn’t look as if he was about to fade into unconsciousness. In fact, he looked rather frantic.
One of the paramedics stepped forward, grabbed my hand, and helped me up into the ambulance.
I touched Eli’s good leg lightly and said, “I’m so sorry—”
“No, you don’t understand,” he cut in. “He’s not dead.”
“But the building—”
