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~12~
Nic was keenlyaware of Gabriel’s reticence, his water magic damp with dread and sluggish as slush, the moon magic dark.“Asa wouldn’t call us over if she’s in a state that would panic your parents,” she whispered, and he nodded, tightening his grip on her hand.
As one, they moved to Selly’s bedside, though Gabriel’s parents took the lead.After an initial kerfuffle where they protested her being strapped down—answered crisply by Gabriel that he wasnotrisking losing her again, especially as this time she might not survive the experience—they settled into soothing and petting her.Selly wasn’t articulate, but she seemed to recognize them, and she appeared to be relatively peaceful, blinking with vague amber-brown eyes at her parents.
“Was it bad?”Nic murmured for his ears only.When he glanced at her, she gave him a sympathetic smile.“Your magic is all muddy.”
His eyes were like black stones, and he pulled her into his arms, wrapping her up tight, his magic enfolding her also.“Thank you for being here,” he whispered in her ear.“Yes, it was bad.”
She pressed into him, meeting his magic with hers, to warm and brighten his cold, shadowed places, pushing up to her toes to better fit herself against him.“It will be better now.You’re doing the right thing.”
“Keep telling me that,” he muttered back.
“You’re doing the right thing.”
He laughed hoarsely, pulling back just enough to caress her cheek.The magic thrummed intense between them, hot with mutual yearning.“What would I do without you?”
“You’ll never have to find out.”
“Good, because sometimes I feel I’d destroy all the world if something happened to you.”
“Just like Sylus,” she whispered.“My fierce wizard.”
He didn’t laugh.Instead his magic spiked, and he captured her mouth with his, heedless of the company they kept, kissing her with rare ferocity—at least in public—that nearly bruised.As suddenly as he’d taken her mouth, he released her lips, though he still held her close, their faces a breath apart.“I finally understand that bastard, but you’re no helpless Lyndella.”
She kissed him then, with all the gentleness that mirrored his desperation.“I love you more than she ever loved Sylus—because you love me for me.”
Groaning deep in his throat, he kissed her again, almost beseeching this time, and she answered his need as best she could.Asa cleared his throat, and Nic reluctantly extricated herself.
“Apologies, Lord and Lady Phel,” Asa said quietly, “but our window of opportunity is narrow.”
Nic looked to Gabriel for explanation.
“Asa wants me to tap Selly’s magic as soon as possible.”Gabriel frowned.“He seems to think the first tap will have considerable backlash and that I should be the one to do it.”
Asa met Nic’s gaze somberly, his wizard-black eyes more serious than she’d ever seen them.She’d never heard of a familiar who’d gone this long without having their magic released, but she wasn’t surprised that there could be issues like he described.
“You’re the most powerful wizard I’ve ever met,” she reassured Gabriel.“And you have affinity for Selly’s magic, and for her as your sister.You’ll do well.”
Gabriel didn’t look convinced.“I suppose I need to move my parents along, then.”Letting go of Nic, he went over to join the group by the bed, fortuitously leaving Nic alone with Asa.
“Just how dangerous is this?”she demanded once Gabriel was out of earshot.
Asa didn’t blink at her aggressiveness.“Dangerous,” he acknowledged.“Under other circumstances, I’d insist she be given into the immediate care of the Convocation.They have the expertise to release stagnant magic of this scale.And they have Hanneil wizards who can heal Selly’s mind, if it can be healed at all.
“Alternatively, I’d point out the risk/benefit scenario here: Is it worth risking Lord Phel to save someone who perhaps cannot be saved?”
Nic’s gut chilled.“But under these circumstances?”
“Do you think Lord Phel would be amenable to either of those arguments?”
No.No, he wouldn’t be.He’d risk himself to save Selly.With a heartfelt sigh, she realized she’d placed a hand over her belly.Would she be raising this child alone?When she’d contemplated the prospect once before, it had seemed daunting but doable, the price she’d pay for freedom.The baby had also seemed considerably less real.Now…
Now that she’d had this time with Gabriel, he’d somehow become the center of her life.And it wasn’t the Fascination, or not only the Fascination.Deep in her bones, she wondered ifshewould survive losing him.
“Nic?”Asa asked, looking concerned.“Is all well with the pregnancy?”
“You tell me,” she shot back, then shook her head.“I apologize.That was uncalled for.I’m just realizing I don’t want to raise this child alone.”
