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“Nic, maybe you should—”
“Please.”Nic didn’t have the energy to beg, but Alise took a long look at her and stood, a resigned set to her shoulders as she helped Nic to her feet.“Come on.Though if this is how love makes people behave, I want none of it.”She moved slowly, arm around Nic’s waist, and Nic felt much like Narlis, shuffling her feet and leaning heavily on her sister.
They’d gotten Gabriel into a bed—one hardly adequate for his big frame, and Nic wished she’d told them to move him to their own bed.Asa glanced up.He looked less grey, but his face was set with lines of strain.Iliana sat in a chair beside his, her hand on Asa’s shoulder, her expression distant, while Han hovered protectively behind her.No sign of Laryn anywhere.Perhaps she’d gone to their room to sleep it off.“Put her in that bed over there,” Asa instructed Alise, returning his attention to Gabriel.
“No,” Nic said.
Daisy and GF, on the other side of Gabriel’s bed, gave her worried looks.Behind them, Narlis sat at Selly’s bedside, patting her hands.They’d removed the straps and Nic idly wondered if that was a good idea.Not that she had energy to argue about it.
“You need to be in bed,” Daisy said, “for the baby, if nothing else.”
“Bring a bed over, then,” she gritted out, really hoping they’d obey.If she had to stand much longer, even with Alise’s sturdy support, she might soon fall over.Like a felled tree.
Asa gave her a weary look.“You can’t do anything for him right now.”
“I can be here.”
“I’ll get her a bed,” GF said.He winked at Nic.“Or, rather, I’ll get the brawn to do it.Jake, Mike!Grab that bed and carry it over here.”
With impressive speed, a bed was wedged up against Gabriel’s, and Nic sank down onto it.She was able to roll onto her side, scooting close to her wizard so she could interlace her fingers with his, clasping his hand between hers.
And the world fell away.
She woke tomoonlit darkness and silence broken only by the muffled breathing of sleepers.For a long, disoriented moment, she struggled to parse where she was.She needed to pee quite desperately, and she had no idea where to go to take care of that.Then she became aware of Gabriel’s hand clasped in both of hers.
Gabriel.
With a sharp intake of breath, she remembered everything.They were in Asa’s infirmary at House Phel.And Gabriel… Nic levered herself up on one elbow, her body as stiff as if she hadn’t moved in days, the blanket someone had thoughtfully covered her with sliding down.She really hoped that it was only that it had been half a day since she passed out, not a full day or more.
Gabriel lay on his back, looking less gaunt—though that could be the moonlight, lovingly silvering his hair, making the pale shades of it almost luminous, save for that single black streak, like a reminder of darkest night amid the illumination.She still couldn’t feelhim, though.No magic.No answering tug along their bond.No Gabriel.
Scooting closer, she laid her head on his shoulder, nestling into the divot there that usually welcomed her in.It was all wrong without his arm around her, and she wept silently, letting the tears trail down her cheeks to dampen his shirt.She was all alone, and she didn’t know what to do.
Soon enough, however, her body answered that question with renewed urgency.At least now she could recall where the relief room was.Moving through the silvery moonlight filling the room, she felt like a ghost, silently passing the beds.There was Selly, and Jadren, and even Asa, sprawled face down, as if he’d collapsed there.Perhaps he had—and it made her hopeful that it was night of the same day, particularly as he wore the same clothes.
She wondered, however, that no one had made him more comfortable.Had Laryn simply gone to their rooms and abandoned him?They might not have a loving partnership, but most familiars were too well trained in seeing to the comfort of their wizards for this kind of neglect.So, after she blessedly relieved herself—sending a mental thank-you to Alise, who must’ve been the one to install a fire elemental in the little bathing chamber, one that courteously brightened when she entered, dimming again when she left—she stopped at Asa’s bed.
She removed his boots, then eased him into a less crooked pose, his head more firmly on the pillow, and she covered him with a blanket that had been left folded at the foot of the bed.While she was at it, she checked on Selly, too, and even Jadren.The latter lay on his back, arms and legs splayed in masculine abandon as he snored heartily.What had possessed him to help with Selly?Nic studied Jadren’s hawkish profile, remembering with distaste the feel of him sucking away her magic.It had been the right thing to do, and Jadren had been able to stop the flood of Selly’s magic.Who knew where they’d be if he hadn’t?
Jadren’s snores choked to a stop, and his eyes flew open, fastening on her, glittering black even in the dimness.“Mooning over me now, Lady Phel?”he taunted in a hoarse voice.“I know my wizardry can be powerfully attractive.”
She nearly retorted in kind, still unsettled by his earlier remark.No wonder he’s obsessed with you.But she bit her tongue, aware for the first time of a hint of vulnerability under Jadren’s bravado.“Why did you do it?”she asked.
He stretched.“Couldn’t have yon sweet Seliah sinking House Phel into the swamp again when I’m on the verge of creating averyprofitable product.”
He sounded insouciant and arrogant, but there was something more.“Well, thank you,” she said.“I suspect we owe you our lives, Wizard Jadren.”
“Oh, I’m sure you do.”He smirked at her.“Ah… Nic,” he said, as she turned to go, using her name for the first time.“May I call you that?”
She hesitated, then nodded.It couldn’t hurt anything.And she was intrigued by his uncharacteristically humble manner.
“I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” he told her, pushing up onto his elbows, the moonlight revealing the sincerity of his expression, his auburn hair nearly black.“It was out of line and… truly obnoxious.I have no defense except that…” He shook his head.“Your magic is truly heady stuff.Between your potent magic and Selly’s compressed power, I’m afraid I lost my wits.Still, I’d rather not face Lord Phel’s wrath over my loose tongue.It’s your call—and I know you owe me nothing—but I’m asking you not to mention my indiscretion when he wakes.”
Involuntarily, Nic looked over to the still form of Gabriel.“Ifhe wakes up.”
“Oh, he will.”Jadren grinned at her, teeth white as he bared them.“That silver bastard is too stubborn and powerful not to pull through this.Mark my words.”
“I will,” she promised.“And I don’t see why he needs to know something that will make him want to kill you more than he already does.”She simpered and walked away, Jadren breathing a laugh behind her.
