AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Would you share some of your magic with me?”he asked.
“Apparently I have more than enough,” she answered.“And you always shared with me.You’re a good brother.”
See?You’re a good boy.
“I don’t know how to give it to you, though,” Selly continued, brows drawing together in puzzlement.
“That’s all right,” he reassured her.“I know.”And, though he didn’t quite understand why, he found that he did.The scent of roses reminded him, and he drew on Selly’s magic, the water relieving the parched soil of his being, the moonlight lightening his mind.
And he remembered everything.
He opened hiseyes to sunlight bright enough to make him squint.A beaming face hovered over his, lined with age, her silvery hair a halo around her head.Narlis patted his cheek.“You’re a good boy.Have a bit more magic,” she invited.
Because he felt starved for it, he drew on her magic, rich as aged wine, fertile as earth.“Thank you, Narlis,” he croaked, his voice rough with disuse, as it had been in his dream.Not a dream?“Selly?”
“She just woke up, too.”A dark-skinned man stepped into his field of vision, smile bright with lines of strain around the edges.Asa, the Refoel healer.“Welcome back to the land of the living, Lord Phel,” he said.“We’re mighty relieved to see you recovering.”
Recovering from tapping Selly’s magic.“How is Selly?”
“Healthy in body at least,” Asa answered.“With your help and Wizard Jadren’s, we’ve drained all the fetid magic from her, and she’s now replenishing with fresh magic, as is normal.Time will tell on the rest.”
I’d really like to not be crazy anymore.
He craned to see Selly, where he sensed her magic, watery soft and silvery bright now, and Asa obligingly moved to the side.Their parents flanked Selly, talking to her with watery laughter, her low voice replying too quietly for Gabriel to make out.But his mother saw him looking over.She nodded, eyes bright with tears, and blew him a kiss.The respect and love shining in her face meant everything.Nic would be so pleased.
Nic.Where was she?Not that he’d expected her to hold vigil at his bedside—she’d probably been pressed to hold things together with him unconscious—but he needed to see her to feel whole again.“Did you send for Nic?”he asked, trying not to feel sulky that she hadn’t immediately raced to see him.Maybe he hadn’t been out all that long, and she’d had no cause to be concerned.
Asa had rested gentle fingers on his forearm, face relaxed as he listened to what his magic told him.So Gabriel felt the tremor of apprehension in the wizard’s magic.There and gone.Asa’s black eyes focused, and he smiled that bland healer’s smile.“Don’t worry about anything but recovering right now, Lord Phel.You very nearly died.Respect that your body and your magic are still replenishing.”
A non-answer was always ominous.He pushed himself up, his body creaking, horribly weak.“How long have I been out?”
“Seven days,” Asa answered with gravity.“Which is why you need to rest and take this recovery slowly.See if you can drink this water.I’ve been using magic to keep your body going, but that doesn’t replace real food and water.”
Gabriel drank slowly, his throat feeling as stiff from disuse as the rest of him.Seven days.Nic should have been wild with worry.Something was very wrong that she wasn’t here.“Where is Nic?”
“After this, we’ll try some broth.Work you back into solid food slowly.”
“Answer the question, Asa.It should be an easy one.”
Asa winced.“There’s nothing you can do and I’d really like you to be stronger before you have to confront unpleasant news.”
Rage cleared away the cloying weakness like the sun burning through morning mist.Magic flowed into him, and he realized he was pulling still from Narlis, the woman gamely holding his hand.Abruptly he let go, guilt riding him as she swayed faintly.“I’m sorry, Narlis.”
“You’re a good boy,” she replied with a sweet smile.“You needed my magic, and Nic needs you.”She got up and tottered away at a slow pace, someone Gabriel didn’t recognize coming to help her.
Gabriel pushed up to a sitting position, swinging his legs to the floor, ignoring his body’s groaning protests and Asa’s arguments.“Tell me, right now, what happened, or I swear, healer, I will break every bone in your body.”
“She’s gone,” said a voice behind him, so like Nic’s warm contralto that he twisted around, hope wild in his heart—and his head spun with it, pain stabbing sharp at his temples.Alise.With her dark curling hair bobbed short, her face familiar and not, eyes wizard-black instead of emerald green, the sight of her rent his heart.“House Sammael arrived with hunters and a Convocation warrant for her arrest,” she told him flatly.
Gabriel struggled to assimilate all the horrible things Alise had packed into one sentence.“And you all just let them take her?”he inquired, keeping the roaring pain out of his voice by clamping it down to a steely whisper.
“They had no choice,” Asa said, clamping a hand on his shoulder.“And you need to lie down.”
Gabriel shrugged him off, the movement making his head spin.“I’m going after her.”
“You are in no shape to do that,” Asa retorted.
“I’m getting her back,” Gabriel ground out.“I rescued her before, and I can do it again.”
