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Laura’s eyes lit up as she reached for his hand. Her small fingers were damp and deceptively strong, her grasp firm enough that he wouldn’t be able to pull his hand away easily. She took a deep breath, and Gavin had the sense that his attempt to stay out of this woman’s business was about to become a thing of the past.
“I don’t mean to bother you, but I must ask for your help. I received news this morning that a beast has bitten my niece. She is very ill and not responding to our town healer’s medicine. Maybe you can help us with your… magic?” She whispered the last word, her cheeks burning red.
There was no way he could use magic today without resting as well. Nor did he want to leave the inn—and Violet—alone for too long. Laura’s lips trembled again, while unshed tears accumulated in the corners of her eyes at his silence. “She’s just a little girl, Mr. Gavin. My sister fears we might lose her soon.”
Elina’s face flashed across his mind’s eye. Damn the blessed gods.
Laura didn’t know it, but she’d spoken the words that would make him turn his life upside down if it might help. Supporting children and the young recruits the army gathered had become a lifelong mission for him ever since he’d presented with the gift of healing. Especially since the day of the accident in the lake. Her words rang alarm bells inside his head and filled him with foreboding. “What kind of beast?”
She squeezed his hand so tight he had to press his lips together in order not to complain. “A werewolf.”
This time, Gavin tore his hand away. Uneasiness stirred in his gut. He remembered the statues out front, the wolf in mid-transformation, the man holding the symbol of peace between species. He narrowed his gaze at her. “A shifter?”
She hesitated for a minute before nodding. “It’s the second child he has attacked this month. Three the month before. The bite is not the problem. It is the curse that lingers that’s killing them.”
“What curse?”
“The one that comes with a werewolf’s bite, of course. The one that infects humans with their rabid sickness. Grown people sometimes can’t survive it, much less our children.”
Oh no. These people were terribly misinformed. They still believed in the myth of a shifter’s bite causing infection, and that it would turn humans into wolves during a full moon. Still, a werewolf was not the creature that crossed Gavin’s mind.
The Archana Sídhes were both beasts and men. They hunted humans, driven by the hunger of their curse, and they looked an awful lot like a shifter to an untrained eye. No brew made by a non-magical human could vanquish the curse left behind by their bite. He wasn’t even sure he would be able to do anything, even if he was rested. “I’m completely depleted after last night, Laura. When I asked for the extra room, I was not lying. I can’t heal your niece if I don’t get some rest.”
“How long do you need?”
“Four hours, perhaps, ideally more…”
One moment, Laura was standing in front of him, and in the next she’d disappeared behind the counter. The loud crash of pottery breaking on the wooden floor followed. “Bugger. What a mess, I broke the bowl.” She grunted and stood up, beet red and gasping for air. A brass skeleton key swung in front of her like a pendulum. “I own a little place across the road that’s just for me. You may use it to rest, Mr. Gavin.”
“Oh no, there is no need.”
“I insist. Please—I—I hate to have to ask this of you. I know we are but strangers—you might be our last chance.”
That was true. Magical healers weren’t common in the world, and much less so ones who traveled around these remote parts of the kingdom. Gavin hesitated. “Are you sure?”
Laura didn’t allow him to second guess the offer any further. Instead, she tossed the key in his general direction. With his slowed reflexes, it hit the planes of his chest, and he nearly dropped it as he tried to catch it in his clumsy fingers.
“Sorry.” She didn’t feel sorry at all if the small, hopeful smile was anything to go by. “I’m very sure. My rooms are in the green building. There are steps to the second floor, the door is painted yellow with flowers. It’s not much, and it’s all I can offer. But you may use it to rest, and you can take your wife with you. I will be eternally grateful if you can help Myna.”
“All right. I will leave my wife to rest here and use it just this afternoon. Come and get me in four hours, and we shall go to your niece’s home.” He raised the collar of his coat to guard against the chill outside. He turned to leave, but paused. “You mentioned more travelers arrived last night?”
Laura nodded and looked down at what he assumed was the guest book. “Seven of them took my last four rooms.”
“Were they soldiers or magic-wielders?”
Understanding shone behind her lashes, and she seemed to ponder the question. “They weren’t built or dressed like you, all fancy and strong.” Her already red cheeks darkened further, but she continued on, undeterred. “They were more like what I’m used to seeing crossing these parts. Merchants, traders—farmers, perhaps. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
He nodded and swung his satchel over his shoulder. Feeling the weight of it always calmed his anxious thoughts. “I will see you in four hours.”
“Thank you, Mr. Gavin.”
“It’s just Gavin,” he said. “Let’s hope there’s something I can do to help.”
8
GAVIN
The wooden floors creaked under his feet as he made his way toward the window in Laura’s kitchen. It was equal parts charming and cluttered, with a mixture of knick-knacks that suggested she was a collector of painted plates and knitted blankets. He smiled softly, shaking his head, craving the normalcy of her life, away from the politics of being a magic-wielder. He pulled aside the sheer curtain and peered at the streets below. Two men in heavy coats were shoveling horse droppings toward the sidewalks. The snow had turned into a brown slush, pushed aside by the passing carriages. This window gave him a perfect view of the inn and its worn planks of wood. They were covered in a light layer of moss, roughened by the harsh seasons of the mountains.
