“He’s just a kid and his magic is not very strong, not like the one – ”
“The one who attacked me?” he finished for me.
“I was going to say ‘the one who attacked me,’” I corrected him, and his eyes widened. “I had a run-in with my first Hale witch a few months ago and got a taste of their magic.” I described my encounter with the witch, and I saw the pain in his eyes. No one who had not experienced such an attack could ever understand how it felt. That was one thing Desmund and I would share for the rest of our lives.
“I felt the sickness in you, but I didn’t know what it was until Tristan told me what had happened to you. That was when I knew I had to try to help you, even if I failed.”
“But when and how did you heal me?”
I stamped my feet to warm them. “When I sat beside you at the piano I pulled the magic from you into me. It was pretty nasty stuff. Please, don’t ask me to explain how I did it. It took a couple of times to get it all.”
He looked away for a long moment, and his eyes were troubled when they met mine again. “I was not very nice to you in the beginning. Why would you put yourself through that for me?”
It stung a little that he questioned my motives, but he had spent a century pushing people away and it would probably take him a little while to get used to relationships again. “Because you’re my friend, Desmund.”
He pulled me toward him and gave me a tender hug. “You will always have my friendship, little one.” Leaning back, he grinned devilishly. “Nikolas will come and toss me in the river if I hold you like this much longer.”
“But you’re gay. Surely, Nikolas knows nothing is going on between us.”
“That does not matter to a bonded male. He will not like to see another male embrace his mate . . . or his mate-to-be. As much as it pains me to say it, he is a good man. I am happy for you.”
“Thanks.” I blushed and looked away. I hadn’t seen Nikolas since I fell asleep in his arms last night. He was gone when I awoke this morning, but sometime during the night he had carried me to my bed. The indentation on the pillow and my dreamless sleep were evidence that he had stayed with me all night.
“Nikolas isn’t even here.” I glanced around the grounds to be sure, and he was nowhere in sight. I assumed he was working with Tristan to get things in order today.
Desmund laughed like I had made a joke. “You do not see him, but he is watching over you, trust me. After last night, I cannot blame him.” He took my arm and began walking us back to the main building. “I need a brandy, and you need a warm fire. What do you say to a game of draughts?”
My head was too full to concentrate on checkers. “Would you play the piano for me instead?”
He gave my arm a little squeeze. “It would be my pleasure.”
* * *
“Sahir, you’re awake.” I ran to his hospital bed, and he lifted a hand to take mine. “I was so worried about you when they brought you in here last night.” I’d come by to check on him first thing this morning and the healers told me he was still out from the drugs they’d given him. They said the effects should wear off in a few hours.
He let out a small laugh then winced. “Based on how I feel right now, I can only imagine what kind of shape I was in. Last thing I remember is opening the cages and then getting ambushed by a couple of vampires.”
“Alex saved your life, did you know that?” His eyes widened, and he shook his head. I told him what Terrence had said about the burnt vampire bodies they’d found next to Sahir. “He and Minuet and the hounds saved us, too. If you hadn’t let them out, a lot more of us would be dead.” I’d found out that the roars and screams I heard from the other side of the grounds last night were from Alex and the hellhounds mowing down every vampire in their way as they tried to get to me.
“I thought those hounds of yours were going to tear their cage apart. I think they heard the vampires before I did. As soon as I realized we were under attack, I knew they would find you. I don’t know what possessed me to release Alex, but I’m glad I did.” He smiled weakly. “I told you wyverns love to hunt vampires.”
“He looked like he was having fun. Minuet and the hounds came back this morning, but there’s been no sign of Alex. I hope he doesn’t hurt anyone.”
Sahir coughed, and I handed him a glass of water from the table near the bed. After he’d taken a long drink he leaned back with a groan. With the severe injuries he’d sustained, it was going to take him another day to get back on his feet. Still, it was miraculous that he was awake and sitting up already.