Her hands tingled with the heat of her power, glowing with the arcing green and golden energy that had once been so familiar to her. And something more. That sharp spark of knowledge, desire and connection that she’d felt with this man the first and only time they’d touched.
His magic was reaching out to hers again. Surrounding hers and drawing it back into his body. As she studied his face, the cuts on the full lips closed and the wound at his temple disappeared before her eyes. She almost smiled at the long-forgotten sensations of gratitude that always came with her power. She could sense it in her now, the healing magic moving through her to embrace him. As it did, it seemed to give her back some of what she’d lost. Some of who she’d been before she was trapped. Cleansing her of the darker shadows that had grown inside her through the long years.
She cried silently over her patient. To be a healer was a gift to the bearer as well as the recipient. Another gift he’d given her, to remind her of that truth. His angelic face had eased her torment. His presence had, for a short time, made her feel less alone. She could do this for him. The beautiful specimen whom she longed to kiss just once—before she ran as far away from her jailers as she could get.
Sarah leaned down, ready to give in to her urges when his long lashes fluttered. Blue eyes, so bright and brilliant she lost her breath, were gazing back at her without surprise. “Saved you,” he rasped weakly.
Her surprised chuckle at his first words was a strange and rusty sound in her ears. She wasn’t sure if his mind had been addled, but that was to be expected after his traumatic experience in her world. “I saved you in return, angel. You are welcome.”
Her senses were on high alert. Perhaps as many as nine Magians were moving closer, almost surrounding her as she hovered over his body. Enough to imprison her again.
Removing her hands, she pulled back her power, rolling adeptly to a standing position behind his head, her arms up defensively. “Stay away. I warn you, I won’t go back. You will have to kill me first.”
All their movements ceased at her words. An older woman, nearly as beautiful as her angel, reached out in supplication. “Sarah Blackwood, you have my oath as a Magian that you are in no danger from us. Lorie…the man you healed is my son. He’s been lost to us for months. May I go to him?”
“Magian oaths mean nothing to me.” The heartbroken expression on the woman’s face tore at her. There was no pretense in her concern. A mother’s concern. “However, family does. Of course you can go to him. I won’t stop you.”
She wanted to. She wanted to keep her angel—Lorie was his name? She wanted to keep him with her. To touch him and experience that flame again. She’d never known anything like it.
The way she felt reminded her of reactions she’d heard of when magics truly, intimately combined. She looked down at him again. No. No, it couldn’t be that. This man was not hers. That was not her destiny. She was far past the age for an arranged or natural pairing. He was attractive, and she had been alone for so long. That was all.
A soothing male voice interrupted her thoughts. “Sarah, my name is Tucker. I am a Magian protector. I am tasked with keeping our laws. What’s been done to you goes against every code in the Rede. Now that you’ve been released, can you tell us if you know—”
“Not now, Tucker. Are you blind?” A short, spry woman, of an age or older than her angel’s mother, pushed the others out of the way. “She’s obviously been through hell and back. Can’t the third degree wait until she’s rested? Maybe even taken a bath?”
Sarah’s heart raced. Did she dare hope they didn’t know about her punishment? That they weren’t in any way involved? They spoke her name as if they didn’t know it. She was a stranger of no import or high birth, while these Magians looked very well taken care of—and yet they were offering her shelter and a bath.
“A bath?” she breathed.
“Jenner.” Lorie’s strengthening voice brought Sarah’s gaze back to his face. He was trying to sit up, but his mother kept pushing his shoulders back toward the floor.
“Jenner,” he repeated. “Give Sarah anything she wants.” He turned and the intensity of his stare burned into her like a brand. “And Con? Put her in my room and stay with her. Protect her while I fill the others in.”
Con? Who was he speaking to? Sarah was dizzy and out of sorts. How long had it been since she’d spoken this much? Since anyone had spoken to her? She was surrounded, only this time people weren’t trying to harm her. Or were they?