by Becca Andre
My rapid healing was a by-product of the Final Formula. I healed almost as fast as an Element—because it was the blood of an Element I’d designed my formula around.
A door opened nearby, and Ian turned his head toward the sound.
I recognized his tread even before Rowan came into view.
“You’re awake,” he said, gray eyes meeting mine.
“How observant, Your—” I just managed to stop myself from using his honorific. Ian wasn’t supposed to know who Rowan was. Not Ian, Dmitri. God, my head hurt.
“You’re here,” I said instead. Embarrassed to be caught in such a position of weakness, I tried to sit up, but a hand on each shoulder stopped me: Rowan on my left, Ian on my right.
“Don’t,” Rowan said.
“Why not?”
“You have a concussion.”
“So?” Why I felt the need to argue the point, I couldn’t say.
“Don’t be difficult.” Rowan released my shoulder, apparently thinking the command enough.
Ian on the other hand, didn’t release me. Even at my best, I couldn’t defeat the strength of the dead. I collapsed against the pillow with a sigh.
“How’s Era?” I asked.
“Fine.” Rowan turned to Ian. “Would you excuse us?”
Ian gave him a frown that shifted to me. “She needs to lie still.”
“She will.”
The men studied each other a moment longer before Ian turned and left the room.
“He’s protective of you,” Rowan said.
“He’s my business partner and…” I thought of our business. “The lab’s gone, isn’t it?” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“I lost another one.” I covered my face with my hands. Not again. I was back to square one.
“Addie.” Rowan moved closer.
I didn’t want him to see me wallowing in self-pity, though I wanted nothing more than to lie here and cry. Instead, I rolled onto my side and sat up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
I gripped the bedrail and squeezed my eyes closed. Bad idea. I prayed I wouldn’t puke.
“Addie?” Rowan moved around to my side.
I knew he’d try to stop me, so I hurried to drop my feet to the floor and tried to stand. My legs didn’t want to hold me, and my arms quivered as I clung to the bedrail.
Rowan caught me by the shoulders. “Sit. Or better yet, lie down.”
“Are you going to command me to roll over next?”
“No, but I am considering withholding your biscuit.”
He was joking with me?
“I have a potion to brew,” I whispered. “Several actually. Do you think Ginny will let me use her lab? Again?” My voice broke on the last syllable, and I hated myself for it. But I couldn’t seem to hold the despair inside. How would I rebuild? It had felt like I’d sold my soul when I traded the Final Formula for Ian’s lab. What would I have to do this time?
“I’m sure Ginny won’t mind,” Rowan said, “but that can wait. Sit.”
When I didn’t comply, his hands left my shoulders for my waist and lifted me onto the bed.
“No fair.” I kept my head bowed, hoping he wouldn’t notice the tears rolling down my cheeks. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
He released me and turned away with a sigh. Maybe he hadn’t noticed. If I could just get control and rub a hand across my cheeks when he wasn’t looking—
“Here.” He’d returned and pressed a tissue into my hand.
Humiliated, I scrubbed my cheeks.
“I’ll find you another lab.”
I shook my head—carefully, in respect to my pounding headache. “I can’t let you do that for me.”
“The Burn Center needs you.”
Yeah, of course. I should have remembered that. He wasn’t doing this for me. “You’re right.” Get a grip, Ad.
“Did Era reveal herself when she came to your defense?”
“She never got a chance. Brian was a little trigger happy.”
Rowan frowned. “Then why the Extinguishing Dust on the quarrel?”
“I got the feeling that Brian wasn’t supposed to be using it.”
Rowan rubbed a hand over his face and turned away. Was he wondering how close Era had come to being abducted again? She would have made a good bargaining chip for the Huntsman brothers to get James back.
Rowan dropped his hand and faced me. “Tell me about James’s brothers. What were they doing that inspired Era to come to your defense?”
“They tried to take me with them.”
“What did they want with you?”
“They…” I stopped to think about it. “They didn’t actually say, but they were asking about James.”
“They intended to use you as bait to draw James out.”
“There’s more. George’s gun was loaded with my bullets, and he knew what they would do…to the magical.”
“What?” Rowan took a step toward me, his eyes locked with mine. “You think they’re behind the shootings?”
“They’re supernaturally gifted hunters. They don’t need magic bullets to kill.”
“Yet they knew what the bullets would do.”
“Precisely.” I didn’t look away.
“They know who’s behind the killings.”
“It’s possible. They’re idiots, but you need to take them seriously.”
“I take every threat seriously.”
I nodded, and cringed as a bolt of pain shot across my crown. “Any news on what happened to my lab?”
“A gas leak is all they can say for certain.”
“But we heard glass break.”
“Yes. I’ve got the PIA looking into it as well.”
“Okay.” It was silly, but losing my lab felt like losing a friend. I slid off the bed, testing my legs again.
“Damn it, would you stop?” He caught my waist again.
“I got it this time,” I said, aware of his warm palms through my thin hospital gown.
“Rowan.” Cora stood just inside the door, hands on her hips.
I made an effort not to groan. Cora and I did not get along.
“What are you doing?” She crossed the room with long, graceful strides, her heels striking the tile with a determined beat.
I realized how this must look. Was she afraid Rowan was taking an interest in me again?
“Sit,” Rowan said to me.
“Really, I have it now.”
He frowned, but took his hands away.
“What’s happened?” Cora demanded. “I’ve heard bits and pieces. First Era is shot, then I learn that she was with,” she stopped to give me a glare, “her.”
“Addie’s shop was attacked,” Rowan explained. “We were—”
“We?” Cora crossed her arms.
My head ached. I didn’t want to stand here and listen to this. I pushed off the bed and started toward the wardrobe in hopes of finding some clothes.
“Where are you going?” Cora moved fast enough to step in my path—or maybe I was that slow.
“I have work to do. Rowan can explain.” I tried to step past her, but she caught my elbow, her grip tight enough to grind the bones together.
“Rowan is not a good source of information where you’re concerned.”
“Cora.” Rowan moved closer.
Busy watching me, she didn’t immediately respond. Eyes of multi-hued blue narrowed. “I can feel Era in you,” Cora whispered to me. “You feel like an Element.”
I frowned, more than a little disturbed.
“How can you ignore this?” she demanded of Rowan. She gave my arm a jerk, causing me to stumble and almost fall
into her. I could stand, but my balance wasn’t up to this.
“Let her go,” Ian said from the doorway. He walked toward us while I tried to puzzle out his odd protectiveness.
“Who is this?” Cora asked.
“Dmitri Rey, her colleague,” Ian answered. “And now that you have my name, I would appreciate it if you accede to my demands.”
“Your demands?” The sneer in her tone matched the one on her face.
I gritted my teeth as her grip tightened, but I refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing how much it hurt—or how the adrenaline pumping through my system made my head swim.
“She has just sustained a head injury that would incapacitate, perhaps kill, a mortal.”
“A mortal is precisely what she should be.” Cora released me with a shove.
I stumbled, but Ian caught me, and before I could adjust my balance, lifted me in his arms.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You will remain in bed until the doctor clears you.” He set me on the mattress.
“But the formulas—”
“I will take care of that.”
“Her colleague?” Cora asked. “What does that mean?”
“He’s an Alchemica alchemist,” Rowan answered.
“Shit. Another one?”
“We can use Ginny’s lab,” I told Ian.
“Who’s—”
“I have burn salve to make, an antidote for the bullets, and—”
“Bullets?” Cora asked.
“You have an antidote?” Rowan asked.
“I would have had it in the vial this afternoon, but…” I let the sentence hang. So much lost. Maybe I should have left the lab in Ian’s crypt.
Rowan turned to Cora. “Walk with me. Addie needs her rest.”
“She’s charming,” Ian said as soon as we were alone.
“She doesn’t like me much.”
“I gathered that.” He walked to the darkened window. “A former lover of his?”
“His sister.”
“Ah.” He turned to face me. “Water.”
I sighed. “You don’t miss much.”
He returned to my bedside. “Dmitri?”
“Thanks for playing along.”
“Beats incineration, but you surprise me.”
I leaned back against the pillow, suddenly exhausted. “There is so much I have to put right, and if he found out who you are…” The words trailed off as Ian pulled the blankets over me.
“Why are you taking care of me?” I asked.
“I told you: you’re my guide in this world.”
“That may not be a good thing. We have a lot of work to do.”
“I gathered that, too.”
I sat on the side of my hospital bed, dressed in my crumpled pantsuit and waited for the nurse to return with my release forms. If she didn’t return soon, I was going to walk out without them. The door opened and I rose to my feet. Finally.
It wasn’t the nurse.
“Addie.” Era gave me a big grin from the doorway. “You’re up.”
“Yeah,” I managed. She looked well, but with her rapid healing, I hadn’t been too worried. I’d been more worried about what she might have remembered in the alley.
“Roe just told me what happened.” She walked into the room. “I’m pissed he didn’t tell me sooner.”
“Oh, no. Don’t be. It wasn’t anything. Just a bump on the head. They wanted to keep me overnight for observation.”
“According to the attending physician, it was a cranial fracture,” a familiar voice said from behind Era.
James stepped into the room. Thank goodness I’d sent Ian back to the lab to see what could be salvaged.
“Ah, so no harm done then.” Era gave me a big grin.
“True.” I offered a half-hearted smile at the quip and then hurried on before the silence grew awkward. “I’m just waiting for the release forms.”
“It’s been taken care of,” James said. “And now Era says we’re going shopping.”
“Shopping?” I asked.
“You lived in your lab, right?” Era walked over to me. “You have nothing to wear other than…that.” She eyed my pantsuit.
“You don’t have to—”
“Yes, I have to.” She took my arm.
“Does Rowan know you’re here…with me?”
“Why do you think I have the bodyguard?” She waved a hand toward James. “Lord forbid I go out on my own. Unsupervised.”
“Hey,” James said.
“I’m not saying I don’t want to hang out with you, but I know the real reason you’re here.”
“To scope out the ladies’ dressing rooms?”
Era snorted. “Nice cover.”
I watched the exchange, wondering at the relationship between the two of them. Era had had a big crush on James…before. He’d been kind to her, making nothing of the schoolgirl’s adoration she’d laved on him. But she was cured now, a young woman only a few years his senior.
She turned back to me. “Shall we?”
I didn’t know how to get out of this and turned to look at James. Certainly he didn’t want to spend the day shopping—with me.
“You might as well come along,” he said. “She won’t leave you alone until you do.”
I could only stare at him.
“He’s right.” Era looped her arm through mine. “You might as well come willingly.”
Unable to come up with a response, I let her lead me toward the door.
Shopping with Era wasn’t as bad as I feared. Once past the initial awkwardness, I began to enjoy myself. Well, I didn’t enjoy the shopping, but Era made it fun, even if I did spend a lot of time talking her out of short skirts and baby-doll T-shirts. I needed sensible clothes like jeans and shirts that hid my tattoos.
I felt I was making good progress when she showed up at my changing room door with a black dress.
“That’s not what I’d call appropriate lab attire.”
Era laughed. “No, but it would be appropriate for my premiere.”
“Your what?”
“Next week the Cincinnati Art Museum opens their Young Artists of Cincinnati exhibit. Ten local artists will be featured, and my photos made the cut.”
“Are you serious? That’s incredible.”
“Yeah. It’s cool.” Her cheeks flushed. “Anyway. Cora pulled some strings, and they’re doing a sneak peek the night before. Everyone who means anything to me will be there, so you have to be, too.”
It took a moment to make my voice work. “I’m touched that you want me there, and thrilled for you at this honor, but I don’t think I belong.”
“Don’t belong? Addie, if it weren’t for you this wouldn’t be happening. The pictures I took when I was damaged…” She shook her head. “It was sad.”
I rubbed my forehead. Yes, it was.
Era pushed the dress into my hands. “Please. You’re the true guest of honor. I wish I could tell everyone what you did for me, but Roe insists I not tell anyone. He thinks it’ll draw the wrong kind of attention to you.”
“Era—”
“Please?”
I released a breath, unable to refuse her. “I want you to clear it with Rowan first, but I’ll try on the dress.”
“What’s going on with you and him?” she asked.
I turned to hang the dress on the back of the door. “What do you mean?”
“You won’t do anything without his permission, and he, well…”
“Doesn’t want you spending much time with me?”
“What? No. He spent most of this morning complaining about some assistant of yours.”
“They didn’
t get off to the best of starts.” I shrugged.
“I thought it had something to do with his looks. Rowan kept referring to him as the pretty boy.” She flashed me a big grin. “I thought he might be jealous.”
“I’m sure that’s not it.” I reached for the door. “Let me try on this dress, and we can get out of here.”
“Addie.” Era caught the door. She glanced back over her shoulder, then to my surprise, stepped into the dressing room with me and pulled the door closed.
“I don’t know if I should say anything, but…” She bit her lip. A pause and then she plunged on. “When I’m near another Element, say within a few feet, I can feel what they are.”
Unease fluttered in my stomach. “Okay?”
“Addie, you feel like an Element to me.”
I remembered Cora’s words at the hospital. How she could sense Era in me because of the Formula.
“Hey.” Era took my hands. “Do you need to sit down? All the color just drained from your face.”
“No. I’m fine.” Should I tell her the truth? Tell her how I used her blood to brew the Final Formula and damaged her in the process?
Era’s grip tightened. Concern still creased her forehead, but a hint of a smile teased the corner of her mouth. Then it hit me. If Era wasn’t aware that her blood had helped make me immortal, then she thought this…Element-ness came from somewhere else. I had a strong suspicion where.
“Era, what are you saying?”
“Being an Element is all about balance. Our magic, the four of us together. But we’re not just magic, we’re also human, and humans seek out a mate.”
“And…”
“It’s Rowan. It’s his magic I feel in you.”
I resisted the urge to shake my head. “How is that even possible?”
“Why not? Everyone knows that necromancers form soul bonds. Why should it be limited to Old Magic? You’re bound to Rowan.”
Why did that sound familiar? Oh, Lydia. She’d said something about Rowan claiming me—then smirked. And like Era, she didn’t know how I’d made myself immortal either. Heat climbed my cheeks.
Era grinned. “You get it now.”