Natalie adjusted her stance one last time. “All right everyone, I’m going to count down from three and then say ‘go.’ Three, two, one, go!”
Natalie pulled as if her life depended upon it. The protruding bone disappeared beneath the skin and she reached for whatever ley line energy she could to help her visualize in her mind the bone nearing its natural location. Growling as the energy faded—stupid boat moving away from shore—she found herself relying on the instincts she’d developed with Asha’s medics and her own years as a Healer.
“Natalie, can we let go?”
Something in Onlo’s tone made Natalie glance at him. His face had an ashy-gray pallor. Before she could even respond, he ducked his head under his arm and vomited. To his credit, he didn’t let up on his share of the traction.
“Almost. Keep the leg where it is for now.” She slipped to Jules’s side and put two splints on either side of his leg and tied them loosely with bandages. “Everyone ease up gently, I’m going to guide his leg into place.” Applying pressure in some places and releasing it in others, Natalie secured the bandages as the team released Jules. Every time she’d done this before, there was a nearly audible click when the femur properly reset. Just a little more, and—
The air in the cabin contracted and then exploded. Blinded by blue light, Natalie flew backward, air whooshing out of her lungs as her back hit the stairs leading up to the deck. Blinking at the sunlit sky, with strange images blurring every time she closed her eyes, she rolled to her side, massaging her back. What in the Goddess’ merry bloomers was that? Had Aldworth’s men hit them with some new weapon? She peered upward toward the deck, but the deck crew had rushed to the stairs and stared down at her with concern.
Levering herself up onto one elbow, Natalie squinted into the murk. Dark shapes huddled below deck. Whatever hit her had hit everyone below decks. And Jules? Jules was … dear Goddess. Natalie pulled herself to her feet and moved toward Jules, wobbly as a newborn fawn. Jules lay on the table, a subtle blue light emanating from his entire body.
Chapter 10
N
atalie stumbled on her way to his bedside. “Jules, please be alive, please be—OUCH.” She jerked her fingers away from his face; the blue energy surrounding him crackled and snapped. She cautiously let one hand drift toward his body, but pulled away when an ominous buzzing singed her fingertips.
She could not touch him.
“But …” Helplessness slithered in her stomach and entwined itself around her heart. How was she supposed to treat him now? With relief, she noted his chest was rising and falling, and his leg wound had mostly healed. Natalie pressed her palms to her mouth. “What did they do to you?”
A groan nearby startled her, and instinct made Natalie turn and help people who’d been hit by the blast she now suspected originated from Jules. She grabbed her bag and helped treat cuts and bruises as people regained consciousness. She sent them to the main deck once treated.
When Onlo came to, she pulled him over to the side and told him what she knew.
Onlo, too, tried touching Jules with no success. “Have you seen this before?”
“No. Have you ever heard of it in any of your missions?”
Onlo shook his head. “I have never seen—no, Princess!”
Charlotte deftly dabbed salve on the remaining wound on Jules’s leg. “What’s wrong?”
Natalie and Onlo gaped at her. “You can touch him?” Natalie finally spoke.
“Yes, of course.” She peered around the cabin, and, once sure it was just the three of them, rolled out one palm and a ball of blue light hovered above her palm. “It’s the same, you see.”
Natalie and Onlo swore hard enough to make the princess blush.
“I knew he was a descendant of Bridhe, and that’s why Aldworth wanted him for making new megaliths, but … a mage?”
“It would seem so.”
Natalie swore again.
Flames and balls of blue light flew across the training yard below. Black-clad members of the Special Operations Guild watched at a safe distance, frowning. Natalie observed from inside the Keep, perched in her favorite bay window seat with Jake at her feet, knees to chest, hands crossed over her stomach and head resting against the window.
Once he regained consciousness two days after their return to Obfuselt, Jules recovered with a speed that unnerved Natalie. She theorized that whatever caused his powers to manifest on the boat somehow augmented or even completed the Healing work she was doing on his broken leg. Jules walked with a mild limp, one of the few physical reminders of his trauma. Her Healer’s eye noted he’d regained weight and muscle as well.
Jules now attracted the attention of many at Ebenos Point Keep, as his mage powers proved quite uncontrollable—and no one knew how to help him. To make matters worse, since her exposure to Jules’s mage blast on the boat, the princess’ magery was now randomly lighting things on fire.
For three mornings now, Jules and Charlotte had met in the same training yard Natalie trained in during the afternoons. She ground her teeth at the sight of his dark head bent next to her silver one, no doubt trying to solve the problem and get their powers under control. A few short days ago, Charlotte needed her for guidance. Now Natalie sat out of the way. Useless. Again.
And still, the princess remained the only one who could touch Jules. Natalie bit her lip, and drew her palm over her face.
Nights were worse.
The first night she had heard Jules moaning and crying out, she ran to his room and knocked. “Jules? Jules, wake up.” She knocked again. When the cries continued, she tried to enter, but the doorknob stuck in her hand. She pounded on the door. “Jules, you’re having a nightmare. Please unlock the door.”
The sounds of distress subsided and Natalie waited for the lock to slide open.
“Nat, please go away. I … I don’t want you to see me like this.”
She leaned her forehead against the door. “Jules, please.”
Silence met her entreaty. Covering her mouth with her hand, she padded back to her room, trying to swallow past her pounding heart, which seemed to have somehow crawled into her throat.
Every night, she listened to his nightmares, torn between demanding a key from Onlo and letting Jules heal in his own time. Unwilling to face his rejection, she shoved a pillow over her head and flopped violently on to her side, blocking out the sound as best she could. Her pillow was quite damp by morning.
Below her, the mage’s session concluded for the day. Natalie knew she should get ready for her own training session with Onlo. She should also talk to Asha about taking on patients again. But hopelessness filled her body like sand, and she just wanted to drag herself to bed, crawl under the covers, and never come out. Not that sleeping had been working well for her much as it was.
She’d left Ismereld with the driving ambition to rescue Jules, and she had. But at what cost? She’d sworn to come for Aldworth with everything she had. Instead, she was stuck on this Five-forsaken Isle, forced to watch the man she loved develop his new power with her former student. And she couldn’t even touch or comfort him when the nightmares came. To top it all off, confirmation of Gayla’s death only served to somehow restart her grieving process, as if Gayla died days—and not several weeks—ago.
She’d bullied her way through the epidemic and badgered her way through Jules’s rescue, and what had it gotten her? She slumped so far down in her seat that her chin touched her chest. Jake crawled into her lap and licked her face. She stroked his head. “At least I still have you, buddy.”
“Natalie?”
Natalie’s head snapped up. Jules stood at the end of the hallway. She swallowed past the painful lump in her throat. “Hello. How’s it going?” Brilliant question, Nat. Not awkward in the least.
Jules gestured with his hand and grinned wryly. “You probably saw it’s not going so well.”
Natalie blinked to avoid rolling her eyes. “That’s
not what I’m talking about.” Goddess, it’s like we barely know each other. “What I mean is, crazy mage powers aside, how are you?”
“Oh.” His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. “All right.”
Natalie turned and faced him, legs hanging off the window seat. “Your leg. Does it hurt much?”
“Only sometimes. Mostly at the end of the day.”
“I’ve never seen a fracture Heal that fast. If I had to guess, the sudden manifestation of your mage powers must’ve contributed some—”
Jules held up a hand. “Please, I … I don’t want to talk about it.”
Natalie stood and approached him as she would a wounded feral pup. “Okay. When you’re ready, I’m here.”
“I don’t need your help.”
Damn him. He was so used to being a teacher and mentor that he thinks he can go this alone. She stopped just in front of him, arms maddeningly confined to her sides, and tilted her head up to his. “Juliers Rayvenwood. Do you still feel anything for me?”
He lifted his hand as if to touch her face, and then clenched his fist and dropped it. “Yes, of course, Nat,” he breathed, sending frissons of heat down her middle.
Natalie searched his green eyes. “So why keep me out?”
“I’m … I’m damaged, Nat. I can’t even touch you. And that’s to say nothing of my mind.”
“Tell me about your mind.”
“I’m not ready to talk about it yet.” His eyes shimmered. “I can’t, it’s too …” Jules crossed his arms over his chest as if he wanted to curl into a fetal position.
It was all Natalie could do not to pull him close. “Okay, when you’re ready. And it doesn’t have to be me, Jules. Onlo, Anli, Charlotte,” she swallowed at the last name. “Please, when you’re ready, talk with someone. This trauma can’t stay inside forever. You bloody well know it’s like an infection; it has to be drained and let out.”
A corner of his mouth turned up. “Yes, Healer.”
The grin that flared briefly on her face at the sound of his old humor fell away as she became hypnotized by his emerald gaze. Time ceased to have all meaning and she swayed toward him.
He leaned toward her, lifted his hand toward her cheek, an ominous buzz sounding in her ear. Jules’s arm fell to his side and his face crumpled. “I have to go.” He turned and hastened away, leaving Natalie staring after him.
“I love you,” she whispered to the empty hallway.
Chapter 11
C
rickets chirped through the lengthening shadows as Natalie shuffled along the path to Mysha’s house. Every step required a conscious effort not to collapse from today’s session with Onlo. She’d learned all of the reiqata; it was now a warm-up for weapons practice. While she had an introduction to all the training weapons, she had a particular aptitude—and fondness—for the short staff. The staff became an extension of her hands as she and Onlo drilled for hours every day. She improved steadily, but working so closely with Onlo sent her feelings whirling.
Onlo had, without question, been a loyal and true friend since she met him. Since she arrived on Obfuselt, he’d truly shown the depths of his loyalty toward her. She prayed she could be as good a friend in return.
When he corrected her stances during weapons practice, however, she felt especially awkward. His touch felt good. The very observation felt like a betrayal of Jules. Stupid body. And she couldn’t suss out whether he was attracted to her, she to him, or if she just simply craved creature comforts since Jules couldn’t touch her.
Em took Natalie’s arm, startling Natalie out of her reverie. “You look terrible. You should go back to the keep and take care of yourself.”
“Ow.” Natalie extricated herself from Em’s grasp. “Sorry, everything hurts.”
“See? You need a break.”
“No.” It came out sharper than she meant. She took a breath and tried again. “Once I’m sitting, I’ll be fine. I really enjoy my time with Mysha. Why aren’t you training with me and the princess anyway?”
“Hey, a midwife’s life is never dull. Besides Mysha, I’ve got two other patients, and one who’s already given birth. It’s her first and I’m helping her learn to take care of the baby.”
“You are amazing, you know that? But you’re really missing out on a lot of fun in the training yard.”
“Sure I am.”
After a long day of Healing with Asha’s crew, and then training with Onlo, Natalie still chose to spend the evening reading to Mysha while Jake rested his head on the woman’s burgeoning belly. Caring for the vomiting, pregnant woman became her sanctuary. The raegle leaf they found in the forest hadn’t helped the vomiting. It had been a small chance anyway—it only helped a small percentage of women in Mysha’s condition. Em reassured everyone that the baby was perfectly healthy, to which Mysha grumbled. “If it doesn’t kill me first.”
After her evening checkup, Em left Mysha with strict instructions to keep hydrated and eat anything that would stay down.
Natalie smiled, eying the pregnant woman’s round stomach. “Are you sure you’re not carrying twins?”
Mysha grinned wanly. “Like I haven’t heard that already. Em assures me I’m not. It’s good to see you, Nat.”
“I’m so grateful to be here, Mysha.”
“Come to hide out again?”
Natalie bit her lip, blushing. “You caught me.” She perused the bookshelves. “What would you like to read tonight?”
Mysha’s lips curled into a small smile as she stroked Jake’s head. “Why don’t we skip the reading? You look like you have something on your mind.”
Natalie scratched the back of her neck. “Me? No, I’m totally fine.”
“Honey, I may be a married woman and sick with my first child, but I still recognize the look of a woman with man trouble.”
Natalie abandoned the bookshelf and sat in the chair next to Mysha’s bed, letting out a huff of breath. “How did you know?”
Mysha’s grin grew larger. “Before I got pregnant, I was a spy with the Special Operations Guild. You might as well tell me all about it. I’m not going anywhere.”
The words poured out like water through a burst dam; Natalie could no more stop them than she could the tears spilling onto her cheeks. Natalie told her of her relationship with Jules, his rescue, the manifestation of his and Charlotte’s mage powers. She also told Mysha of Onlo’s attentions toward her.
Mysha cocked her head. “Onlo? Onlo Osei?”
“Is that his last name? I never thought to ask him his last name. He is a tall, imposing fellow with long twists of hair and a deep voice. His partner is Anli.”
“Yes, that’s Onlo Osei. Hmm.”
“What?”
“Well, two years ago, Onlo’s wife and child died in childbirth,” Mysha ran a hand over her swollen stomach. Natalie put her hand over her heart.
“They were so young and so very in love. He’s only twenty-seven, but I swear Onlo aged ten years after Madi died. She was a vibrant, loving woman,” Mysha continued. “She looked quite like you, in fact. The leather armor you wear? It belonged to her.”
Natalie gasped.
“I was wondering what prompted him to give it to someone else. It’s strange, he does seem to be showing affection to you.” She stopped and pressed one finger to her closed mouth. Natalie got the bucket to her in the nick of time. She wished she could do more for her friend than offer companionship and sips of water and weak tea.
Some minutes later, Mysha continued. “That being said … I could never imagine him loving another … after Madi and I also can’t imagine him … taking a woman away from a friend.”
Natalie blew out a puff of air. “Well, this is quite a conundrum.”
Mysha nodded. “My guess is he might not be aware … of his own feelings. You need to say something … if you are uncomfortable.”
Natalie ducked her head. “I don’t feel unsafe, I’m just not, well, intereste
d. If he’s interested, I mean. And if I tell him to back off, would I alienate one of the few friends I have here?”
“You have to pick, Natalie. Be confused in silence, or speak up and clear the air. As for your mage friends”—Mysha sighed, staring at the ceiling— “I think I know where they can get help.”
“What?” Natalie yelped, startling Jake.
“On Solerin, there’s someone who can train them.”
“Solerin? Mysha, Solerin is known for its plants and gardening mastery, not—”
“Oh, hush, woman, I’m not stupid. It’s my turn to tell a story.” Mysha put her hand on her belly. “You’re from Ismereld, so you know the story of Bridhe, the Healing mage, yes?”
Natalie raised her eyebrows. “Of course.”
“Do you remember who her husband was?”
“Jyrenn.”
“Indeed. His power was farming and gardening, which, of course, is why his Isle is Solerin. His Isle’s best-kept secret—and I only found this out while I was on one of my missions—is that Jyrenn was once a teacher of mages. When mages began dying out, and only the Five remained, they each preserved their powers in some way within their respective Isles. Bridhe lost her powers creating the ley lines for Ismereld. Jyrenn not only imbued Solerin with his gift, but also used his power to preserve his lessons in the sunstone on Solerin. That way, if mages ever appeared again, they could learn how to use their powers.”
Natalie sat on the edge of her seat. “How did you learn this?”
“During one of my last missions before I …” Mysha curled over her belly, her forehead creased.
“Before you got pregnant?”
Mysha’s eyes fluttered closed. “Yes.”
Natalie studied her companion for a moment. Mysha hadn’t told the whole story; judging from her friend's pained expression, it was not a tale she was likely to hear today. “They need to take Jules and Charlotte to Solerin.”
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