Solace

by Bethany Adams

  If Aris felt any of that same sympathy for Kezari, he didn’t show it. His focus was on the blood staining the bench and pooling on the floor. The life mage staggered over, his steps uneven, until he was close enough to direct his energy into the blood with a flash that made Delbin cover his eyes.

  When the light faded, Delbin blinked to clear his vision, only to see Kezari supporting Aris with her arm around his waist. Together, the two stumbled over to the thin slice of wall beside the door. Gray beneath the warm tan of his skin, Aris leaned against the stone. Then his body went limp, and only Kezari’s strength kept him from falling. The dragon woman lowered him carefully until he slumped against the wall.

  “Great, now there are three unconscious people in the tower,” Delbin said under his breath. “We’ll never get Lial out of here.”

  “What did you say?”

  Delbin froze at the harsh question. Dammit. Now he’d done it. Hiding a wince, he turned his head slowly until he met Moren’s gaze. “Forgive me, Lord Morenial. I did not intend to speak aloud.”

  Maybe the extra courtesy would throw the man off. Or not. Moren’s eyes bore into him like a tent stake into the ground. “Why would there be three patients in the tower? What do you know that Alerielle has kept from me? And I recommend you answer carefully. You may receive your missions from Lord Lyr, but you are still a citizen of this estate and therefore under my command.”

  Delbin wasn’t entirely certain whether that was true, but it was a moot point. Lial hadn’t sworn him to secrecy, but even if he had, Moren was the highest-ranking person in the room. He thought. Even Lial might technically be lower in rank, though Moren wasn’t likely to make that challenge.

  “I know more than I would like,” Delbin replied. With a sigh, he pinched the back of his neck to relieve the sudden tension. “Look, Lial told me… He said…”

  Moren straightened, a scowl crossing his face. “Told you what?”

  Honest to the gods. There really wasn’t a good way to say this. He should have requested to go back to Earth to help with the outpost instead of getting involved in hunting down Korel. “Your healer told him that Lady Elerie is the patient in the basement. She has been in the dreaming until Alerielle could heal her.”

  For a moment, the words didn’t seem to register, but that phase didn’t last long. Moren rushed forward, slamming Delbin against the wall. Delbin swallowed nervously at the way the other man’s forearm dug into his collarbone just shy of his throat, but he didn’t attempt to fight back. Only the truth would get him out of this, and he’d already told it.

  “That is foul,” Moren snarled. “I made mistakes with your family while I tried to help so many, but none of those errors warrant a lie like that.”

  Delbin forced his muscles to go lax, resisting the urge to shove the other man away. “This isn’t something I made up. I’m only repeating what Lial said.”

  “He’s telling the truth.”

  The thin, frail voice of Oria’s healer reverberated through the room like thunder. Moren’s eyes bulged, and the color leached from his face. Abruptly, he stepped back, releasing Delbin so quickly he almost stumbled. Then Moren spun to face Alerielle.

  “That is impossible.”

  The healer leaned against the wall at the base of the stairs, but even with that support, she swayed slightly. “No. When I realized her spine was shattered beyond my ability to repair, I placed her into the dreaming and hid her away. I only brought her here when Allafon was truly dead.”

  “Then who did my father burn upon the funeral pyre?” Moren advanced on the woman until he was near enough to throttle her the same way he had Delbin. “She was dead. I…I saw her. Didn’t you say Kai’s crying was because babies could sense the loss of that bond?”

  Holy shit. They’d had an actual funeral pyre? Delbin considered the possibilities and winced. At this point, he couldn’t summon any of his previous anger for Moren. Delbin might have had a lot of things go wrong in life, but it wasn’t as bad as this.

  “I lied,” Alerielle said, softly but without a hint of regret. “You weren’t the only one with allies in this place. A little illusion goes a long way.”

  Moren’s gaze swung from the outer door to the basement stairs, then back again. Indecision, doubt, grief—the emotions shifting across the man’s face were enough to bring pain to Delbin’s heart. He was half-surprised the man hadn’t immediately bolted to the basement to see his mother, but that was probably the scariest action of all.

  Until Moren descended those steps, the truth was a nebulous thing. A theory to be examined. But there could be no denial once he verified Alerielle’s claim, and that would change everything he thought he knew about the last five hundred years. Delbin wouldn’t exactly be eager to find out the truth, either.

  Lial leaned against the table where Alerielle stored her potions and fought the urge to sweep everything to the floor and stomp on it for good measure. None of those vials or bottles had helped them. Useless, as his power had been useless. Could any herb defeat a virus like that? His lack of knowledge had his fingers tightening until the wood bit into his skin.

  Finally, he gained enough control to shove away from the table and face the body once more. He’d seen death, of course, but he’d never delivered it. He’d never stopped another’s heart, in mercy or in anger. Shame singed his throat and burned through his veins until he scanned his blood out of reflex. No sign of the virus in him, though it was what he deserved after veritable murder.

  But what else could he have done? It wasn’t just a matter of Korel’s agony. There were thousands of people living in and around Oria, and he had no idea how the virus might spread to them. Forcing Korel to suffer a prolonged death would have increased the risk to everyone else. Yet he couldn’t stop berating himself for not thinking of another solution anyway.

  Lial almost speared his hand through his hair, but he hesitated. He’d cleaned away the blood, but… Holding out his hands, Lial stared at his palms. Could there be germs on his skin he couldn’t see? Would his magic detect the virus outside of his body? He already wanted to scrub himself clean in the hottest water he could find, and he hadn’t even figured out what to do with Korel’s body yet.

  If heat didn’t kill the virus, then burning the body might release it into the air. But would burial taint the ground and spread the contagion? There was no protocol for this. He didn’t even know what to do about the blood-soaked linens where Korel had been placed. Or the bench downstairs, for that matter.

  The bench they’d carelessly left in a room that anyone could enter.

  At that thought, he cursed. Had Alerielle realized the same thing? She’d left to update Moren some time ago, but she still hadn’t returned. Perhaps someone else had already fallen ill? Miaran. Lial ran a cleansing spell along his body again and hurried from the room.

  When he reached the base of the stairs, Lial drew to a sudden halt. Moren was nowhere in sight, Delbin slumped against the wall to the right, and Aris was crumpled up beside the door, Kezari and Alerielle kneeling on each side. Green glimmered around the sword stretched on the ground beside Aris’s leg, and the flickering light painted the bottom of the healer’s robe in eerie blotches.

  “What happened?” Lial demanded, forcing himself into motion.

  “It is merely low energy,” Alerielle explained as Lial reached Aris’s feet. “I don’t see anything like the poison we found in Korel’s body. You should scan, as well.”

  Lial did, and as Alerielle said, there was no sign of the virus. “How did he come to be drained?”

  Kezari straightened, and from the hint of scales flickering across her skin, she was more upset than her soft tone suggested. “He lost control. I had to carry Korel and Moren here, leaving Aris in the forest. Seeing those injuries…”

  One of the life mage’s memories flashed through Lial’s mind, and he grimaced in sympathy. “He has been unconscious for that long?”

  “No.” Kezari’s gaze shifted to the bench. “H
e purified the room. Some darkness in Korel’s blood affected Aris greatly. In fact, his response to Korel’s proximity was what caused me to strike when I shouldn’t have. A flood of life magic destroys the bad energy but at great cost.”

  Life magic destroyed the virus? Lial had known it would work on poisoned energy, since Aris had been the one to heal Fen after Kien’s spell had backfired. But the trick hadn’t been tested on the virus beneath the magic encasing it.

  Curious, Lial strode to the bench, stopping just short of touching the blood. He closed his eyes and stretched out his senses, searching the spilled blood for any hint of disease. Clear, except…there—a few fractured remnants, too damaged to replicate. Any hint of the spell holding it together was gone.

  Now he just needed to understand why.

  Chapter 31

  Though the night was quiet and calm, two warriors flanked the door to the healing tower. They nodded at Lynia and gestured her through when she reached them. Apparently, Lyr had commanded the guard to be more visible in Lial’s absence. It made her more comfortable, actually, with the potential for more assailants out there somewhere. There hadn’t been any indication that others were involved besides Korel and Fenere, but nothing said there weren’t, either.

  The air was cool and still in the workroom, the lights turned low. With Lyr’s request in mind, Lynia set her books on the table near the baskets of potions and headed to the bed on the other side of the room. She increased the glow slightly with a hint of magic and bent down to study Caeleth’s face, uncertain what she was looking for. What could she say about the young man’s condition? That he was breathing? Rekel Osni wasn’t likely to be amused by the observation.

  Caeleth’s coloring appeared fine; in fact, he had a hint more pink to his cheeks than earlier. His chest rose and fell steadily. She lowered the blanket to his waist to examine the bandages and found the fabric clean, no sign of blood. Good. Gently, she tucked the bedding around his arms once more. The cool of the room was refreshing, but it verged on cold. No need risking the man shivering his stitches loose.

  “He’s sleeping and healing normally, as far as I can tell,” Lynia sent to Lyr. “I’ll let you know if Maddy detects anything different when she gets here.”

  “Thank you, Laiala. I appreciate your help.”

  The exhaustion and frustration weighing down her son’s inner voice made Lynia want to march back to the study and rebuke Lord Osni into the next millennium, but Lyr wouldn’t appreciate the gesture. Nor would it help, in truth. Relations between the nine highest-ranked nobles—three from each branch—could be fraught at the best of times. Lord Osni was second down the Taian branch and Lyr third down Callian, which meant that Lyr was technically lower in rank. But being on the Callian branch, Lyr was in no way under Lord Osni’s authority.

  Not that the odious Rekel Osni was likely to acknowledge that fact.

  With a huff of annoyance, Lynia returned to the workbench and opened her notebook. There wasn’t much she could do about annoying nobles, but she could relieve some of her son’s stress by starting the potion. Not to mention the help it might provide for her… Lover? What should she call Lial now?

  Boyfriend, Maddy would have said, but that term didn’t seem adequate. Lynia pondered that as she skimmed the list of ingredients and gathered vials and bottles from the shelves. Lial was her friend, and perhaps he could be called her lover, which usually implied the type of relationship that lasted more than a single day.

  Both accurate—neither enough.

  Her hands stilled around a jar of powdered herbs as emotion poured through her at the memory of their afternoon together. He’d touched her like the world began and ended in her skin, and she’d felt it. Such love. It resonated in her heart even now, but the source…it was no longer him. The thrum of this came from her own soul.

  She loved him.

  Fear shook her hands until she settled the glass container carefully on top of the table and twined her fingers together. This wasn’t supposed to happen, especially not now. His life was in peril as he worked to cure a deadly plague. What if he died? What if she’d fallen for another man who ended up leaving her, however unwittingly?

  She should never have let herself do such a thing.

  There was nothing wrong with love. Of course, there wasn’t. But couldn’t her heart have waited a few months longer? This cursed plague had drawn them together, and now she risked yet more suffering. Annoyance sparked against fear until she let out a grumbled “miaran” worthy of Lial himself.

  Lynia was still muttering a long string of curse words when Maddy entered, her mates following behind.

  Fen whistled low as they approached. “Those particular expressions didn’t make it over when I was spell-given your language. I knew there had to be more colorful phrases.”

  Cheeks heating, Lynia snatched another bottle from the shelf and set it beside the others with a sharp clack. “Forgive my discourtesy. I would not typically speak so freely around someone I do not know well.”

  “I’m the last one you should apologize to when it comes to language,” Fen said with a shrug. “Honestly, I’m inspired.”

  Maddy shoved into him with her shoulder. “I thought you wanted to help.”

  “I do,” Fen protested.

  “Really?” Lynia asked, shooting him a quick glance. “I don’t suppose you’re a strong telepath like Delbin?”

  Grimacing, Fen shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Being bonded with Lial would be useful right now,” Lynia grumbled absently. Her attention was on lining up the bottles and vials in the recipe’s order to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. “I would love to be able to ask him if he’s returning soon. As it is, I’ll have to rely on Ralan to get the word out if he Sees that Lial is supposed to be here.”

  Maddy stepped up to the workbench. “Isn’t Ralan close enough to ask?”

  “He isn’t in my range, and Lyr doesn’t know where he is. A terrible time for him to disappear.”

  “We probably don’t want to know why.” After grabbing a large flask of water, Maddy gestured Anna closer. “Will you check this, love?”

  Anna gave Maddy a quick kiss on the cheek before taking the flask from her mate’s hand. “Sure.”

  “Is there anything I can do?” Fen asked.

  Lynia paused to consider the question, but not even another skim over the recipe revealed any tasks that would fit the young man’s talents. These components were all herbal, nothing for an earth or blood mage to alter. Although…her gaze slid to the books she’d grabbed. He wasn’t a healer like Maddy, but he was from Earth. He might find something useful in the texts.

  “Why don’t you go upstairs and take more notes on anything in the textbook that might be useful? Especially if it relates to destroying a virus.”

  Though his nose wrinkled like she’d asked him to drink old blood, Fen dutifully retrieved the book and started toward the stairs. “Probably won’t do much good, but I’ll give it a shot,” he said before beginning the climb.

  There was a fair chance he was right, but another perspective couldn’t hurt. If nothing else, Fen would have something useful to do while staying near his mates. Better he be cursing human scientists upstairs than causing a distraction in the middle of potion creation. Even without Lial’s magic, Lynia hoped to have a sample produced soon.

  If only it could have been done yesterday.

  Unfortunately for Lial, a conscious Aris brought little clarity.

  It didn’t help that the life mage’s mental state was precarious, though not nearly as bad as it had once been. Lial had sent Delbin outside to wait with Inona and Koranel before daring to question Aris, but Lial couldn’t risk asking too many questions lest the mage lose control again. Still, he’d hoped for more than “I’m not sure how my magic works against the illness. I merely react.”

  They were both clearly missing something.

  “What are you sensing that affects you so deeply?” Lial asked carefully.


  Aris tipped his head back against the wall. “I don’t… It’s… It’s just wrongness. Perversion. Something obscene is wrapped around the bundle you call a virus. But it takes a lot of power to nullify it, and I don’t know if my magic would work against it while it’s inside a living person. Not without altering that person in a noticeable and maybe detrimental way.”

  Lial rocked back on his heels. That was a possibility he hadn’t considered but should have. With enough knowledge and power, life mages could change or even create species. Would attempting to destroy the spell encasing the virus cause another problem instead? Messing with the body’s systems was a perilous action.

  “I don’t know how to proceed,” Lial admitted, the words burning his throat like a rancid potion. “I’m not even certain what to do with Korel’s body.”

  Alerielle shifted closer. “The room is stone. If we seal it, a powerful mage could immolate everything inside, and a strong earth mage could prevent damage to the stone. Then the three of us could check for remnants.”

  “I could do both.”

  The voice held such a low rumble that Lial almost didn’t recognize it as Kezari’s. In fact, he’d forgotten the dragon woman’s presence entirely. She’d settled in the darkened corner near the staircase and gone as still as any predator. But when she stepped forward, her demeanor held no hint of the confident hunter. He’d never seen her look so abashed.

  “I’ve cleared caves to create a new den using such a method, and few fires burn hotter than dragon flame.” Kezari’s gaze shifted toward the ceiling. “There is little else I can do to ease the burden of my mistake.”

  Lial almost felt sorry for her—until he remembered the ruin she’d left of Korel’s body. Her mistake was a burden. The virus might never have been activated if they hadn’t been forced to use so much healing magic, a catalyst. Only her clear repentance held his tongue, though he couldn’t deny that the size of her teeth and claws when shifted to her true form held a certain amount of influence.