enough. These people were still his friends.
“I think I’m going to get cleaned up first, maybe lie down for a bit.”
“Are you kidding?” Downer asked. “You look like you got hit by a truck.”
“Yeah,” Britton said. “I’m just kind of licked. A few bruises won’t kill me. I’ll catch up to you.”
“This isn’t about Fitzy’s new anti-Goblin-fraternization stance, is it?” she pressed. “If you need to see Marty, go see him. You know I always say, regs are meant to be broken.”
Britton laughed in spite of himself. “Do you always say that?”
“Well, no,” she admitted. Her face went pensive, then she flashed him a smile that showed the dazzling beauty she would one day become. “But I’m learning to.”
But in the end he didn’t go back to his hooch; his feet took him back down the same muddy lane, tracking slowly toward the cash. Why was he going? He wasn’t hurt that badly. Despite Downer’s mothering of him, he would do much better with a nap than a doctor.
And what was wrong with that? She was a beautiful woman. And so what if he ran into Marty? Screw Fitzy and his idiot no-fraternization policy. What was he going to do? Fire Britton? Kill him? The man was a drunken bully. Britton knew how to deal with bullies.
But as he searched deeper, he knew that he wasn’t being honest with himself. He wanted to see Therese. There was something he had to know.
Britton pushed through the plastic flaps and between the rows of metal hospital beds that clustered under the canvas. He tapped a passing corpsman on the shoulder. The man turned, took in the Shadow Coven uniform, and took a hasty step backward.
“Sir?”
“Heard you’ve got a new Physiomancer on staff. I need to see her.”
“She’s real busy, sir.”
“And our Coven commander is real insistent we get proper care. He’s also real ornery. Your call.”
The corpsman paused a moment before nodding. “Follow me, sir.”
Therese turned out to be in the Burn Unit, just a few paces away. A quick scan of the ward showed that Specialist Lenko had been moved elsewhere, but Britton only had eyes for Therese. She bent over an unconscious patient whose face, neck, and arm were a mottled mass of charred skin. Her eyes were closed as her hands roved over the burned tissue, leaving pink, healthy skin beneath.
He positioned himself on the opposite side of the bed and waited. In a moment, Therese opened her eyes, meeting his. A broad grin spread across her face, and she nodded at him.
“My hero returns.”
He grinned like an idiot. “So, when do you get off?”
“I can take a few minutes if you’d like to get caught up,” she said. She crossed to him and began to run her hands over his bruised arms, which tingled with warmth as her healing magic penetrated into them. “Oh God, Oscar. You look like hell.”
“They’ve been working me pretty hard,” he managed, closing his eyes and basking in the feel of her eddying magic and his knitting flesh.
“Come on,” she said.
He nodded, and she led him through a series of canvas-covered walkways to a heated tent, where long wooden tables had been laid out. Medical workers, military and contractor, human and Goblin, were spread out among them, eating and chatting. Britton sat down on a bench and was surprised when Therese slid along next to him, her knee bumping his.
There was a long silence as they stared at one another. Britton was surprised at how easy it was to be quiet with her, just sitting and enjoying the shadows playing over her cheeks and the hollow of her throat. At last, Therese blushed and broke the silence. “I go back to the SASS about once a week to check up on folks, and you’ll be pleased to hear that Wavesign’s fine,” she said. “They didn’t allow it at first, but I put up a fuss, and they caved. You’d be amazed how much leeway they give you when you’ve got a rare and valuable talent.” She smiled.
“Tell me about it,” Britton said. “You’ve been working with Marty?”
“The Goblin?” Therese clapped her hands. “He’s so great. He’s been showing me around since I got here, helping me. I figured he was someone important in his tribe. The other Goblins pretty much bow to him.
“How’s Downer doing?” she asked.
“Fine, I guess. She won’t say a word about it. You’re an amazing healer, Therese. There’s no evidence she was ever hurt, but…” He tapped his head.
“She’s a strong girl,” Therese said. “She’ll be okay.”
“You think?”
“She has to be; this is her life now.”
There was an awkward silence. Britton drummed his fingers on the table. “Therese, …”
“What, Oscar?”
“Are you happy that you, you know, raised the flag? That you agreed to cooperate?”
Therese was silent for a moment. “On the whole, yes. I mean, Hayes is a bastard, and there’s a lot of admin BS to put up with, but overall, I like it. Even if I disagree with the overall organization, even if they basically own my life, in the end my magic still helps people. People are alive and whole because of me. I can sleep at night knowing that.”
Britton nodded, silent.
“What about you?” she finally asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “At first, I was sure I was doing the right thing. I mean, Swift is so stupid and useless, and he’s dragging Wavesign down with him. After we saved those marines, I really thought I’d made the right call. When we took down that Selfer in the sewers…she was like a demon out of a nightmare. After that, I was absolutely sure we were on the right side. I felt like you do now, that I was ultimately doing good, that in the balance, it was right to cooperate. But they’ve got me killing the natives here now. They treat Marty like dirt. And in the end, I can’t shake this feeling like no matter how much good I’ll do, I’ll always belong to them. Fitzy called me a weapon the other day. I don’t know if I can live like that.”
“You sound like Scylla,” Therese mused. Britton’s blood ran cold at the comment.
Because he knew he was Scylla to them, fine enough when he was cooperating but standing by to be lobotomized once they decided he was more trouble than he was worth.
She noticed his expression and squeezed the back of his neck. “Oh God, Oscar. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing. I know she’s nuts, and I know she’s a murderer. But you have to admit that some of the things she says make sense. I guess that’s what scares me.”
“Therese”—Britton turned to her—“you said before that you needed time to get good enough to get this thing out of my chest. Are you good enough now?”
She placed his hand on his chest and paused, eyes closed. “I can…see it. Man, whoever put it in there was good. Molding heart flesh is tricky stuff, at least when you’re trying to keep it beating.”
“Can you do it?”
“I don’t know, Oscar.” She shook her head. “To be honest, it’d be a long shot. Even if I was confident that I could do it, you’d need something for the pain. It’s going to hurt like hell. You’re not going to be able to gate anywhere if you die of shock.”
He winced. “It didn’t work out so well the last time I had someone steal from the cash.”
“Goblin contractors don’t have the access that I do. I’d just need some time. I’d also need some time to do the work.”
He paused. “What happened to Specialist Lenko?”
“Who?” she asked.
“He was in the burn unit…”
“Oh,” she said. “They moved him. We’ve got the burns covered, but there’s an infection. I boosted his immune response, but it’s touch and go right now. You know him?”
