settling back into less-abused forms.
Marcus was horribly, desperately sad-but some important part of him was no longer dead.
And then minds far stronger than hers were throwing up walls, and it all went blessedly silent.
Sophie practically crawled into the hot pool, wondering how she’d ever lived without one.
“You’ve exhausted yourself, lovey.” Moira held out a hand. “Come. I’ve a wee bit of healing left in me. Let me clear your channels, at least.”
It was a very sweet offer from a witch who had done yeoman’s work already. “Mike took care of that much. I could use some of that tea, though.” It smelled vaguely like skunk, which meant it was one of Moira’s stiffer brews.
“Be careful what you wish for,” said the grandmother of her heart, chuckling. “Lizzie steamed it up for us. She’s got a heavy hand with the tisanes yet.”
“Never fear.” Nell set down a tray at pool’s edge. “The chili is doctored too, but Aaron is willing to bet the inn that you can’t taste it.”
Aaron’s chili was legend in Fisher’s Cove-guaranteed to kill taste buds dead on contact.
“He’s a good man.” Moira held out her hands for the offered bowl. “His heart didn’t waver for a moment as we sat in my garden holding those babies.”
It was a good thing he hadn’t seen his wife when the circle ended. Sophie kept her eyes on her chili. One of the reasons she was so exhausted was the healing push she’d shoveled into Elorie before Aervyn had ported her to the garden.
“And any witch,” continued Moira blandly, “who thinks I can’t smell a healing spell at ten paces would be sorely mistaken.”
Busted. “I couldn’t send her back half conscious.” For starters, one elderly healer would have done herself damage trying to fix it.
Nell sniffled in the corner, wiping tears away. “This chili’s insane. It’s making everything run.”
Sophie managed a grin, grateful for the distraction. Aunt Moira hated it when they coddled her. “I thought fire witches liked spicy.”
Nell just rolled her eyes.
“Not to worry, dear.” Moira chuckled and began to spoon in her own chili. “Take a couple more bites and everything will go numb.”
The easy banter was balm for Sophie’s soul. It had been a brutally difficult circle.
Nell looked over, echoes of what they’d been through in her eyes. “How’s Lauren doing?”
They’d all lived through the emotional earthquake when Marcus had first seen his brother. And then Lauren had battened down the hatches, forcing it to flow only through her. An act of enormous sacrifice, and one that still had her intermittently sobbing in Devin’s arms. “It’s going to take her a while to grieve.” No one came through an experience like that unscathed. Living through sixty seconds of it had flattened the rest of them-Lauren had hung on for more than two hours.
And it had been Lauren who held Marcus’s head after while he wept.
Sophie shook herself-she had to let go of it for a while. The babies were all safe, the rest of the circle was recovering nicely, and Marcus had two young girls pumping healing into him as he slept.
His heart had taken a devastating blow-but when they’d settled Morgan into his arms, he’d smiled. And told her that Uncle Evan loved her.
Grief, they could heal. Marcus had come back with the will to live-it had been stamped on every fragment of his soul.
Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, and Sophie realized her own tears were dripping into the water. “Ah, my sweet girl,” said Moira, her Irish thick. “We’ve forty-three years of tears to cry-but remember. Evan needs us to laugh.”
It had been one of the few things Lauren had been able to get out past her sobs.
“He looks so much like Aervyn.” Nell reached for Sophie’s hand, cheeks wet, and not from the chili this time. “Just a little boy, alone in that awful place.”
“He’s not alone.” Moira stroked their hair, the way she’d always done. “Each of us is connected, one to the other. A great web of souls.”
“Those who have come before, those now, and those yet to come.” Sophie repeated the familiar words of the healer incantation, their meaning never more needed.
And hoped the guardian in the mists could hear them.
Chapter 22
The Hacker was up to something. Jamie leaned a little further out of the alleyway. And so was that blasted little librarian.
It was a partnership that had smart players in Realm quaking.
He snuck a little closer, hoping the soundproofing spell on his back was a good one-Kenna was babbling up a storm.
The mental giggles he got back were worth the risk of discovery. Her mind powers were growing every day. He squinted down the street at the two plotters-if he was really lucky, Kenna might decide to go mentally investigate what her uncle Daniel was up to. Nobody minded if a baby snooped in their heads.
A noise behind them had him spinning-only to discover Mike looking down at a tin can in disgust.
Jamie tried not to laugh-when you had a baby on your front, alley debris was a real hazard. “Morning.”
“Still?” Mike grimaced. “Somebody woke up at the crack of dawn.”
“Ouch.”
“S’okay.” Mike picked his way through the rest of the alley flotsam without incident. “Gave me time to work on that little forest diversion we talked about.”
The women were working on soothing Marcus’s heart the usual way-with food and time and love. The Fairy Godfathers had come up with a different plan. Well, except for Daniel, who seemed to have a second strategy brewing on the side. Four days ago, they’d launched a full-out attack on the third-ranked player in Realm.
Which had seemed like a nice, mild distraction until it made the second-ranked player in Realm really mad. Warrior Girl had promptly allied herself with a shell-shocked Marcus and made him choose between finding his game feet or getting rescued by a ten-year-old girl.
It had brought a lot of delight to Realm-and a lot of mad scrambling-when the general had awakened.
Jamie checked the time-if the forest diversion was in place, the next move was on his shoulders. “Can you hold out another half hour for food, Kenna girl?”
She leaned forward and tried to eat his hair. He hoped that was an affirmative.
“Be careful.” Mike grinned. “Rumor has it Morgan was up in the night.”
Damn. They had an inside source-one of the nursery guards in Morgan’s castle had a weakness for spaghetti sauce. And as they’d very quickly figured out, Marcus had taken to walking Realm the nights Morgan was awake- leaving spell traps as he went.
Particularly grumpy spell traps-Jamie had lost a third of his stash to one while innocently taking a seat at the pub. “Any other news?” Mike was in charge of their spy network.
“Morgan’s trying to roll over, another alligator has been spotted in the moat, and Marcus was seen smiling before breakfast.”
The first smile, two days after he’d returned from seeing Evan, had been red-alert news. Now it only warranted a quiet bulletin. The rest of Mike’s information was more troublesome. Rolling was the first step to baby mobility, which scared any sane parent. And the alligators were a real problem-the darn things seemed to breed like magical bunnies. Jamie sighed and hitched Kenna a little higher on his back. “I’ll go check on the moat.”
