“Right,” I say, my tone betraying my own shock. “Now that we’re all even, you can all get over it.”
I turn away from Killian, who’s kneeling on the ground, a hand held tightly over his precious parts. I have to work very, very hard not to apologize. Even though inside I’m struggling with a massive lump of guilt, I force myself to keep walking.
Then Pax blocks me, two whole steps away from Killian.
“What else did he damage?” he asks, his tone strained, but not to the I’m-about-to-kill-someone kind of extreme. He touches a tentative finger to the base of my neck.
There must be bruising – I know how much pressure my throat can handle before blue marks appear on my skin – but I’ve no idea how bad it looks.
Seth walks up to meet us. “Someone needs to explain this to me.”
“It’s not his fault,” I say, pointing at Seth. “I hijacked some Allure. Killian was in pain, and I couldn’t sleep. You can’t possibly have expected me to sleep through that?”
“I expected you to stay between Seth and me,” Pax rumbles, looking over my head to where Killian’s climbing to his feet – chuckling.
I let out a measured breath, the pain in my broken body barely tolerable. Not on top of the sleep thing and the hunger thing.
Killian steps up beside me, closing our circle. I can sense that at least some of the fight has ebbed away. Pain evident in the places where the anger used to be. “I broke her arm.”
“He could have crushed your throat,” Pax says, his finger still brushing along the base of my neck.
“Too easily,” Killian agrees.
“I’m sorry,” Seth mutters, running a hand through his hair. “Whatever I did, I don’t remember any of it.”
“What did I miss?” Roarke calls from the top of the stairs.
He jogs down to meet us, and Seth moves to make room for him next to me. His long hair is out and sleep-messed, and he’s also shirtless. Damn, I’m surrounded by shirtless gods, and I feel too damaged to enjoy any of it.
“Why is she covered in mud?” Roarke asks. As he talks he reaches out, his hand slipping under my hair and resting on the back of my neck.
“Lots of mud,” he repeats, but I barely notice over the blissful sensation of pain leaving my body and white spots speckling the edges of my vision.
I sigh in relief, almost collapsing into Roarke’s side, and he wraps his other arm around my back and pulls me against his chest.
“I’m getting mud on you,” I mutter.
“I don’t care,” he says.
Now that the pain’s gone, my fingers feel tingly.
“Vexy Allured me into walking her down to Killian during the night,” Seth explains, making Roarke’s hand stiffen against my neck. “I don’t even remember it.”
“She can’t keep doing this,” Roarke says – shifting their conversation into talking about me, not with me.
“Roarke, can you stop her?” Pax asks.
“I don’t even sense that she’s doing it.”
“Is she using your power, Darkness?” Pax shifts the question to Killian.
“Her threads haven’t changed,” he says.
“I can probably make a potion, but power blocking would only last a few hours – and that’s factoring in her mortal blood. Making them continuously would exhaust my time and resources.”
I force myself to straighten and step back from Roarke, just a little. He keeps his hand on the back of my neck, and I draw strength from his touch – as well as pain relief. “All right, all right. I’m right here. Stop talking about me as if I’m not.”
“We know,” they grumble in unison.
I stomp my bare foot in the mud, trying to clench my numb fingers into a fist, while still letting loose with my temper. “You are not getting a new potion anywhere near me. There are a few things I really hate, and Sabers, Sigils, and Potions are all high on that list!”
My fingers are only half clenching, not managing to curl all the way into a fist, and I find myself looking at them rather than the guys’ reactions.
“The bone was pressing against a nerve for too long. I need to work on it,” Killian says.
“No,” I almost whimper. “No more splinting and massaging, you guys need to heal me. Clearly, I can use your powers and survive just fine.” I won’t add the splitting headache that Allure gives me. “If your powers heal you, then your powers can heal me.”
They all stare at me. Long, calculating looks.
“We discussed this last night. It’s not safe, and it’s not possible,” Pax growls.
“Last night I only had one broken bone – now I have two.”
“Our powers don’t heal us; our Saber genetics heals us. Only a HealingSeed has power that can speed that,” Killian begins, but pauses when Roarke begins to groan.
“My power can do it. I can’t do it to her. No one desires specific interactions between bone and muscle enough to spontaneously heal in my presence, but if she can use my power… it might work. And Killian can sense when she’s reached her limit – before she does any damage – assuming you want to stop her before she goes too far, brother?”
Killian grunts – agreement.
Pax nods – resignation.
Seth frowns – worry.
I smile – because I just won – and bounce on the balls of my feet, a little mud splashing up my ankles.
“Now?” I press.
“Probably should,” Roarke says, frowning at me. “Inside. After you get into some dry clothes.”
No one moves though, all of us staring at Pax for approval.
“You have exactly ten minutes from the moment I see you sit down,” Pax rumbles.
“I’ll take them on if things go bad before then,” Seth says, and there’s far too much seriousness in my Chaos’ voice.
Everyone looks at him and nods. I get the feeling that Seth against Killian and Roarke will end in Seth being hurt.
“Agreed,” the word is echoed around me.
Roarke hesitates before letting his hand slip from my neck and walking back to the cottage.
The wash of pain
