“So do you.”
“Daks,” Fara exclaimed, her voice tight with worry.
“What happened, Shur?” Daks said.
“Damned arrow… gut shot. Blighted cowards afraid to come out and fight like men.”
“Fara says you won’t let these good people help you. Why not?”
Daks thought he probably already knew the answer, but best to let her get her objections out of the way first so he knew what tack to take to change her mind.
Shura grimaced, and Fara let out a little mewl of concern as she rushed to hand Shura a cup of what Daks assumed was water.
“Don’t know these people,” Shura croaked after a quick sip that she obviously only took to appease Fara.
“And?” Daks prodded.
She scowled at him. “What and? Not going to let a wizard touch me without my partner here to check him out first, to make sure he doesn’t do anything else to me. Rather be dead than cursed.”
Daks’s stomach twisted. Cigani were always suspicious of magic users and, well, anyone outside of their clans. She wasn’t wrong. You never knew what a mage had up his or her sleeves. If he hadn’t dicked around at the inn waiting for her to contact him, if he’d come straight over as soon as possible, she wouldn’t be half as bad as she was now.
“Well, I’m here now.” He lifted his gaze to Fara. “Get the wizard.”
“I’ll do it,” a tall blond stranger said from the doorway. “Lyuc is out with some of the others, but Tas is here. He can help.”
Daks had been so distracted, he hadn’t heard the man enter, but he nodded and the stranger turned and left.
“Who’s Tas?” Daks asked Fara.
“He’s the rogue brother we heard about on our journey. He was a member of the Thirty-Six.”
Daks grimaced as Ravi stiffened and sucked in a breath.
A pain priest? Great.
“You trust him?”
“They’ve all been kind to us. I believe he has reformed from what he was.”
That wasn’t exactly a stunning endorsement, but Shura was in a bad way, and he’d be present to make sure the guy didn’t do anything shady. He could tell by the look on her face that she was working up the strength to argue, but he glared at her and shook his head.
“You can curse me and my lineage later. Right now, I don’t give a damn about your Cigani pride or nobility, understand? You’re gonna let this man heal you, and I’ll be right here to make sure that’s all he does.”
She narrowed her eyes, but she wasn’t in any shape to do much about it. She’d hate to be healed by magic torn from the pain of others, but when it came to the people he loved, he didn’t give a damn about morality. If he had to pull rank in their dynamic and remind her of her oath, he’d do it so she could still be alive to hate him for years to come.
Movement by the door made them all turn. The lean dark-haired man who entered in front of the blond giant from earlier didn’t look like much in his plain gray jerkin and trousers, but the rock around his neck sent out pulses of energy that throbbed against Daks’s mental shields, so much so he was surprised he hadn’t sensed the thing the second he entered the village.
“I’m Tas. Girik tells me our patient is finally willing to let us help her.”
The man smiled disarmingly, and Daks felt his shoulders relax just a little. He didn’t look like any pain priest Daks had ever seen.
“Where’s your red robes, priest?” Daks asked, poking the bear to see what would happen.
“Daks!” Fara hissed.
The man’s smile vanished, and the blond brute behind him glared and took a step forward, but the priest laid a hand on his arm, stopping him.
“It’s all right, Girik. They don’t know us yet, and the Thirty-Six have much to answer for. As for your question, Daks, I’ve left the Brotherhood for good. Therefore, I will never again wear the red.”
“Good answer.” He glanced at Shura’s pinched expression and sighed. “Last question. Did the person who fueled your stone do so willingly?”
Tas’s smile returned. “He’s not really my stone anymore. Think of us as a partnership. And no one fueled him.” Tas glanced at Girik, and the big man took his hand and gave him a loving smile. “I don’t do that anymore. He fuels himself from the world around us now. No one should ever have to suffer that abomination again.”
On the one hand, Tas’s answers allayed at least some of Daks’s concerns—and hopefully Shura’s as well—provided he could believe them. On the other, the way he referred to the stone opened up a whole new set of questions and worries. What had they gotten themselves into now?
Shura shifted on the bed, and though she obviously tried to stifle it, a hiss of pain escaped her lips.
“Then work your magic, Pr—Tas. She won’t object.”
Daks held her gaze as he said it, and though he could tell she wasn’t happy about it, she wouldn’t fight him.
“Please,” Fara added pointedly.
Her eyes were overflowing with a mixture of emotions when she turned her gaze back to Shura, and Shura’s face softened as she reached for her. Fara rushed to the other side of the bed and clasped the hand.
“Stupid, stubborn woman,” Fara huffed, though she was smiling.
Shura’s lips curled at the corners until the priest approached. Daks made way for him, seeing how desperately Fara clutched at Shura’s hand. He needed to be able to concentrate on his gift anyway. But something in the intensity of the two women’s interactions made him glance at Ravi, who hovered nearby, pale and obviously frightened. He eyed the former priest like he had the Spawn, but Daks supposed they were both monsters in Ravi’s world, so he couldn’t blame him.
He moved to Ravi’s side and wrapped an arm around his waist, drawing him closer. Though he remained silent, Ravi molded against
