“Do not touch me.” Ellie jerked her arm away from Prospero’s hold. “Not my body, and not my mind. If you try again, I will betrayyourtrust as you’ve just tried to do to me.”
Then Ellie stepped around her and marched to the magically sealed door. It opened at her touch, and she entered the hallway. She glanced back at Prospero. “Magically sealed, huh?”
A buxom woman was staring at Ellie.
She marched up to the woman. “Doctor? That’s your role, right?”
“Yes. How did you do that?” She gestured toward the room Ellie had just left.
“I am told you must assess me, so I can attend a class before I can leave.” Ellie decided she would not cry over being betrayed or mentally attacked. There was no time for any of that.Great romance? Ha!Ellie felt like the worst sort of fool. She trusted Prospero, risked her safety in this new witch world to help, and how was she repaid? By an attempt on her very mind.
Behind her, she heard soft footsteps, and even in that simple sound, she knew Prospero was hesitant.
Ellie refused to look back at her. Instead, she folded her arms and stared at the doctor. “Assess me so I can go home.”
“It’s not quite that simple.” The doctor had the same soothing voice that every doctor did.
For a flicker of a moment, Ellie realized this absolute frustration that was bubbling in her belly was exactly what Hestia must have felt when she was being given a list of limits before her surgery.
I owe her an apology.
It was an odd thought, perhaps, given the circumstances, but it felt grounding. That world,thatlife, was her reality. This place was simply a detour, an inconvenience akin to going to urgent care.
Prospero walked up to stand beside Ellie, slightly behind her as if to catch her if she fled.
“She’s fine, Mae.” Prospero sounded completely calm, as if having life upended, lying, or even sudden bouts of lust and kisses were all perfectly mundane.
A disturbance in the infirmary drew their attention. A tall, muscular man half collapsed against a wall. “Mae?”
“Sondre!” The doctor gestured toward a table. “Sit.”
As he half stumbled toward it, Ellie noticed he had a rip in his trousers, calf-high, and two punctures as if something attacked him. When Ellie saw the purple stain, she had a good idea what it was.My snakes!That wasn’t what they were to do—unless he had gone too close. They were intended to cover and protect the rift.
Ellie looked at Prospero, and then back at the doctor. “Look. Find me the headmaster or a teacher. I’ll answer your questions, and then someone can aim me toward the exit.”
“That is the headmaster,” Prospero said as she stepped forward. Her voice was almost gentle as she added, “You’re tired, Miss Brandeau, because your body is trying to adjust to the magic. It’ll pass.” She paused, not looking away from Ellie. “When you are ready to talk, I’ll still be here. I’m not hard to find. And if you have questions, I’ll answer any and all of them.”
Her words were loaded with things Ellie didn’t want to hear… almost as much as she desperately did.
“Actually, as much as I hate to say this,” the doctor started, “the headmaster needs me. Can you take Miss Brandeau to her room?”
“Of course,” Prospero said, straightening.
Ellie’s knees buckled, and the doctor directed her to a seat, which was probably for the best because Ellie felt rather like the floor might be swaying. Magical exhaustion was real, apparently. There was tired, and then there was this. Being sedated after the accident wasn’t even this exhausting.
“I have her, Mae. Go patch him up.” Prospero shot a glare at the man.
Ellie sighed. “Evil ought not be so damned beautiful.”
“Witches are not evil, Miss Brandeau,” Prospero murmured, almost too low to hear as Mae walked away.
“Being a witch doesn’t undo whatever evil is inside you either,” Ellie retorted.
Prospero shook her head. “Come, Miss Brandeau, or shall I carry you?”
“There’s a chair,” the doctor called out as she swished a curtain closed around her and her new patient.
“Stay,” Prospero ordered before she walked away, swaying like a temptress trying to beckon Ellie toward certain disaster. That woman was a terrible person, a liar, a manipulator… and a terribly good kisser.
