The hob left with a pop, and Dan debated just taking a little nap.
Dr. Jemison was awake-ish now, and she was standing in the position favored by drunks, fighters, and people trying to get their sea legs. Her feet were wide apart, and she stared down at Lord Scylla as if readingthings that Dan couldn’t see. He was completely inept at healing magic, as well as—so far—mind magic, illusion, fabrication, music, and fighting.
The doctor, obviously, could read things through her magic that seemed to be the equivalent of a myriad of machines in ordinary hospitals.
“Her blood pressure is still off, and her breathing is not clear yet. Her blood levels need refreshing… and there’s a minor infection near her stomach we need to remove, but she’s going to live,” Dr. Jemison said, standing with increasing wobbliness beside Lord Scylla’s bed. “She ought to be awake, though. Why isn’t she awake?”
The doctor yawned widely, her own magic obviously further drained by checking the patient over again.
“And why areyouawake, Mae?” the headmaster said from the doorway.
“Because healing people is my job,” Dr. Jemison said with a smile. “Lucas lent me his energy so I could focus for a few moments.”
“They’re capable, Mae. And Monahan—”
“Is also half-asleep,” Dr. Jemison finished. “I know my limits.”
“And chose to ignore them,” Sondre scolded her. The way he looked at the doctor was more protective than a married man ought to look at someone not his wife.
Protective isn’t the same as lustful,Dan reminded himself.
He currently felt a little possessive-protective over the doctor, and she was 100 percent not his type. Some guys took a side detour on that side to try to convince themselves that they were able to be straight. Dan wasn’t one of them. He was gold-star gay. If there was an official card, he’d carry it. He had no issue with men who’d tried out the other side—like Axell—or even crossed the line regularly. Some people had distinct biphobia, but Dan didn’t.However,he had never had a bodily reaction to a woman. Ever. It was unnerving.
“Are you okay?” Sondre asked, crouching down in front of Dan.
“She’s weirdly pretty right now,” Dan announced. “I don’t like ladybits, but her”—he gestured across his own chest—“chest is pretty. Why?Why?I don’tlikegirl chests, Sondre. These thoughts are weird.”
“They’re not yours, Dan. It’s because you were boosting a healer who feels that way toward her.” Sondre looked around the room, even as the other healers pointedly did not look at him or at Dr. Jemison.
And Dan couldn’t pinpoint which one it was. He’d boosted several of them.
“Someone in the room thinks you’re a goddess,” Dan volunteered with a slurred voice. Exhaustion had left him no better than drunk. He’d felt that way during medical treatments, but not from magical overuse until now. He yawned. “I’m glad it’s not me, though. So so glad. That would be awkward.”
The doctor laughed softly. “Especially as I’ll need you here to boost Scylla’s magic tomorrow, Mr. Monahan. She should be able to get the barrier back up if Prospero goes into her mind and you boost it. I think if she’s able to do that…” The doctor yawned. “I’ll explain tomorrow.”
“We’ll take shifts watching Lord Scylla,” a woman with eerily bright eyes and ghost-pale skin offered. “Xavier and I… I mean…”
Xavier, a quiet Black man, lifted a hand with a thumb up. “On it, Mae.”
“Me too,” offered a white woman currently reclined on a stretcher with a rag over her face. Her short brown hair stuck up at odd angles. “I’m not going first, though.”
“Dominique, one of my friends… she’s going to be in your house,” Dan offered. “Maybe she could help, too. On-the-job training or whatever.”
“I’ll send a hob to fetch her,” Sondre said. “They’re opening the rest of the rooms in the castle. We’ve been vulnerable moving people in. Giving them a chance to be siphoned and sent back—or to stay here for now. Your healers can have a room to rest in, and I can assign a hob to transport them in and out without unbarricading the door.”
“All because of Scylla?” Dr. Jemison asked.
Sondre nodded. “Safety measures assigned by the new head of House Grendel.” He squirmed slightly. “The former House Grendel head was the one who…”
“Tried to kill Scylla,” Dan supplied when no one else did. “Who’s the new house head?”
“Sondre is,” the doctor said in a quiet voice. “Will you be going after Aggie?”
“Eventually. Until there’s a new headmaster, I need to stay here in the castle as headmaster, too, and my family will stay here while I’m over there.” He looked at all of them. “I need three healers on staff at all times, Mae. You have to get rested in case there are injuries—”
“You will not get injured,” the doctor said. “Do you hear me?”
“I will do my best.” He squirmed. “If I don’t succeed, can you… would you…”
