“Fair enough. Give me a bit.” A heavy pause passes. “How are you?”
Sad. Overwhelmed. Contemplative. Exhausted. Resigned.Fucking terrified.“Fine. You?”
“Same.” Khadijah’s silence is momentary. “I feel like a fucking idiot for not noticing that she wasn’t who I thought she was. Gabriel filled me in.”
“Ariadne knew Marlene well enough to fool a lot of people. She fooled me, too, with Seren. I bet she’s not even a real person.”
“Actually, Seren is her mother. Or at least, Ariadne used the trickster pendant to assume her identity. She was part of the Great Vanishing. Rules for obtaining identification were relaxed for Mages, so she was able to take advantage. Gabriel told me his superiors unblocked her Imprint, and they’re learning everything about her past now. They used her picture and confirmed what Ruth said, that she was a friend of Grace Fowler’s. A few of her old friends identified Ariadne from the picture Hiram sent. The timeline we have right now puts her meetingGrace about six months after she disappeared. They thought she was on the run from abusive relatives or an ex. Grace ‘lost’ her trickster pendant a few years later.”
Veda can’t process the layers of information, and chooses another topic. “How’s Marlene?”
“Awake. Traumatized. Angry. In a lot of pain. She can’t feel her magic, and she’s scared, even after we explained it wasn’t going to be gone forever. I was fully prepared to cuss out everyone on her medical team, but the care she’s getting is much better than I anticipated. Apparently that has to do with Hiram’s threats.” She pauses. “I have to thank him, don’t I?”
“Perhaps.”
“Damn it,” Khadijah grumbles. “I’ll text you when I’m outside.”
Veda hangs up and closes her eyes, hanging her head back. This is when she hears a door open and close, Hiram emerging from the hallway. He’s not his usual self. The one she’s been learning more about the last few weeks. His beard is a little unkempt. He’s wearing loose black sweats and a black shirt.
“Antaris asleep?”
“Yes.” Hiram shuffles to the kitchen. “After you fell asleep, I explained what I could. He was stressed but okay. I think. We had dinner, and he wanted to sit in here with you, but fell asleep while listening to a book. The walls in his room are trees, so he’s having a good dream.”
“That’s good,” Veda replies. “I just found out a lot from Khadijah now.”
As she recounts everything, Hiram collapses into the kitchen chair, looking worse for wear.
“Now we need to figure out why she cursed Everett.”
“Yeah ...” Veda trails off as his winces intensify to expressions of full-blown pain. “You’re hurt.”
“Is that worry I detect?” It’s a glimmer of his usual attitude. “I’ve been sore. After rest and a pain elixir, I’ll be fine.”
Soreis a gross understatement. He’s clammy, moving too carefully. “May I take a look?”
He raises a brow. “I thought you weren’t able to cast after all that.”
“It’s been a little while. I’m not depleted anymore. Do you want my help or not?”
He doesn’t budge. “Even if you can, I doubt body aches are your specialty.”
“No, and I’m technically not a doctor, but I did attend medical school.” Veda folds her arms and rises to her feet. “I still had to go through rotations in every specialty. I’m qualified enough, so take off your shirt.”
“What?” Hiram blinks incredulously. “No date first? No drink?”
She rolls her eyes so hard, her head hurts. “Jokes about your modesty are significantly less funny when you could have permanent injuries.”
Hiram slowly stands. Eyes on her, he pulls his shirt over his head and drops it on the floor, revealing tattoos mottled by deeply bruised skin. He is ... well built. Lean. Muscular. Exactly as she remembers. Lowering his arms makes his breath hitch. No wonder he looks like shit. More bruises begin to form before her eyes, and there’s a nasty gash on his side that looks more like a burn than a cut.
Her eyes skim his body, roaming across the definition of his muscled chest down to the waistband of his trousers—all before she gets a better look. Hiram slowly raises his hands, gripping the back of his neck and trying to steady his breathing, but it grows sharp each time her fingers brush his skin.
“Looks like a Contact Curse. It causes pain to the first person it contacts. You were likely hit while—” He shielded her from harm. Their eyes meet in silent acknowledgment. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know.”
Uncomfortable under his watchful gaze, she keeps looking, frowning. “The pain would have started immediately. Odd that a medic didn’t catch this.”
“I didn’t allow anyone to look.”
