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He helped her, but the second she sat up, the world started to spin.

In a small glass container sat the base magic from her arm. It hovered like a dark cloud. It didn’t behave like one, though. Nor like any magic she had ever seen. It bounced around defiantly.

“Take this,” Evren said as he gave her a potion and she downed it.

A few minutes and several spells later, she felt more like herself again.

“What is this for, exactly?” Evren asked, staring at the base magic.

“A potion I’m working on.” Finally, she had made some progress. This was a huge step…but something seemed wrong, and she didn’t know what it was.

Harrington handed her a bottle of whiskey, and this time she didn’t refuse. “I’m going to ignore the fact that this is for fucking class because the rest was pretty spectacular.”

The liquor burned. She had earned this moment of victory, however short-lived it might be.

“You’re fierce, Winters,” Evren said with a chuckle that suggested the other word he wanted to use was insane.

“It wasn’t that painful,” Mira responded, taking another sip.

Amelia lifted her perfectly sculpted brows. “Don’t tell me I’ve lost my touch.”

Harrington slid down the wall until he sat on the floor. “Now that we all just got a lot more acquainted with one another: What is going on between you and Dawson?”

Mira wished the ground would open up.

Amelia lifted herself to sit on the table, crossing her legs and looking like she was ready to take a picture for a fashion label. “Dawson doesn’t tell us anything, but we see how he looks at you.”

Mira wanted to coin travel so badly.

“You’re making her blush.” Harrington chuckled.

“This is worse than the extraction procedure,” Mira replied. “I’ll take getting tortured any day over this.”

They all laughed as she took another sip and hoped it might stop her face from burning up.

Mid-gulp, a silver coin fell to the ground, and she knew who it belonged to. Before she could get to it, Aidric’s body smashed against the shelves, shattering glass and equipment. Then he collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

30

Harrington, who was closest to Aidric, jumped to his side. “Dawson, can you hear me?”

Aidric looked so pale, he seemed almost translucent. His hair stuck to his forehead. Mira couldn’t tell if he was bleeding because he was covered in his black coat, but it didn’t take a genius to know he was in agony.

“I’m getting Obryn,” Amelia said, and coin traveled away.

A wise choice since Aidric was drenched in Dark Magic. Mira could feel it coming off him in waves. The smell of it—pepper and musk—permeated the air. A steady beat of panic coursed through her, but she tried to focus on her training as a healer. Kneeling down next to him, she took his hand and checked his wrist for a pulse. As expected, it was through the roof, drumming against her fingers viciously. His skin glistened with cold sweat.

Harrington shook him by his shoulders, and he opened his eyes. They were bloodshot and glazed over. “Where am I?” he rasped.

“You’re at my place. What happened?”

“I—”

Before he could finish his thought, every muscle in his body seized. He bit his teeth together hard, and his hand clamped down on Mira’s. The sound he made, a muffled scream behind clenched teeth, would stay with her for a lifetime. When he leaned his head back, the artery on his neck pulsed rapidly. During the war, she had seen firsthand what high levels of pain could do to the body. Muscles were able to snap bones. Sometimes the heart simply gave out.

She lifted her hand, ready to sedate him with a spell, but right then Aidric lost consciousness again. The body’s natural way of protecting itself. His hand in hers went limp.

She didn’t care that he didn’t want her to cast a diagnostics on him. He could be mad at her later.