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Her White Magic reversed the damage to the tissue and eradicated the foreign Dark Magic from the laceration until it was healed. Then she moved on to the second qevium at his stomach.
When it was done, she dropped her hand and looked at Obryn, who gave her a satisfied nod.
“He’s resting. Do not let him coin travel for the next six hours. He needs time to heal.”
“What happened to him?” she asked. “Two qeviums wouldn’t cause him to collapse like that.”
The Highmage brushed invisible dust from the sleeves of his dark tweed jacket. “It compounded with old wounds and the amount of Dark Magic Mr. Dawson deployed.”
“We need to stop the council from doing this to him,” she demanded. “They’re killing him. Clearly, that’s the goal.”
“He is more than capable of taking care of himself. You need to worry about your own issues.”
“My issues?” Her patience frayed. “You made him my issue, don’t you remember?” She couldn’t talk about the details in front of the others, but surely he knew what she meant. “Excuse me for giving a shit about him.”
Obryn’s eyes cooled. The other Wielders stared at them closely, but nobody dared to say a word.
“Would you give us the room?” Obryn said to the others, who reluctantly left, and then the door closed once again.
“Everybody is using him because they know how deadly he can be,” she continued.
“When I said you should worry about your own problems, I was referring to that.” He pointed at the base magic in the glass container. “I’m assuming it’s yours. An entirely stupid idea to ask fellow students to perform an extraction.” He took a sharp inhale as if to compose himself. “Do not worry about Mr. Dawson’s assignments.”
“I’m obligated to help him in the investigation.”
Obryn lifted his palm, and the glass ball of their magic contract floated out of his pocket. “Mira Winters, I hereby release you from the binding contract. You have served your purpose.”
The glass ball exploded, and something in her disconnected. As if an invisible string between her and Aidric had been severed. Her heart sank. The Highmage took the container with her extracted base magic and disappeared.
Mira’s anger dissipated when Aidric’s silver eyes opened. For a moment he looked so peaceful before he abruptly sat up.
The door opened, and Harrington walked in first. “He’s alive.”
“Are you all right?” Evren asked as Aidric stood tall.
“Never been better,” he joked, but it was no laughing matter to her. “Sorry I crashed your place. Literally.” His shoes crunched over broken glass. “I meant to coin travel home. Not sure why it brought me here.”
“I’m flattered your subconscious considers my mansion home,” Harrington said with a grin.
“You gave us a good scare,” Evren added.
Aidric brushed a hand through his hair. “Ah, well, it looks much worse than it is.”
“You could have died,” Mira said with concern.
“Loving the flare for the dramatic, Winters, but a few potions at home would have worked just fine. I suppose I have to work on my coin travel skills.”
He smirked and joked. It was a show he had performed a million times. Aidric Dawson couldn’t show any weakness, nor did he require anyone’s help.
“Well, the guest bedroom is ready for you,” Harrington said.
Dawson made a face. “I would rather sleep in a home in Yharvan than spend the night in your garish house.”
They laughed, but Mira couldn’t join in. “You can’t coin travel with your injuries. Obryn’s orders.”
A crooked grin formed on his face, the same face that had been twisted in agony not so long ago. “If I listened to every one of Obryn’s rules, life would be rather dull. I’m doing just fine.”
“I thought we cut that word from our vocabulary,” Mira shot at him.
