“We feel the same way,” Quinn said.
A thought struck me. “Alaric … I … never mind.”
Quinn’s gaze turned intent. “No, ask. I think I feel … ask him.”
“I just … you’re the most powerful high priest, and—”
“Former,” he corrected.
“Former, and I wondered … you healed Mrs. Frost and neutralized the plant and the crystal ball …” I took a deep breath. “Is there any chance you could cure me of this ability? Make it so I never again have to watch someone die?”
24
Jack
My heart turned over in my chest. I could physically feel the wrench.
“Oh, Tess.” I pulled her into my arms. She’d looked so hopeful, and so afraid to hope, when she’d asked. I knew her gift had been an enormous burden on her, but it had never occurred to me to try to find a way to relieve her of it. I wasn’t sure why. I guess it just felt like part of her, like the tiger was part of me. Not something that could be separated.
Alaric tilted his head and studied her with cool interest. “I don’t know. The crystal ball and the plant—that was different. And the woman’s eyes were merely afflicted by a common ailment of age in humans. But this ability … it’s part of you. I have never attempted such a thing.”
“Would you be willing to try?” Her voice was a bare whisper, but we all heard it.
Alaric looked at me, at Quinn, and then back at Tess. “Of course.”
I reluctantly let Tess step toward him but held onto her hand. When Alaric raised his, she gasped.
“No! I mean, I’m sorry, but you can’t touch me. I don’t want to know how you’ll die, and I don’t know … you’re Atlantean. I’m not sure my mind could handle it. I just, no. I’m sorry, but no. Never mind.” Her shoulders slumped.
The former high priest shrugged. “I don’t need to touch you. Remain still and I will touch your aura.”
“It always sounds so woo-woo when he says stuff like that,” Quinn said, obviously trying to relieve some of the tension in the room.
Tess nodded and let go of my hand after squeezing it. Then she stood perfectly still and closed her eyes.
Alaric shaped the air around her head and then her upper body with his hands, and the familiar glow of his magic surrounded her for one long minute.
And then a second minute.
I could feel my hands clenching into fists from nerves. Finally, after what felt like an hour, Alaric sighed and shook his head. Then he waved one hand and murmured something in ancient Atlantean—I recognized the language but didn’t understand it.
Tess flinched and her head fell back. Then she stumbled, and I caught her before she fell. She opened her eyes, and the hope was almost painful to see. I’d known Alaric a long time, though, and I recognized his expression.
He hadn’t been able to remove the ability. I knew it even before he spoke.
“I’m sorry, Tess. This ability is intrinsic to your being. It’s not a disease or injury. I cannot heal it.”
Tears welled up in her beautiful blue eyes, and she blinked hard to fight them back. “But … I felt something! Like I was zapped with electricity. Wasn’t that you?”
“Yes. My magic sensed an injury. A scar from a gunshot, perhaps? I healed that.”
Tess gasped. “Really?” She pulled at the neck of her sweatshirt, yanking it down to show … nothing. Nothing but pale, unmarked skin on her shoulder where the scar had been. A crazed toy maker with delusions of grandeur had been kidnapping banshees when Tess and I shut him down, but he’d shot her first.
It had been one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.
She took a deep breath and smiled up at Alaric. “Thank you. That was kind of you. I’m sorry I asked—”
He bowed. “Do not be sorry. I can only regret that I could not fulfill your request.”
