Breath (Scales 'n' Spells 2)

Warin nodded and came to kneel on one knee, offering the phone to Tori. As Baldewin left to go handle the police, Tori accepted the phone a little gingerly. Did he really want to talk to whoever was on the other side?

“Tori.” Cameron’s voice came through clearly, and he sounded more than a little panicked. “How is my sister?”

Shit! Of course it was the consort-brother. “Look, I won’t lie. They drained her pretty bad, and if it wasn’t for her magical connection with Sasha, she’d probably be half-dead right now. But I’ve applied a reviving potion directly to her skin, and I think she’s stabilizing. She’s no longer sweating, her skin is warming up”—he put two fingers to her throat and frowned—“but her pulse is still elevated. We should be able to get her moving soon, but it will take a few days to completely heal from this. But I think she’ll pull through it.”

“You know how to treat this?”

“I mean, I’ve read books on how to do it. We’re all taught it, just in case we accidentally have a spell backlash, as it’s basically the same thing. It hits you right in the magical core and overloads you. It feels much like an electrical burn. First time I’ve had to use the knowledge on someone, though. So, if you want to send someone out here to back me up, I won’t be offended.”

“We might yet. I will be calling on the hour to get updates.”

“Absolutely. We’ll hop on a train, get there as quickly as we can, okay? Right now, though, I need to make sure she’s stabilized enough to travel.”

Relief was clear in Cameron’s voice. “Thank you. Warin says they couldn’t catch who did this to her.”

“I’m so, so sorry about this. We just came down to the lobby for coffee. Neither of us were thinking straight. We weren’t awake enough for it. Coffee was the only thing on our brains.”

“Don’t apologize. The Jaeggi specialize in sneak attacks. Damn their hides. And I’m told you were putting up a hell of a fight to get them off her before Sasha could reach you.”

“I was trying. Didn’t have much to work with.” Tori was never stepping out of his room without his black bag ever again. Ever. Again.

“Keep an eye on Sasha, too, okay? My sister-in-law is tough as nails, but when a dragon’s mate goes down, they don’t handle it well.”

“You got it.” Tori eyed the dragon in question. Sasha was hovering, clutching one of Cassie’s hands to her own chest, worried blue eyes fixated on her mate’s face. Yeah, she was not handling it well at all.

“Let me know if you need help.”

“I will. Thanks.” He hung up the phone and handed it over to Warin.

The hotel employee was still there, watching all of this with concerned eyes. She gestured toward Cassie and splayed her hands, silently asking what more could be done.

Unfortunately, not much. For now, his plan was to wait for her to stabilize a little more before moving her to their room. There, he would apply another round of spellwork to Cassie, giving her magical core a healing boost. She mostly needed sleep and hydration. Give her body a chance to heal. He shook his head with a smile and assured her, “Thank you. Right now, we have to let her rest.”

Tori stared at Cassie’s pale, slack face. All the noises of the hotel guests, the police, Baldewin, and the reassuring whispers from Sasha faded into little more than white noise as his mind started to replay the events with the Jaeggi. He’d cast spells. Fought back. And then he’d cast healing spells on Cassie. Instinctively, he’d known exactly what to do in each instance. Maybe they weren’t necessarily the best steps, but Cassie was still alive because he’d acted.

A small tremor of excitement and fear ran through his fingers, and he fisted them so no one could see them. He was crashing from the rush of adrenaline. That was all. It had nothing to do with fighting experienced mages and holding Cassie’s life in his hands.

But as frightening as it all was, he was also secretly thrilled. He’d done this. He’d used his gift, used magic no one had ever thought he could do, and saved Cassie’s life. This was why he was born a mage. This was why he’d left his damn clan. He wanted to be this—the person others could depend on, the person who knew magic to help others.

“Tori?” Baldewin called to him, jerking him from his whirlwind of thoughts. “The police need to speak with you.”

Tori eyed the uniformed cop nearby, who looked a little shell-shocked (likely to learn mages were still alive and well,) and groaned. Okay, he didn’t want to be the person who dealt with the cops. But he mentally girded his loins and stood, heading to the policeman. The sooner this was done, the sooner he could turn his full attention to Cassie. They needed to get her on her feet again and out of Poland. With the Jaeggi in the area, it was clear they needed to hustle to Burkhard Castle as quickly as possible.