They both panted for air, bodies worn from the process as Matt removed the protective circle from around them. Kallen clasped wrists with him, the firm hold allowing them both to stand slowly, providing each other support that Matt wasn’t happy to need. He stared up at the air shifter who had at least four inches on him in height.
Matt offered a greeting, hoping to put aside his initial response. “Welcome back, brother. How do you feel?”
The other man took a deep breath and let it go. His mouth opened and—no sound came out. The relieved expression on Kallen’s face vanished as he attempted to speak and remained mute.
Shit. Matt held out a hand to the man, waiting for his permission. Kallen nodded, and Matt pressed his fingers to Kallen’s throat, feeling for any lingering damage caused by the curse. There was nothing at first, nothing that would make him suspicious, but as Matt continued his investigation, he discovered there was another layer to the curse still remaining. Something strong and complicated, with a sense of both the ocean and the mountains combined.
“Kallen, who did this to you?” Matt asked.
Kallen gestured helplessly.
“Matt? What’s happening?”
The concern in her voice was back and Matt motioned urgently. “Go below, and find a pad of paper or something.”
As Laurin scrambled for something to write on, Kallen held out a hand. It was a peace offering if he’d ever seen one. A way of showing his gratitude, and willingness to let Matt take charge.
Now if only Matt didn’t want to tell the man to leave immediately. The complication of keeping the air shifter around any longer than necessary played havoc on Matt’s only recently calmed jealous streak.
“Who among the air clans could have cursed Kallen—with enough power that the curse is multilayered and more than your average shaman can cure?” Matt asked Laurin as she returned, passing the writing pad to the air shifter.
“Someone high ranking? Kallen is in line to lead the Assiniboine people. Well, him or his brother.”
“The brother you were afraid of? Who I fought back in June?” He felt her tense even as he reminded her.
“Yes, the same. Only Kallen isn’t anything like Kilade. If I had to trust anyone, it would be Kallen. When I was young, he stopped the taunting more than once when my family visited his. My grandfather made us stop over at all the tribes every year. Since we didn’t know why I was Hawáte, able to boost other’s powers, he insisted I learn everything possible about all the People of the Air.”
Matt ignored that for a minute, focusing on the issue of Kallen. “His father—would he be powerful enough to arrange this curse?”
Kallen grasped Matt’s hand again and shook his head.
“Not your father…but someone from your tribe?”
Kallen turned to the pad of paper but before his pen touched the page, Laurin spoke up.
“It was Kilade, wasn’t it?”
A curt nod. The air shifter’s shoulders drooped, his massive body full of misery.
They sat in silence at the tiny portable table on the deck, Kallen folding his bulk behind one side, Laurin to his right. Matt watched warily as he took a seat only a foot away. Kallen’s gaze seemed to flick back to Laurin involuntarily time and time again.
The layers of curse within the curse—Matt had never experienced such a thing before. He knew it was possible, but the casting would have taken a huge toll on the person. He highly doubted Kilade had the power on his own—he must have convinced others to assist him, including someone from the People of the Sea. With two or more people establishing the curse, it was incredibly complex.
And the cure? Virtually impossible.
Laurin touched Kallen’s shoulder—just the touch of commiseration. Matt had seen her do that same thing to a child when offering comfort from a fall or during a difficult lesson. The pain cut hard though, and he had to bite his tongue to stop from ordering her to get her hands off the man. They looked so connected. Even with the variation in their coloring—hers light, his dark—it was obvious they were both of the air clans.
He closed his eyes and tried to find that peace. The offering of the ocean he’d only so recently received.
“Can you tell us anything else about what happened? Or why you’ve come to us? How did you know where to find me?” Laurin asked all the right questions, and Matt let her take charge. Partly drained from his earlier healing, he let himself mentally drift as he waited. Kallen’s pen scratched lightly on the page.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been daydreaming. The touch of Laurin’s hand on his made him open his eyes. He clasped her fingers tight, not wanting to let go. She smiled, squeezing back before pushing the pad of paper his direction. As Matt moved to read the message, Laurin touched Kallen’s shoulder again to get his attention.
“We’ll do what we can to help you, I promise.” The familiar cool wash of Laurin’s magic flashed in a new and unexpected manner, lighting them with a bright incandescence that left spots before Matt’s eyes. She shot to her feet in an instant, back against the mast, fear on her face. “What was that? Was that…me?”
He’d never felt her power react like that before. She always insisted she didn’t have magic of her own, just the ability to bolster another’s. Not once in the past two months during their experimenting had she ever initiated anything he couldn’t do on his own. It had to be her responding to something—in Kallen?
Cold dread poured into Matt’s heart. He stared at Kallen in horror.
“What did your brother do to you?” Matt demanded.
The written message Kallen passed over provided little information about the actual curse. Two weeks earlier, Kallen had been ambushed during a walk and woke in his avian form. The rest of the revelations in the note turned Matt’s dismay to an even greater consternation.
My brother made no pretense of innocence in the attack. Kilade bragged he would now take leadership of our people, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. He told me to find Laurin. Said she was the only one who could cure me. But I see no way for that to occur.
I thank you, Shaman, for giving me back my human form. I had met with two other healers of the air clans before seeking you, and neither of them was strong enough to help me shift. I will continue to search for a cure. I refuse to remain as a mute—I must find a way to return to my tribe and take over from my brother. This deceit proves he is not a worthy leader for them.
“Why would Kilade tell you to see me? I have no healing powers. And if he was the one to curse you in the first place, why offer you the cure?” Laurin moved to Matt’s side, crawled into his lap and he curled himself around her, protecting as best he could.
“Kilade had a deeper reason for coming to fight back in June.” Matt stared across the short distance at where Kallen watched them carefully. “He actually quit before we were done. He seemed pleased to discover Laurin and I were partners.”
“He said he wanted to be sure you were strong enough to defend me,” Laurin pointed out.
Matt thought back to the fight. The air shifters who’d wanted to take control of Laurin’s abilities had come to claim her as a mate, and he’d fought them, letting it be known in no uncertain terms that her choice was the one that mattered. His suspicions regarding the exact nature of the curse grew.