“The smoke is toxic. It’s better out than inside you.” Anderson shrugged at Faine’s look. “I’ve worked more than my fair share of bomb scenes.”
She took a drink from a bottle of cold water. “I saw something off. Felt it. But then the air sort of sucked away. I think the bomb was under the passenger side, front. That’s where the blast seemed to come from.”
“You should have died, being that close. Your, um, powers protected you?”
Gage interrupted. “Her powers protected everyone all around us. She . . . Witches have reservoirs of power, she pulled hers up too fast, she did it to shove as much as she could back at the blast to protect everyone. Not just our people, but the humans on those steps. That sort of thing is harmful. She’s bleeding because she burst capillaries with the exertion. She needs to rest. To restore her magick and let her body heal itself.”
Faine wanted to kiss Gage for that defense of Helena.
“Thank you. For what you did. You may not hear it from humans, though it’s clear you were a hero today. But you’ll hear it from me.” Anderson leaned forward to touch Helena’s knee and before he knew it, Faine found himself cutting off a possessive growl at the human male.
Helena raised a brow even in her exhausted state. He’d have to talk with her. Later, when she wasn’t on the verge of collapse.
ONCE Anderson had gone, Molly tutted and fussed while Gage looked on, amused. “You need to get cleaned up. I’ve laid out a robe in the bathroom. Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital? They have Others on staff. I know this from the last time we were bombed here.” Molly handed her the glass of juice Helena had already half drained. She obediently finished it.
She returned in less than a minute with more juice and pushed it Helena’s way.
“Molly, you know I adore you, but girl, back up or I am going to lose my mind.” Helena waved her away.
“Fine. But I’m calling your mother to see who we can speak to around here who will help you get yourself recharged.” Molly sniffed and before Helena could argue, she left the room.
“What did you do?” Gage hefted himself up onto the bathroom counter as Helena attempted to clean her face.
Faine sighed and took the cloth from her, washing the soot away and getting it wet again. He gently pushed her hands back. “Hush and let me work. I’ve been dressing field wounds longer than witches have been in the New World.”
She rolled her eyes, but held still as he dabbed at her skin.
“What do you mean? I protected you all, that’s my job.”
Gage blew out a breath. “I have never seen a spell like that, Helena. Ever.”
“Oh. That. Well, all right, I suppose you’ve experienced your magick building, growing, since the Magister, right?”
Gage nodded.
“Since I was young, a big part of my power has been sort of intuitive. I haven’t had to learn spells the same way others do. I just sort of knew what I needed and then I did it. Since the Magister, my magick has . . . leapt to me in a wholly new way. It’s easier to call it no matter the place. But there are less filters so it comes hard and fast unless I regulate it. I knew I needed a lot to hold that energy from the blast back. There’s no Font here like there is in Gennessee or Owen territory and I was worried about siphoning from any witches around me. So I yanked it hard from the air and the earth. It was so much.”
Faine grimaced. “Are you going to be all right? Did you do permanent damage?”
“No, I’ll be fine. I’m crispy and if I had to do any major magick just now I’d be fucked. But rest will restore me.”
“More than that, how did you do it? Sure, you can call more power, but that spell was awe-inspiring. You . . . what?”
“I just . . . I knew I needed to block the blast somehow. I didn’t have a physical shield or a wall to hide behind. It occurred to me that it was physics, that’s all magick is anyway. I just used energy to push back at the energy of the blast. The opposite of the wave from the explosion so it repelled. I don’t know if I could do it again in the same way, only that if I had to do something similar in the future, I could.”
“Can you teach me? Do you think it could stop a bullet?”
“I don’t know about a bullet. But I think I can help you visualize a wall of energy. I don’t know your gifts that well and like I said, it’s not spellwork, not completely. I knitted something together on the fly but that was to focus my power in one spot and keep it from feeding back and harming me.”
“You mean like bleeding from the nose and mouth?” Faine wanted to shake her and order her to never, ever do such a thing again. But he knew she would. And that she could was apparently a big deal. She was a warrior like he was. Just a few days ago he accepted it, but now the stakes were higher, and his feelings? Well, they’d adjusted and deepened, which made it far more difficult to accept that she’d put herself in danger.
“When I was young I got nosebleeds all the time. My dad says it’s because I have a poor sense of moderation.” Her smile was wry and he sighed, charmed.
“I think I can teach you to spool the power better. Still quickly, but with more control.” Gage nodded. “As for my gifts? They’ve been growing, as yours seem to have. I can sense intent. I knew there was danger in that crowd. Mortal danger. But I couldn’t see it as the cars.”
“You both chose the obvious dangers and focused, which is the way it should be. There are so many things to constantly be aware of, you can only examine so many at once.” Faine shrugged. It was true. Yes, they’d missed the cars being a possible threat, but in their place he’d have done the same. He had done the same.
“I need to check in with the people at the garage here. I instituted a policy and it’s been in place for months now. All vehicles are monitored in the garage and they’re examined on entry and exit for physical issues as well as spellwork that isn’t mine or anyone else’s from my team.”
Faine sighed; the female was flat-out insane. “Why don’t you take a shower first? Then you can eat out in the garden and sleep. You can call and bark orders at people and have them brought here while you eat.” She started to argue and he held a hand up. “I’m saying you’re the leader of this team. You will be needed again, as will your magick. You’re depleted right now, you said so yourself. So get back to 100 percent first and then get back out there. You can deal with the car and your people while you handle getting yourself taken care of.”
Gage nodded. “He’s right. Don’t make me go over your head and have The Gennessee overrule you.”
“Molly has to stay in for the rest of the day then. And I need you to call Tosh’s office to be sure he’s all right, as well as any Others who work at the capitol.”
Gage nodded. “We can do that.” He hopped down and headed for the door. “You amazed me today. I’ve seen some amazing magick—after all, I was there watching Meriel and her mother stop the Magister. What you did today ranks up there.”
Helena blushed as he left the room.
“Do you need help showering?” Faine asked.
One of her brows went up. “You offering?”
“Don’t poke at me right now. I’m not all right. My beast is more agitated than the man.”
She paused, he could tell, trying to figure out what to say. “I’m fine, thank you for offering. I can stand long enough to take a shower. But if you would ask the chef to make me something high in protein and green vegetables, I’d appreciate that.”
He sucked in a breath but didn’t stop himself from pressing a kiss to her forehead. When she asked for his help it always did things to his system. “I’ll be listening for you. Just yell if you need help. I mean it.”