Page 81 of Bright Soul

I touched the mark of protection on my wrist, drawing breath to say Phaeron’s name when I noticed motion on Lucas’s hospital gown. “Isn’t that your shoulder mouse?” I asked. The cute little albino mouse was climbing up to perch on Lucas’s shoulder instead.

“My brother’s familiar, it turns out,” he chuckled.

“Wow, that’s—” I jumped at the sudden pressure of hands on my waist.

Phaeron’s fingers seemed to form first, but it was unmistakably his presence behind me and his breath in my hair. “You called?” he asked. I felt a rush of warmth between my thighs from his smooth voice suddenly washing over my ear.

“You know, on second thought, wearing a bell won’t save our girl from getting jump scared by you, Big P,” Ben said casually. “Where’d you go?”

“Here and there,” Phaeron answered, and the girl Wren interviewed suddenly pointed at him.

“It was him! He found me last night!”

The dimensional’s presence behind me vanished the moment Wren started to turn her phone toward us. I waved awkwardly, as did Ben, and a moment later, Lucas too. Geo gazed stoically at the lens.

“Anyway,” Wren said, rolling her eyes before focusing the camera on the girl again.

“Do you see her expression? In the dictionary under ‘crestfallen,’” Ben quipped in a whisper. He started to wheel Lucas’s chair toward the hallway, and Geo followed.

The moment we turned a corner, Phaeron reformed a pace behind us. “She was about to say where I’d saved her from. I’ve got to keep some secrets.”

Ben raised a hand, wiggling his fingers. “Air of mystique.”

I snuck a glance over my shoulder. Yeah, he hadn’t slept again. But he’d washed the white residue off his skin and had found a black sweater and dark wash jeans that he looked comfortable in. He was relaxed, laugh lines creasing the skin around his yellow eyes. “Something of the sort,” he agreed.

Once the five of us were in Lucas’s room and the door was closed behind us, Ben turned the wheelchair toward Phaeron. “I was hoping you could take a look at his soul. Blood runes aren’t working to help him heal.”

“One should not expect another to walk through hell unscathed, Little B,” Phaeron answered but crouched down to be on eye level with Lucas. The young man seemed to be mustering himself to speak while Phaeron tilted his head, inspecting his soul closely.

Ben edged closer to me and took my hand when I reached for him. Our anam cara marks brushed, setting of a spark of awareness, and I squeezed his palm. I missed him. Now thatI’d had a night with Geo, I craved two more, and they hadBenandPhaeronwritten on them. My body hummed for more of Ben now that he’d shed the manacles of guilt over his brother’s condition.

“Did you know there’s a white streak in your…darkness?” Lucas’s weak voice drew my attention back to him. He gestured vaguely in a circle.

Phaeron’s pupils narrowed to slits. “You can see my soul,” he remarked.

A white streak? How alarming. He met my gaze over Lucas’s shoulder, eyes shining with pain for an unguarded moment before he schooled his expression. “Endaeron repaired the damage he caused me with the last bit of himself. I assure you, I am whole,” he said.

Wow. When Braza reassured me that Phaeron was safe, she hadn’t mentioned this. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it was for him.

Phaeron crooked his finger at me, gesturing for me to squat next to him. “What do you see of her soul?”

Lucas blinked, his gaze going unfocused, before he flinched away from me. “Like…looking into the sun,” he mumbled.

Phaeron smiled wide enough to show the edge of his fangs. “Perhaps we shouldn’t blind the boy.”

I took the hint and returned to Ben’s side, leaning against him companionably.

“Well, I admit that this is unique. No human has seen my soul with their own magic,” the dimensional continued. “While your soul, Lucas, is still taking a new shape after what you’ve experienced. It’s said that extreme trauma can cause changes to affinity. What I see is that you’ve been altered by a minion of Myuna without becoming corrupted. Time will tell if you’ll be able to find a way to draw on soul energy, as I suspect that is your new affinity.”

Lucas breathed raggedly, looking moments from a panic attack. “I don’t want to eat souls,” he said between gulps of air.

Phaeron laid his hand over Lucas’s, pitching his voice to soothe. “No one’s eating souls here. Perhaps you will find a ghost willing to share if you help them move on to the afterlife, or no consistent source shows up. Witches channel magic through common origins that can be found most anywhere. You’ve simply been altered to draw upon a much more uncommon supply of magic.”

“Well, fuck,” Ben muttered.

“And when you’re feeling stronger, I will teach you what I know of souls. I already have a few ideas of what you might be able to do. You’re not alone, okay?” Phaeron continued, patting his hand when he earned a slow nod.

“You’re in good hands,” Geo said. I smiled to myself at the unexpected praise from him.

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