Page 43 of Familiar of the Witch

‘No!’ I said forcefully, wincing at the sound of my voice. ‘No,’ I repeated, this time in a whisper. ‘I’ll be fine.’

‘You won’t be,’ he said firmly. ‘I know you’re in pain.’ He paused. ‘I’m your familiar. I can send you energy like I did after the incident with Becky. Can I help with this? Will you let me take your pain? I tried while you were out, but I barely managed to touch the surface.’

I licked my parched lips, keeping my eyes closed as I debated. He could, but did I want him to? Of the two of us, I knew who I’d rather be incapacitated. ‘ I get migraines occasionally – I have some migraine medication in my bedside drawer.The meds might make me a bit woozy but they’ll help. Get me paracetamol and ibuprofen, too.’

I still had my eyes tightly closed but I could hear the frown in his voice as he said, ‘Should you take those together?’

‘I’m a healer witch,’ I sassed. ‘I know about potion and drug interactions. That combination is fine. Give them to me. Now. Please.’ I managed not to whimper the last word.

I heard him rooting around in the bedside drawer and deduced I was lying on my bed. Call me Sherlock Holmes. A moment later he pressed a cup to my lips. I took a sip of the water and held out my hand for pills. He passed me a few of them and I knocked them back. ‘Can you carry me to the car?’ I suggested. ‘I’ll be fine after these meds kick in.’

He didn’t answer but his hands slid under my skirt and he cradled me gently to his chest. I’m not a skinny rake of a woman – I have meat on my bones – so it felt both surprising and thrilling to realise that he could carry me so effortlessly.

We descended the stairs and I felt the air around me cool as we entered the underground car park. Oscar was behind the wheel of the car. Bastion buckled me in butthen wrapped his arms around me. I winced when the engine caught.

I dozed lightly as we drove; the pain was less intrusive when my eyes eventually peeled open, but it was still there. Goddess, it was really there. Bastion looked concerned. ‘Oscar says I can help, so I’m going to help.’ His tone brooked no argument. He wasn’t asking for permission.

I nodded. ‘A little, yes. Don’t take it all. Better that both of us deal with a bit of a headache rather than having one of us totally incapacitated.’

I felt his relief and realised that he’d been expecting a fight. My head was pounding, even with all of the medicine coursing through my veins, and I was all out of arguments. I just wanted it not to hurt. I have many good attributes, but fortitude in the face of overwhelming pain isn’t one of them. I let out a whimper that I couldn’t stop.

Bastion drew a breath and I felt him tug on the bond between us. It felt weird, like skin being tugged under local anaesthetic. The pain started to fade.

‘Enough.’ I pulled back, physically and metaphorically. ‘That’s enough. I’m okay now, I can cope with this.’ I could; I’d completed potions with full-blown focal migraines, blinking away shimmering lights and battling holes in my vision. This had been far worse than anymigraine I’d experienced, but now it was down to pre-migraine pain levels I could, and would, cope.

I reached for the bond between us and felt that Bastion was in more pain than I was. He’d taken the lion’s share of the agony. I hated that and loved him for it in equal measure. Crud. Ilikedhim for it – it waskind. That was all.

‘Thanks,’ I murmured, even though it was still hard for me to acknowledge. ‘You took too much, but thanks.’

I felt him shift aside the pain as if he could just ignore it. I had no doubt he’d had a lifetime of ignoring debilitating wounds; this was just a headache to him, a bad one but hardly life-threatening. With the pain split between the two of us, it was far more manageable than the agony I’d had to contend with alone. There was real truth in the saying that a burden shared was a burden halved.

He kissed my lips gently. ‘Let’s go, Bambi. We have a High Priestess to meet and a black auction to get to.’

Ugh. Don’t remind me.

Chapter 35

I had been completely out of it, so it took me a moment to realise that we were walking into Melva’s office. Nell was sitting at her desk, eyes red-rimmed and raw. She said nothing as I walked in: there was no quip, no barb, and I was surprised to realise that I missed it. She just picked up the phone and spoke quietly into it. ‘Your 12pm is here.’ A beat of silence. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ She hung up the phone and looked up. ‘You can go in.’

Oscar led the way and Bastion pulled up the rear. As I walked past Nell, I laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. It isn’t often that we touch Other realmers – especially not the Seers – because if they choose to they can read you, your future and your hopes. It is an intimate thing to touch a Seer, something reserved for friends. Nell and I weren’t that, but we weren’t adversaries. Not any more.

Nell looked up at me and her eyes suddenly filled. She laid her hand on top of mine and gave it a light squeeze back. As her hand dropped away I let mine fall too. I didn’t have any words to offer her, no empty platitudes to utter. Nothing would ease the loss of her boss and friend whom she’d served faithfully for more than a decade.

Melva had been kind, warm and universally liked. A necromancer had made a vampyr slide into her safe haven and murder her and now here I was, strolling into the same safe haven once more. This time it didn’t feel so safe and I bet Nell felt the same.

I lifted my chin and walked in. I recognised the woman behind the desk, of course: I tried to know all the movers and shakers. Liyana had been full of promise for a while, but her hard edges had seen her relegated to the political sidelines. Now, apparently, people wanted hard edges; the Seers wanted to make it clear they weren’t soft and they weren’t kind. There was neither softness nor kindness in Liyana’s gaze as she looked at me, her mouth a grim line.

Bastion had murmured to me before we walked in that Liyana had been made High Priestess earlier that day. Unlike the Coven Council, which dragged out every decision until it had been debated at length, the Seers were decisive. I guess knowing the future really helped with that.

‘High Priestess Liyana, it is my honour to meet with you this day.’ I touched my hand to my heart and bowed.

‘It is indeed your honour,’ she replied, studying me like a spider gazing at a fly. I was a nuisance, one to be eradicated.

My eyes narrowed. I was neither of those things, and if she thought she was a spider then she would soon learn that I was a scorpion. I ate spiders for breakfast. ‘I have come to ask a boon,’ I soldiered on.

‘Bold of you, given that the last Seer you spoke to died whilst in your care.’

‘Melva was not in my care.’ I spoke carefully even as my temper spiked. ‘Though I did go to great lengths to try and save her.’

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