Tatterdemalion

with the need to go and soothe Dane, to protect him. Stop hurting him. Ezqel’s voice rose, every word like a hammer on an anvil, shaping what lay there. The light swelled again and Lindsay turned away even as he

saw something thrashing in the light that cast shadows like wings.

Half-blind, his head ringing with Ezqel’s magic and Dane’s screaming, Lindsay slunk back down the

hall toward the pool. He was shaking when he got there and he sank slowly onto a worn stone in the

shadows. The wall of the cave was rough and wet against his cheek, like everything was crying. He wiped

his face with the sleeve of his robe, then took a deep breath.

Dane would be fine, Lindsay told himself. It was time to stop falling apart. Taking another breath, he

pushed himself to his feet. He knelt at the edge of the pool and washed his face with fresh, clean water until he was sure he wasn’t crying anymore. When he raised his head, the light at the end of the hall was gone.

No one was coming for him, but… Lindsay got up and tugged the robe around him. It was his

business too. Dane was his business. Everyone knew that, even Ezqel. Dane wouldn’t have been healed,

Lindsay told himself, if Lindsay hadn’t talked him into it. He hoped it had been the right thing.

“There you are,” Taniel said brightly as Lindsay, steeling himself for admonishment, stepped into the

laboratory. Taniel was coming toward him at his usual hurried scurry. Ezqel and Izia were talking, normal

tones instead of the strange rhythm of incantation. There was another voice with theirs, smoother than

Dane’s, warm and low.

“Is that Dane?” Lindsay asked softly. “Are they finished? Can I come back in?”

Dane was sitting up on the table, arguing with Ezqel while Izia draped his robe over his shoulders—

and it must have been Dane because no one else seemed to argue with the fae. It wasn’t quite Dane, though,

even if Lindsay couldn’t see his face from this angle. The set of his shoulders was different, his hair wasn’t quite the same, and his voice, when it lifted to tell Ezqel in no uncertain terms to get the hell out of his way, was definitely not the same. Ezqel backed off so he could stand. He was still so very tall.

“You can, yes.” Taniel stepped out of the way. “I was just coming to get you.”

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Lindsay padded in, more hesitant now that he’d been given permission. He wanted to see Dane, to

make sure he was all right, but he didn’t want to interrupt, either. Dane looked so different. It made Lindsay realize how much his magic being broken must have hurt him. That idea made Lindsay’s feet move faster,

to get him closer to Dane, close enough to comfort.

“That was a very tightly woven spell. I suspect that I could not have removed it for you before,” Ezqel

was saying. “Not while leaving you alive.” He seemed pleased with himself. The demon heart in his hands

glittered like it was made of stone. The metal extensions from it were blackened and corroded. It certainly hadn’t looked like that after Lindsay, what little Lindsay remembered of it.

“You say that now.” Dane didn’t sound like he believed a word of it. He pulled the robe on with a few

angry moves and shook his hair back. “Where’s…”

Lindsay came closer. So many of Dane’s individual features were the same: the strong nose and high

cheekbones, the soft lips, the same dark eyes and long hair. His skin was still golden, but lighter, and

Lindsay could see that Dane’s chest was no longer furred like it had been. So many of the same features,

but they seemed put together differently. He was gorgeous, with a beauty that rivaled Ezqel’s. Surpassed it, Lindsay thought. Dane was made of so many good things; his appearance was only a small part of it all.

“Not ru

smiled, only beautiful teeth. Slightly pointed, beautiful teeth.

“Not yet.” Lindsay ducked his head, smiling, reassured by Dane’s teasing. “Thought I might wait for

you, first.”

“You’re fine, and I’m…” Dane pulled up a sleeve to show that his skin was covered in sticky black

markings, “…dirty. Go on.”

“Then go get clean. The water feels good. I can wait.” Lindsay shook his head to show that his own

hair was still wet. He didn’t want to “go on”, not unless he had to. He’d stay back here, but he still wanted to see, to get used to the way Dane looked now. Besides, he’d always liked watching Dane.

“I will when I’m ready. You need to eat. I’ll come find you at the house.” Dane didn’t look like he

was going to change his mind. “I’m sure Taniel will take you back.”

As if on cue, Taniel was at Lindsay’s side. “You can practice your magic,” Taniel said brightly.

“Come on.” He put a hand on Lindsay’s arm and Lindsay gave in, letting himself be led.

Maybe Dane was different. Dane had said that he couldn’t remember who that man was, the man he’d

been when he was whole. Maybe he didn’t remember the man he’d been when he was broken, or what had

mattered to him moments before. It wasn’t as though Lindsay hadn’t been warned. Fu

stopped anything from hurting.

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Chapter Twelve

Dane watched Lindsay go, saw the uncertainty written in his slim shoulders. If he didn’t have

confidence yet, Dane ru

When Lindsay’s smell and the sound of his breathing were long gone from Dane’s senses, Dane

followed the path to the pool, without a word to the others. He didn’t owe them anything. Leaving his robe

behind on the rocks, he plunged into the icy water. Magic ran through here, pure magic from the earth, and

Dane could feel it washing him clean beneath his skin. He swam as deep as he could, reveling in his new

body…his old body. As he broke the surface, he could sense that Ezqel was waiting for him, alone.

“If you’re waiting for me to thank you, it’ll be a long time.” Dane pulled himself out of the pool next

to where Ezqel was standing. They were of a height now, more similar than ever. Dane shook off the

familiarity even as he looked Ezqel in the eye.

“No. But there’s work to be done.” Ezqel held out the robe Dane had discarded. It smelled freshly

washed, so Dane pulled it on. “My forest is full of vermin.”

“Blame Cyrus.” Dane pulled the robe closed and belted it as he turned away. He should go talk

Lindsay into trying his magic out. He could let Lindsay use it on him again, maybe that would help.

Couldn’t trust little Taniel to talk anyone into anything.

“I never knew you to turn down the hunt,” Ezqel said softly, speaking to Dane’s animal ears. “Maybe

I got something wrong with those spells.”

Hunting. Hunting in Ezqel’s forest, even by Ezqel’s permission, was never done. Ezqel never gave

permission. Once, though, on a green plain long-since swallowed up by a shifting, hungry desert, they’d

hunted together. The sun had been a white coin on a bleached-bone sky when they’d set out, the moon a

silver sickle harvesting stars when they’d been sated.

“Here?”

“Are we anywhere else?”

Dane wrung his hair out, water spattering on the stones at his feet, while he pretended to think about

the offer. In his bones, he had already accepted. Now he had to consider the consequences. “Is Jonas with

them?”

Tatterdemalion

“Not this time. They have other dogs, though. U