Chapter 164: Already

[Because Daphne Spinster is already bonded to you.]

I stopped healing her.

"Alash."

I looked down. Daphne was looking at my hand, where the green light had gone out.

"Right," I said, and started again.

She kept staring at me. "What?"

"You stopped."

"I noticed."

"You were staring."

"I noticed that too."

Her eyes narrowed, which was fair.

’System.’

[Yes.]

’Through Healing Bond?’

[No.]

’Did I activate Healing Bond?’

[No.]

’Healing Path.’

[5 / 7.]

I stared at Daphne. She stared back.

’Cooldown.’

[Available.]

’So I didn’t use it.’

[Correct.]

’And the Path didn’t move.’

[Correct.]

’But she’s bonded.’

[Yes.]

’How?’

The System didn’t answer.

’System.’

[I don’t know.]

Before I could decide what to do with that, Sorel stepped in front of me. "Sit."

"Daphne needs..."

"Both of you."

"I’m healing her."

"And you’re shaking."

I looked at my hand. It was, slightly. I stopped looking at it. "That seems unrelated."

"Sit."

Daphne tried to step away from me, and her knees disagreed at once, and I caught her again. She went very still. Nobody said anything. Daphne looked slowly around the courtyard.

"Nobody saw that."

James, standing six steps away with one hand pressed against his chest, looked somewhere else. Elizabeth was suddenly very interested in one of the carts. Sophie had pressed her lips together. Renn didn’t have time to care.

"Everyone saw that," I said.

Daphne looked at me. "Later."

That was apparently threatening enough. I stopped arguing.

Sorel pointed at several overturned crates against the wall. Daphne sat on one. I was about to take another when I remembered Dream Haven, and the situation improved at once. I took it out of my storage ring, let it expand, and sat down on it. Sorel stared at me.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Daphne looked at Dream Haven, then at her crate, then back at Dream Haven.

"No," I said.

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were going to."

Everyone was becoming irritatingly good at that.

***

The courtyard changed very quickly once nobody was trying to kill anyone. Academy guards collected weapons. Merrow’s men were sorted into two groups: those who had been in the north courtyard, and those who claimed to know nothing. The second group was much larger. I found that suspicious, and so, apparently, did Renn.

"Nobody leaves the estate," he said. "Nobody enters the north wing without an Academy guard. The relay room is sealed until I have two of my people inside it."

Merrow turned toward him. "You cannot seize my relay."

Renn didn’t even look at him. "Watch me."

I liked Renn.

Two guards began walking Merrow toward the central house. After three steps he stopped. "Your Highness."

Elizabeth looked at him.

"This will become a Crown matter," he said. "You understand what that means."

"Yes."

"My family has served..."

"Don’t."

He stopped. Elizabeth’s voice wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be.

"Don’t tell me about your family while those children are still standing in your courtyard."

Merrow looked toward the freed beastkin. Both children were beside the older woman, and one of them had wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist. Merrow looked away first.

"Take him," said Renn, and they did.

The Tiger traitor came next. It took four Academy guards to get him out of the broken section of courtyard. Daphne had done impressive things to the stone, and less impressive things to the courtyard, and I suspected Merrow would eventually complain about the flooring, assuming he was allowed to complain about flooring from a cell. The traitor’s leg dragged when they pulled him free. Sorel had already looked at it and decided he wasn’t dying, which was all the treatment he was going to get until everyone else had been seen.

He looked toward the cat beastkin as they took him past. The older woman didn’t look at him, and that seemed to bother him more than hatred would have. Then his eyes found Daphne. She was sitting very straight on her crate, and her wrists were still trembling. He smiled at her.

"You should learn where your limit is."

Daphne looked at him. "I know where it is."

The smile went away, and they took him inside. One of his warriors was carried after him, unconscious, and the other three walked under guard.

Five Tigers and thirteen cat beastkin: eighteen. The kitchens had been telling the truth the whole time. They had only lied about whom they were feeding.

***

The escort healer arrived from the western side of the estate with his bag and the expression of a man nobody had explained anything to. He looked at the courtyard, then at the freed prisoners, then at me.

"How many?"

"Thirteen."

"Injuries?"

I listed them: an injured rib, an ankle, the wound under one man’s collar, a forearm cut, a lot of bruising, a child who’d had a nosebleed, and possibly more under the collars that I hadn’t been able to see.

He held up a hand. "You assessed all of them?"

"Most of them."

Sorel looked at me.

"I didn’t treat all of them," I said.

"How many?"

"Some."

"Alash."

"Enough for them to move."

The healer looked at Sorel, and Sorel looked tired. "Take the prisoners."

He nodded. The older woman didn’t.

"Where?"

"Somewhere warm," said the healer.

"Where?"

There is a difference between asking a question and refusing to move until it has been answered. The healer understood it, and so did Elizabeth.

"The eastern guest rooms," Elizabeth said, and everyone looked at her. "Not Merrow’s infirmary. Not the servants’ quarters. The east rooms."

Renn frowned. "Those are occupied."

"By whom?"

"Merrow’s visiting retainers."

Elizabeth looked toward the Academy guards. "They aren’t visiting anymore."

Renn thought about that, and nodded. "The east rooms."

The older woman looked at Elizabeth. "You are the princess."

It wasn’t a question. Elizabeth’s expression shifted slightly. "Yes."

The woman’s eyes moved over her clothes and her face, and then over the Academy guards. "His princess?"

Elizabeth knew whom she meant. "The Crown’s," she said. "Not his."

The woman watched her a moment longer, and then nodded. "The east rooms."

They began to move. One of the children looked back at the carts, then at the cellar doors, and then hurried after the older woman. I watched until all thirteen had gone inside, and only then realized Sorel was looking at me again.

"What?"

"Your turn."

"I’m sitting."

"For an examination."

"That sounds worse."

"It is."

***

James tried to leave. He made it three steps.

"Vellaroux."

He stopped. Sorel hadn’t raised her voice; she had been learning from Renn. James turned around slowly.

"What?"

"Sit."

"I’m fine."

I looked at him, and he looked at me, and neither of us said anything. Sorel noticed.

"Did you use Spatial?"

James was quiet, which was an answer in itself.

"Once," he said.

Sorel’s face went still. "The Headmaster restricted your spatial work because your channels were damaged."

"I know."

"And you’re still pressing a hand to your chest after using it."

James didn’t answer. Then he folded his arms. "The guard was running toward the courtyard."

"That changes why you did it. It doesn’t change what it does to your channels."

"He would have raised the alarm."

"He did raise the alarm."

"Later."

Sorel looked at him, and James looked back, and then his shoulders dropped slightly.

"I know," he said, and it sounded different.

Sorel pointed at the crate beside Daphne. "Sit."

James sat, immediately. I enjoyed that more than I should have, and he saw my face.

"Don’t."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were going to."

That had become the official sentence of the evening.

The escort healer came back out, and Sorel pointed at James. "Channels." Then at me. "Chest." Then at Daphne. "Overextension."

The healer looked at the three of us. "What happened?"

James looked at me. I looked at Daphne. Daphne looked at the broken courtyard, and the healer followed her eyes.

"I don’t want to know."

"Correct," said Sorel.

***

My chest was not torn, which was good news. It only felt as though several people had tried to pull my ribs apart from the inside, which, considering the evening, was nearly accurate.

"Strained," said the healer.

"That sounds manageable."

"It is, if you don’t use Barrier again tonight."

I looked toward the estate. "Define tonight."

Sorel looked at me.

"I understand," I said.

The healer checked my breathing. "Deep breath."

I took one. It hurt, not terribly, but enough to be annoying.

"Again."

"Did the first one not count?"

"Again."

He and Sorel were going to get along.

Daphne was next. She objected less, which I considered unfair. The healer took her wrists carefully.

"Pain?"

"Yes."

"Hands?"

"Better."

"Head?"

A pause. "Yes."

"How bad?"

"Less than before."

He looked at her pupils, and then at Sorel. "Mana overextension."

"I know," said Daphne.

"Then why..."

"Don’t," said Sorel, and the healer stopped, which was good advice.

He worked ordinary restorative magic into her forearms, and Daphne watched without speaking, and so did I. Nothing happened inside me. No warmth in my core, no pull, no sudden recovery for her. Just Daphne being treated by someone else. That should have made me feel better. It didn’t.

’Does she have Healing Bond’s recovery effect?’

[No.]

’Did its cooldown start?’

[No.]

’Did Healing Path change?’

[No.]

We had covered that already. I asked again anyway.

’Five out of seven.’

[Correct.]

’Then whatever this is, it isn’t Healing Bond.’

[Correct.]

’Does it count for the Main Quest?’

The System paused, briefly.

[Yes.]

That was worse.

I looked at Daphne, and she noticed at once. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Again."

"What?"

"You keep doing that. Looking."

I considered several lies. She waited.

"I’m checking you’re still upright," I said.

Daphne looked down at the crate, and then at me. "I’m sitting."

"Exactly."

James made a noise beside us.

"What?" I said.

"Nothing."

I gave up on everyone.