Page 19 of Blood Tribute

He seized the magic her pain had summoned to life, and his Will to survive bent his reborn power to his command. He spun his theramancy deep into her thoughts.

Her memories flared in his mind’s eye, like lightning strikes that overlay the present. Her parents’ faces. A bloodied knife. Then firelight glinting along the oncoming blade in her hand.

She gasped, her thoughts shying from his presence in her mind. Her aim moved an inch.

The dagger plunged into his chest. Light exploded behind his eyelids, and his magic shattered out of his grasp.

Agony coursed through his veins. He couldn’t see or hear. Couldn’t breathe.

Goddess, let the pain end.

No. No, I am not ready to die.

He didn’t know how long it was before his vision cleared. He could still see the canopy of Nora’s bed over him. Her heart beat nearby. And in his chest, his own heart labored on.

He stared at the dagger protruding from his chest. He recognized the gold hilt encrusted with topaz. He had seen it in his brother’s memories as Rahim’s life had slipped away. This weapon had sent Rahim retreating to Orthros, unable to healhimself, barely able to step. By the time he had made it home, it had been too late.

Dav was on borrowed time. If only he had managed to heal Nora’s mind before now. He had been trying all night, struggling to remaster his power. Why had his mind healing chosen the hour of his death to come to her aid?

Dav would not survive this night. But there was still time to make his and Rahim’s deaths mean something. Dav could still save Nora.

She huddled on the foot of the bed, her face hidden by the curtain of her hair. A streak of blood soaked through her sleeve. “The dagger was supposed to protect me from your magic.”

He coaxed some air into his lungs. “It would, if I were a mind mage. But I’m a mind healer.”

As he spoke, he eased his magic deeper. She clutched her head. She didn’t even know she had been harmed. Her tormentor had robbed her of the power to choose healing. Dav would restore her Will to her.

“Nora, look at me.”

She raised her head, her eyes wide. “What are you doing to me?”

“I’ll heal the injury inside your mind that has warped your memories, so you’ll understand what really happened the night your parents died.”

“Why should I believe anything you say?”

Her reality was altering before her eyes. What evidence could he possibly give her when she didn’t know who to believe? Through his pain, the words of a greater Hesperine than he came to mind, and he gave Nora the wisdom of Queen Soteira. “‘Questioning is not a betrayal of the truth. It is the only way to prove your truth to yourself. To be a heretic is to question everything.’”

“I’m not a heretic!”

“Look into your memories and tell me if you are not.”

The scars in her mind twisted Dav’s magic into unnatural shapes. Her anguish became his own. There was too much for him to heal before he died. He could not undo a lifetime of abuse in one night. But he could set her on the path toward healing.

“Does it hurt?” he asked her.

“N-no,” she gasped.

A smile came to his face. “How does it feel to have me this close?”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “Safe.”

He traced farther along the scars. All their pathways led to the crisis in the center of her mind. As he neared her misshapen memories, tears slipped down her cheeks.

He flexed his hand. “Come here, Nora.”

She shook her head.

He touched the deep wound with the first delicate thread of theramancy. She moaned.

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