Page 25 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

“We will leave this on here for the rest of the day,” he told me. “You can take it off before you go to bed. And I don’t want to hear you complain about the smell, it’s a small price to pay and after a while you won’t even notice it. Thankfully, the stitches will dissolve on their own so we will leave them be. I’ve never used these things on something as extreme as the mark on your face, I’ve never had the opportunity before. I don’t know how well it will work on you.”

I sighed.

The rest of the day did not sound enjoyable. And I was not filled with encouragement at his statement that he’d never used these things on someone else before. Although, he’d sounded confident enough when he’d said it. Like, there was no doubt in his mind that it would do whatever he wanted it to do. I envied him his confidence.

“You guys,” Tyson called loudly from the other room. “You need to get in here and see this. Right now. Hurry. You aren’t going to want to miss this. Holy shit, I’ve got to call Uncle Quint. He is going to freak.”

Well, that sounded promising. If it was going to make Uncle Quint freak, then I wasn’t so sure I needed to hear whatever it was. Iwascertain I should consider running in the other direction like a scaredy cat. I had enough problems, I didn’t need to hear about any more.

Julian nodded his head in the direction of the living room where Tyson had been shouting from.

“Go ahead,” he said in a soft voice. “I’ve got to clean all of this up. Something for you to remember – if it’s got your blood in it, you don’t want to simply leave it lying around. Powerful magic can come from your blood and you don’t want it ending up in the wrong hands. Clean up after yourself. Always.”

Wise advice. I’d take it to heart.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I stood. “For,” I waved my hand up towards my cheek, “everything. Even if it doesn’t work, thanks for taking the time and trying. It means a lot.”

I wasn’t lying when I said that, it did mean a lot that he would put the time and effort into healing me. I had no idea what he put into those jars, the kind of spells he’d used, the energy he’d burned up. All that effort, for me.

I owed him more than a simple thank you. Even if it didn’t work.

He reached out and gently grabbed ahold of my wrist as I moved to walk past him.

“It will work, Ariel.” He growled in a low voice that rumbled with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. “You shouldn’t underestimate me. Ever. I will prove you wrong every single time.”

My face heated. Only partially in embarrassment as his eyes burned brightly into my own. The other part of the heat came from what he’d put on my cheek. It was clearly doing something.

There was something in his eyes, something he was trying to communicate with me without the use of words.

Julian, like Quinton, had a darkness inside of him and he wanted to make sure I was aware of it.

I knew now, I saw it lurking in his eyes. And I wouldn’t forget.

“I won’t underestimate you,” I promised as I gently removed my wrist from his grasp.

He nodded slowly.

“Good,” he growled. “Now go and see what Ty’s yelling about. I’ll be right behind you after I clean this mess up.”

I didn’t want to say it because he was freaking me out just a little bit and it would probably do me some good to get away from him for a few minutes, so I could calm down a little bit. I had to say it even though I didn’t want to.

“I could help you clean this up,” I offered quietly. “If you’d like.”

Why did I feel the need to be polite all of a sudden? I could have kicked my own ass because the last thing I wanted to do was help him clean something up. I hadn’t really wanted to be subjected to this shit in the first place.

His lips tipped up on one side in a small, sad smile.

“Just go, honey,” he said. “I don’t need help with this. Go be with Tyson before he comes in here and yells at the both of us for taking so long.”

“Okay,” I whispered gratefully, happy he let me off the hook so easily.

Then, I turned and practically fled from the dining room. I didn’t even care that I felt his eyes burning into my back until I was out of sight. The heat of his eyes burning into me matched that of the burning on my face.

I wasn’t so sure I was ready for more quality time with Julian any time soon. Not if it involved magic in any way.

I found Tyson in the living room sitting in the middle of the sofa. His elbows rested on his knees. His head was bent forward, cradled in-between his hands. This was not the pose of a happy person. Not that Tyson was usually a happy go lucky person, but he usually didn’t look this distraught.

The television mounted to the wall above the fireplace was on but muted. The screen showed the local news channel. From what I could tell, a man was talking about the upcoming weather forecast.

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