They didn’t like it, but they gave in eventually and allowed themselves to be shepherded out. Laryn was overseeing the temporary removal of the other patients—who seemed disappointed to be missing the show—and Asa beckoned to Gabriel and her from a short distance away.

“I’ll remain, Lord Phel,” he said, avoiding Nic’s eye, “so I can be ready to assist in case of trouble. Laryn, too,” he added as an afterthought, finally sliding a glance Nic’s way. “I suggest that Lady Phel remain also, in case you have need of her.”

“Not if it’s dangerous,” Gabriel replied firmly. “Nic’s safety is a priority.”

“It’s dangerous for you,” Nic retorted. “If I can mitigate that in any way, then I will. I’m staying,” she insisted, staring Gabriel down when he went to argue. He held her gaze for a long, fraught moment, wizard-black eyes glittering, and she knew he was considering exerting his power over her, to compel her to obey.

But even to protect her, he wouldn’t do it. Instead he laid a hand on her cheek, magic sizzling silver in it. “Remember what I said about destroying the world,” he told her.

“That no one person is worth that,” she retorted with a saucy smile. “Check.”

He scowled at her, running a thumb over her lower lip before turning to Asa, who watched them thoughtfully. “What do I need to do?”

He was frankly nervous. Nervous as he hadn’t been about working any kind of wizardry, saving some of the experimentation with Nic. Even with her, and being concerned about hurting her, he’d been swept up in the powerful erotic connection between them, forgetting to think and worry after a while—as Nic was always urging him to do. Follow your wizard’s intuition, her voice whispered in his mind.

Funny that. When he’d been only a few years younger, less experienced, and considerably more foolish, he’d been cavalier, even reckless, about trying out various magics. Of course, he’d also managed to accidentally turn most of his hair silver in his bumbling. Ironically, however, now that he’d learned so much, first on his own, then from Nic and from Asa, and had refined his control and technique by leaps and bounds, he was far more afraid of the consequences than he’d ever been. Apparently experience made you less confident in your expertise.

“What do I do?” he asked Asa, smoothing his hand over Selly’s brow. She gazed at him with bleary, trusting amber eyes, looking fragile and so very young with her face pale and her black hair spilling over the pillow. A montage of scenes flashed through his mind of Selly at various ages. All tangled black hair and big brown eyes in a tiny face as she waded on stick-thin legs in the pond, catching frogs with him. Those same amber eyes filling with tears at some frustration, then lighting with laughter when he agreed to swing her through the air by one hand and one foot, making her fly like the bird she’d always wanted to be. Perhaps that could be a happy outcome—if she regained her health and sanity, Selly could perhaps have an alternate form that would let her truly fly.