When Adam had touched the elium at the house in Crocus Hill, he'd noticed that it was wildly off balance with her normal power. He couldn't do more than brush the elium, but he might be able to regulate Claire's natural magick into alignment with it. That might take away the cause of her sickness and allow her to work with the demon magick.

Theoretically, anyway.

"Okay, Claire, I'm going in."

Her body stiffened and her hands jerked on his almost imperceptibly.

He stroked his thumb across her palm and endeavored to make his voice soothing. "Hey, baby, it's all right. Just take it easy."

She drew a breath and relaxed a little.

"There you go. Now close your eyes and let me in."

Her eyes drifted shut and he drew a tendril of power from the center of his chest. It was easier to find a way into her this time than it had been before. Somehow, someway, she was more open to him now.

Adam found the seat of her magick and was surprised—for the second time—at its strength and vitality. Claire had been a powerful earth witch before Rue had tinkered with her. Now she was the bionic woman of magick. He found the core of that strength and enveloped it with his own power, steadying it.

She tapped the elium, very lightly. The tap resonated outward like a tuning fork, vibrating against his power through the tendrils the elium had wrapped around Claire's seat. He held on tight to her power and felt her magick cringe at the resonating vibration of the elium down the length of those tendrils.

The level of her magick was so out of balance with the elium that it made it back away, sensing a threat within her. That was his theory, anyway.

Using his fire magick, he nudged her seat, forcing her power to swell and defend itself. It worked. His natural healing instincts coming to the fore, every time Claire touched the elium, he adjusted her power using various tricky methods.

Her hands tightened on his. Adam opened his eyes and saw that she was grimacing. "Claire?"

"You're helping, Adam. You are. Normally, I would be passed out by now. But—" She drew a shaky breath. Her face was pale and her forehead glinted with a fine sheen of perspiration.

Panic rose in his throat. "Stop, Claire. Release any hold you have on the elium right now."

"I can't." She shook her head. "I need to learn how to control it."

"Yeah, but not at this high a price. It's making you sick."

She drew another deep breath and her body trembled. He couldn't let her power free of the cradle he was holding it in until she'd completely backed away from the elium. "It feels like it's sucking my life away."

"Let it go." He growled the words. "Wow, Claire."