he froze mid-motion, his eyes suddenly sharpened. “What have you been doing this afternoon, Maddy?”
Aw, crap. Looked like I’d get to smell that yummy testosterone smell again after all. “I’ve been healing, thanks. Bahlin made a small contribution to me healing the wound and it’s better. See?” I flapped my arm as I had earlier. He stared at me.
“Do you understand what you’ve done? How you’ve potentially tied yourself to him?” he demanded, rising from the chair and approaching the bed.
“Take it down a notch, Tarrek. Why are you so upset?”
“Yes, Tarrek,” Bahlin said, standing from the room’s other chair near the door, “what’s got you so upset, mate?” He looked lethal in his jeans and sneakers. And where Tarrek has stormed toward me, Bahlin moved like a large, lethal predator as he came toward us. Tarrek didn’t give ground.
“You know what you can do by exchanging resources with the Niteclif,” Tarrek said, his voice going deeper than I’d ever heard it.
“Mind yourself, Tarrek. Nothing’s happened. There was no exchange, only a very minor contribution on my part.” Bahlin turned his back on Tarrek and walked back to the chair he’d been sitting in.
“What can happen?” I asked, suddenly worried. Had I done something irrevocable? I sat up in bed, tugging the covers more securely around my hips and finger-combing my hair yet again. “Seriously, what’s going to happen?”
Bahlin scowled at Tarrek and said, “Nothing, love. There’s been no exchange to speak of. It can happen that if a Niteclif and an immortal exchange power that the two become bound.”
“Bound how?” I demanded.
Tarrek sighed and Bahlin addressed him. “Why don’t you go on and explain it to her now that you’ve got her disturbed?”
“I’m sorry, Maddy, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Tarrek pushed his hands into his pants pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Sometimes the two, the supernatural being and the Niteclif, can become bound to each other. The supe either becomes mortal or the Niteclif become immortal. It has happened twice before, with one of each result. But it’s rare, you understand.”
I refused to deal with this right now, no matter how relevant it was to my future. I was so close to unraveling, my mind began to compartmentalize—cope with this, ignore that.
Still wearing Bahlin’s shirt, I swung my legs out of the bed and slid to the floor. “I need some pants and a better shirt. Is there any chance I could get set up?” I asked Tarrek.
“Sure, Maddy. I apologize for not seeing to you earlier. It’s been a trying afternoon.” And just like that, his grief was back.
I padded over to him, barefoot on the marble, which was surprisingly neither cool nor warm, like lukewarm water is neither hot nor cold. I laid my hand on his arm and said, “I’m so sorry, Tarrek. I didn’t mean to cause you or your family any heartache.”
He laid his other hand over mine. His eyes glowed a little and I realized that strong emotion would do that, make them blaze like two gems set into his face. “You did your job, Maddy, and it appears you’ve made your choice. Both were impressive to see, if hard to accept.” With that he swept out of the room, not speaking to Bahlin again.
Tarrek was gone for a while, returning having changed into more formal clothes of his own and carrying a gown for me. It wasn’t what I would have chosen. He brought me a lovely dress that was more appropriate for a Celtic festival than it was for fighting crime. But I didn’t initially complain too loudly. Beggars and choosers and that whole lot.
Tarrek looked reserved yet shy as he handed me the green dress. “Bahlin was allowed to dress you in his dream walk. I’d dress you, even just once, in reality.”
“Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say. He handed me the garment, and it was softer than anything I’d ever touched except the jacket he’d given me. The fabric was fluid like Tencel but even lighter without being see-through. The dress had an empire waist and buttoned down the back, though with luck I’d be able to simply pull it on over my head. The scooped neck would show my cleavage to great advantage but probably leave the fabric tight enough to bounce a quarter off of since it didn’t seem to stretch. The length of the dress left it brushing the tops of my feet when I held it up to me.