tear the spell from him, I’ll come with you. If you don’t, then I won’t, and if you do him any harm, I’ll kill you.”
Sometimes, a warning look wasn’t enough. This was one of those times.
Phanes’s arrogant half smile returned. “You must love him very much. How unfortunate. I’m much more powerful, and much handsomer, too.”
His ego wouldn’t quit, would it? “Ian endured every one of the injuries you see to save me. He even died for me once. Can you do better than that?”
“No,” he said, and then paused as if surprised by his admission.
Interesting. “You don’t care for anyone enough to die for them, do you?”
His arrogant smile remained, but for the briefest moment, something flashed in his gaze. It vanished before I could decipher it, but its presence was telling. That question had made him feel something he hadn’t wanted me to see. Under other circumstances, I’d wonder what. Now, I didn’t care. I only wanted him to heal Ian, or get out.
Phanes gave Ian’s injuries another calculating glance. Then, he moved closer.
I tensed but forced myself not to stop him. Still, it took all my effort to let a dangerous creature?—lesser deity?—something else?—near the man I loved. By the time Phanes ran a hand over Ian’s vastly shrunken torso, my cartilage was cracking from how tightly my muscles were clenched.
What if I’d made a terrible mistake? What if Phanes’s apathy over our engagement was a ruse, and he was about to murder Ian—?
Phanes suddenly grabbed Ian so hard, I heard countless bones break. I lunged at Phanes, but he swatted me away with both powerful wings. I smacked against the bedroom wall, then immediately lunged at Phanes again. I could barely see him because my otherworldly power had darkened my vision, but I could feel him, and only Ian’s nearness kept me from opening a chute to the netherworld right beneath Phanes’s feet.
“Get away from him,” I snarled.
Phanes let go of Ian to grab me in mid-lunge. It took both his arms and all the strength from his wings to hold me.
“Veritas, stop. Look! The spell is now gone!”
Ian groaned. The sound stopped me in mid-grapple. I hadn’t heard any part of Ian’s voice for over a week.
I let go of Phanes to stare at Ian.
Muscles and sinews formed on him, filling out his skeletal arms, the awful caverns in his sides, and his formerly shrunken torso before racing to his legs and swelling them with healthy flesh, too. In the time it took me to suck in a choked breath, Ian’s body had returned to its normal, well-muscled state, complete with his pearlescent skin and his sunset-hued hair.
I tensed, waiting for it to backfire, and his body to return to that awful, partially skeletized state. Several seconds ticked by. Ian still looked whole and healthy. Silver began zooming around the room while letting out excited yips.
Then, Ian groaned, and sat up.
I fought a sob as I flung myself next to him on the bed.
“Ian? Ian! Can you hear me?”
His eyes cracked open, their vivid turquoise shade even brighter than I remembered. Or maybe it only seemed that way because it felt like an eternity since I’d seen his eyes.
“’Course I can hear you,” he murmured. “You’re shouting.”
I tried to say something else, but it came out as half laugh, half sob. He was healed, gods, fully healed and awake! If I died now, I’d die happy.
His eyes opened all the way, though he still looked a little drowsy, as if his comalike state had left him sluggish. Then his fingers brushed my cheek, and his brows drew together.
“Why are you crying? And who’s the wanker with the wings?”
Phanes muttered something in a language I didn’t recognize. Then he returned to speaking in an ancient dialect of Greek.
“I’ve held up my end of our agreement, Veritas.”
Yes, he had. Ian was healed, awake, and the air around him was starting to crackle with energy as his power regenerated, too. I was so relieved, I started to tremble.
I allowed myself another moment to stare at Ian while feeling his hand on my cheek. Such a little thing, yet the emotions it generated couldn’t be measured.
I couldn’t leave him now! Not yet!
But a promise was a promise. Besides, I couldn’t risk Phanes taking back this incredible healing if I reneged on my part of our agreement. Nothing was worth that, not even the pain it caused me to pull away.
Ian sat up straighter. “You smell upset. What’s wrong?”
“Veritas,” Phanes