Kieran knelt by my side, his face pale.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and the sentiment was genuine.

“That’s an odd question, given that you just smashed me with godly magic.”

His gaze raked down my body, but it wasn’t sexual. He was checking me over. “I apologize. It was a defensive reaction to your magic. I didn’t mean to strike that hard.”

My brain tried to process what he’d said, but it felt like he’d peeled back my scalp and stuffed my cranium with cotton candy. I couldn’t focus just yet.

Kieran’s arms came out, and I knew one moment of panic before they snaked under my body and he lifted me, holding me tightly to his chest.

“Please don’t crush me. I’ve had a bad day.”

“I’m not going to crush you,” he said before depositing me back into my chair.

He pulled his seat closer, right in front of mine, definitely within striking range of my legs. He settled slowly onto it.

“I don’t want to control you, Alexis,” he said, his voice intimate, just for me. “I don’t want to force your secrets out of you. I want to coax them out, one by one, in long, sweaty sessions that last all night.” Passion dripped from each syllable, and the effect was like vibrating panties. I barely kept from moaning. “But you’ve put me in a tough situation. You’ve become a talking point out there. They are scratching their heads and looking up your various magical traits. And while the magic tied to seeing spirits is a known quantity, your ability to suppress your magic, and run circles around experienced interrogators, doesn’t fit the profile. Your power is clearly off the charts, but what you do with it is strange. Or, I should say, what you choose not to do with it on a daily basis is strange. You are an anomaly, Alexis. A sexy, gorgeous anomaly that I can’t let off the hook until I know what’s lurking under the surface. I have more power than you can withstand. Please, don’t make me prove that.”

I wheezed out a laugh, slouching. “You just picked me up off the floor. I’m pretty sure you just proved it.”

“I’m prepared to compromise. It’s rare that I would. If your results are something my father might desire for his…team, you have my word that I’ll protect you from his influence. There are few in the world who could make such a claim. I have that power. In your case, I will exert it.”

I blinked in confusion, my thoughts still moving as slow as molasses. “What in the hell could I have that Valens would ever want?” I shook my head. “Look, to end this ridiculousness, fine. Test me. Just promise me that if I have enough power for the government to care, you won’t make me move to the magical zone. Daisy can’t live there, and Mordecai would be in constant danger. Just…please, promise me that.”

“Is that all it would’ve taken?” He cocked his head, mystified. “All this, just so you don’t have to move to the magical zone?”

“It would put my wards in danger. Where would Daisy go?”

He stared at me for a moment. “I should have seen that. How shortsighted of me.”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

He nodded. “That is an easy promise to make. And once you are categorized properly, the mountebanks’ burning curiosity will be put to rest. I’ve seen it before. They hate unanswered questions, especially when the subject is the one in control of the answers. But soon after they answer this riddle for me, I’ve seen to it they’ll get someone new to marvel at. Someone my father will be desperate to control.” A vicious smile crossed his face. “That subject belongs to someone else. He wandered away in search of mortal pleasures, and I swooped in to pick him up at the right moment. I’ll fabricate where and how I found him, feign ignorance to his magic and who has a claim on him. Given that he responds to authority about as well as you do, he’ll give you the perfect way to slip out from under the radar, providing me with enough cover to alter your records.”

That seemed like an awful lot of effort for one assessment, but I wasn’t about to say no. It solved both of our problems—my desire to be ignored, and his need for something constructive to do.

“Yeah. Sounds good. I’m in. Whatever.”

He stood and slid the chair across the room, the graceful movement contrasted by metal screeching on linoleum. “Don’t give them a hard time,” he said as he made his way to the door.

“Yes, but they make it impossible,” I yelled after his retreating, muscular backside. He was doing great things for those slacks.

“Get your head back in the game,” I muttered to myself furiously. The man was unsettling on so many levels. It was starting to mess with my head.

Biting my lip, I kept all snarky comments at bay when Mountebank Iams and his stern-faced nurse trudged back in. “Cooperating the first time would’ve saved everyone a lot of time and effort,” he said.

“Just think about all the things we would’ve missed out on had I done so. Our chemistry. Our witty banter.” I grinned at him. “Tell me true. You loved it.”

His face could’ve cracked glass.

I held out my arm so they could wrap the band around it. All the hookups from the last machine had been yanked off when I’d tumbled to the ground.

“It really is strange that you have three machines in here with the sole purpose of knowing a person’s favorite color,” I said. “Just do a color test.”

“Some magic lends better to multiple people working in sync. For those types of magical people, we need multiple machines running synchronistically.”

“Ah.”

“Now, please relax so we can get an accurate reading.”

I was grateful to do as he said. After Kieran, I was exhausted. I just hoped this test would finally satisfy Kieran’s curiosity, and he’d be done with me once and for all.

31

Alexis

It only took ten minutes, but it seemed like a lot longer in the company of the stuffy mountebank and his disapproving nurse. At the end, they looked at me with wide eyes, stunned by whatever the machine was telling them, and then escorted me out of the room as though the past two hours hadn’t happened. I wished I could be excited, or feel any other emotion but unease.

As promised, I was free to go. At least that was a good sign.

No one was in the waiting room where I’d dropped off Mordecai. I lugged myself to the check-in desk and waited for a small-statured woman to glance up from her computer screen. Her brow furrowed just a bit before she plastered on her chipper customer service smile.

“Hello. Can I help you?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m just checking on Mordecai Wolfram.”

“Oh, yes. Mordecai. What a lovely young man. Let me check his progress.” She turned back to the computer screen. “Let’s see… Ah. All the tests are done, and we’re waiting for the stat sheet to make sure we have everything we need. Sometimes the numbers are skewed and an additional test is needed. It looks like Mordecai is… Yes, he’s in a massage currently. He should be out within the hour.”

“In a massage?” I asked.

“Yes. Given the wait times, and the nature of our patients’ illnesses, we offer a variety of services to help them relax. It looks like”—she moved the mouse—“Mordecai opted for all three.” She turned back to me with a sad smile. “That’s fairly standard for patients who suffer chronic pain.”

“A massage, and what else did he get?”

“A facial and a mud bath.”

“Right.” He needed it, deserved it, and I was glad he had access to it, but man, after being poked, prodded, and mentally messed with all day, it took a second to like him. “So an hour?”

“Yes. And you are Alexis Price?”

“Yes. I’m finished…with my thing. Downstairs.”

“Yes, of course. He mentioned that you’d be taking him home. If you give me your number, you can feel free to use our resources and I’ll text you when he’s ready. Or, if you’d prefer, we can arrange—”

“Texting me would be great,” I cut in, not about to argue again about someone else driving him home. “What resources?”

“We have a state-of-the-art fitness center. Clothes and shoes can be provided if necessary. We also have a library with over thirty thousand volumes…”

I rubbed my eyes, noticing she hadn’t mentioned a cafeteria, though I was pretty sure the place must’ve had one. Was she trying to tell me something?

“Where’s the library?”

A couple of wrong turns later, I finally found the hall that housed both the library and the fitness center. But when I reached the large archway that led into a cozy place with overstuffed chairs, huge wall-to-ceiling bookshelves, and people quietly reading, I couldn’t bring myself to go any farther. The second my butt hit one of those comfortable-looking reading nooks, I’d pass out. The best bet was to keep moving.

Continuing on, I heard the metallic clanks and rhythmic pounding of people working out. The opened double doors showed off a myriad of machines and free-weight areas, half of which were currently being used. A check-in desk sat off to the side, and I very nearly wandered over to see about getting some clothes.