Chapter Twelve

You Like Me Like This

Part Two

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With a crisp recoil, all of the energy snapped back into Kazia's body, leaving them staring at each other in a suddenly intense silence.

“What happened?” Kazia breathed.

Kelvaran chuckled in bewilderment. “Shouldn't you tell me?”

“That was like... when I tried to cast a portal, to come to you.”

“Did something frighten you?”

Kazia furrowed her brow, and shook her head. “No. I felt... happy.”

She smiled up at his concerned face still hovering above her. She reached up a hand to smooth back his sweat-soaked tendrils of hair. “So overwhelmingly happy. I love you so much. I suppose that can frighten me at times, but I don't think this... Are you alright? I didn't hurt you?”

“No. But I could feel you for a moment - your aura.”

She nodded. “That energy surge flushed out the rest of the Off-Switch.”

“But my potion wore off some time ago,” he mused. “I shouldn't have been able to feel you now.”

Kazia's face twisted in bemused shock. While she silently puzzled at this, Kelvaran shifted his weight off of her, pulling a blanket from the foot of the bed to cover them.

“Kazia, what has been happening?” he asked. Kazia felt his worry turn to investigative inquiry. “Your power flares and dwindles. I've seen fluctuations like that in younger Alchemists, but never to these extremes. And... you felt me get sick all the way from Caedra. Now I can feel you without my potion? Do you suppose our energies are affecting one another? Would that be possible?”

“I don't know. Something... has changed.” She turned her head and sighed softly. “I wish my mother were here. I need to know more about who I am, how our people... work.”

Dread crept through her heart as she looked at him fearfully. “Some of my abilities... can hurt people. What if I am hurting you in some way?”

Kelvaran hushed her with a gentle kiss. “I haven't felt any ill effects, don't worry.” Then his brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Gorvan's Alchemists studied you. Do you suppose they actually learned anything?”

“I don't know that Master Vlais would be forthcoming... unless I could convince Gorvan to make him. I could offer more blood...”

“What does he want your blood for?”

“He was always experimenting with it, analyzing it and putting it into Artifacts. He wanted to see if he could give my abilities to others, especially the other one. Have you... tried that, with your potion?”

Kelvaran looked away sheepishly. “I have. Briefly. That one seems far more complicated than simply reading an ethereal aura.”

“Good. No one should be able to do that. Take care that you don't let Master Vlais know you've even succeeded with Empathy. Who knows what he'll do to you?”

“There are a number of filing cabinets in the lab,” Kelvaran remembered. “I wonder if they might hold some of your records? If you do take charge there, and we can access them, perhaps we'll find something?”

“If Yilina doesn't abscond with them,” Kazia groused. “Hopefully 'preparing the lab' doesn't mean removing anything interesting.”

“You should take more care with her, Kazia. She can be quite volatile, and she's already got it in for you because you escaped before and made a fool of her.”

Kazia laughed lightly. “Yes, but her volatility makes her quite easy to manipulate.”

“And Gorvan is even more volatile,” Kelvaran warned, his voice softening. “I don't want to see a repeat of your arrival.”

“Gorvan won't disapprove, so long as he's getting what he wants.”

“He wants Yilina's talents at work for him, as well as yours,” Kelvaran warned. “If you unsettle her to distraction, he may fall on her side.”

“Or I may tear a rift between them,” she countered.

A sly smile spread over his face as he peered down at her warmly. “You know, the pleasure you take in provoking her may belie your denials of jealousy.”

“I'm not jealous of her,” Kazia protested. “But she made me think you were dead. I can't begin to tell you what that was like. I had only just accepted my feelings for you, and you were gone. I would never see you again. I would never have the chance to explore what might be.”

“But it wasn't true. I'm safe and sound, and I'm yours,” he consoled, tightening an arm around her.

“I really do love you so very much, Kel.” Kazia's hands on his arms lit up again with a weak ethereal energy that sputtered out almost as soon as it appeared.

“You do need to get your energy under control,” Kelvaran noted. “Perhaps we should begin a training regimen... see if we can't find a balance between the flood and the trickle.”

“First thing tomorrow – no, it will have to wait until your return from the brothel,” Kazia tittered.

“Right,” he said dryly. “The brothel.”

“I can't tell you how I know, but you really can trust Abrizhen to keep you out of trouble there,” Kazia assured him. “Just follow his lead.”

“I rather get the feeling he'd lead me to Hell if he could.”

“He won't want to incur my wrath,” Kazia said. She lifted her head to peck at his lips. “But, if you do end up in Hell, I'll just have to come get you out again.”

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