Page 9 of Hexual Healing
“Yes, well, 'Baz' wasn't particularly forthcoming about his intentions until I made it clear that any harm to you would result in consequences he couldn't imagine.”Gary pulled himself up to his full, unimpressive height.“I may be small, but I have friends in low places.”
Baz made a sound that might have been amusement.“The snail threatened me with elaborate revenge scenarios for twenty minutes.”
“Twenty-three minutes and thirteen seconds,” Gary corrected.“And they were promises, not threats.”
Despite everything, I smiled.Then immediately regretted it when the curse interpreted any positive emotion as encouragement and sent another wave of heat through my system.The wooden spoon on the counter started smoking.
Baz moved faster than someone his size should be able to, grabbed the spoon, and dunked it in the sink.The sizzle was embarrassingly loud.
“Control,” he said, not looking at me.“Or I put you outside.”
“She can't control it,” Gary said, surprising me by coming to my defense.“The curse is parasitic.It feeds on her emotions and converts them to magical discharge.Rather clever.The caster wanted her to be more of a walking disaster than she actually is.”He snorted.
Baz turned to study me with those bark-brown eyes.“Who cursed you?”
“My ex.”
“Be more specific.I need to know what kind of magic we're dealing with.”
We.Like he was planning to deal with anything.Like this was his problem now too.
“Dragon,” I admitted reluctantly.“My half-dragon ex-girlfriend whoreallydidn't appreciate me giving a hex to use against her to her current boyfriend.”
His eyebrows went up slightly.“You gave someone a hex to use on a dragon?”
“I didn't know he was her current anything!He hired me to cast a simple separation spell on his 'unstable ex.'Paid triple rate.I needed the money.”
“Let me get this straight.You cast a spell on a dragon without researching the target?”
“I was desperate.”
“You were careless.”
The curse flared hot enough that my hair literally sparked.Complete with tiny flames dancing at the ends.
“Thanks for the hindsight.Super helpful.Muchly appreciated.”
He filled a mug with water and set it in front of me.“Drink.”
I reached for the mug but stopped myself right before coming into direct contact with the handle.
“It's just water.With a minor cooling charm.Unless you want to actually combust, drink.”
I drank.It tasted like wintergreen and was bitter.I felt like my old self almost immediately.
“How long ago?”he asked.
“You said it’s Tuesday?One day.”
“And you've been running since then?”
“Driving.Running.Teleporting very badly.Being passed out for a day.Yeah, sounds about right.”
He leaned against the counter, arms crossed.The position did things to his forearms that the curse found very interesting.I focused on Gary instead.
“She'll find you,” Baz said finally.“Dragon curses are homing beacons.The longer you stay in one place, the stronger the signal gets.”
“I know.”