Ancient Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress #1)(20)

“Could you provide us with any information about it?” Aidan asked. “We’ll return it if we find it.”

I wondered if he was telling the truth.

The monk stared hard at Aidan. Perhaps he believed him, because he began to describe the scroll. The wood of the rollers, the colors of the inks used, what was written inside.

I listened with half an ear, but I no longer needed that type of detail. Now that I wasn’t distracted by the demons, I could focus on my surroundings. I tried to push the pain to the back of my mind.

This was where the scroll had been written. A thousand years ago, somewhere in this dark space, a monk had sat crouched over one of the little tables, painstakingly scratching out words on vellum. It had taken years; I could almost see it in my mind. Just being in the place where so much effort had been poured into the scroll set my dragon sense alight.

I laid a hand on Aidan’s arm, trying not to think about how big and hard it was, and gave him a look. I hoped it said, We’re good here.

He seemed to get it. When the monk trailed off, he said, “Thank you. That was very helpful. We’ll let you know if we find it.”

The monk nodded. We said our goodbyes and left. I tried to keep my gaze off the chests full of gold as I limped out, but I didn’t succeed. I needed a twelve-step program or something.

We took the stone steps that wound down the mountain. It didn’t take us long to make our way back to the little dock.

“I want to look at that wound now,” Aidan said as we climbed onto the boat.

It hurt badly enough that I removed my arm to show him.

“That looks rough,” he said. “Why did you fight hand to hand? You should have used your magic.”

“Those demons didn’t have much to reflect back. And I’m a fairly weak mage.” The first part was true. “Can you do something about this?” I asked to distract him, pointing at my wound.

He glanced at me like he wanted to ask more questions, but I tried to look like I was in pain. I even threw in a little whimper.

“Move your arm to the side,” he said, but it still seemed like he was thinking about why I hadn’t used my powers. Maybe it was paranoia on my part, but paranoia had kept me alive for a long time. We were good buddies.

I moved my arm away from the wound to give him room. I tried to focus on the bobbing of the boat beneath us as he laid his big palm gently against the gash. I winced, then sighed in relief as warmth radiated through me. Slowly, the flesh knitted back together.

It was still sore when he removed his hand, but it felt a heck of a lot better.

“Anywhere else?” he asked.

I shifted, wincing as more pain radiated from my back. It felt a bit better than it had at first. “Just my back, but I don’t think anything is broken.”

“Let me see. Turn.”

I turned, pinning my gaze on the open sea. Now that I no longer had a gaping wound in my side, the tension of having him touch me was amplified.

His palm was warm against my back when he laid it right on the part that hurt. He was good at this kind of thing. Even through the pain, his touch felt amazing.

Getting busy with Aidan was not a good idea. Definitely not something I should be picturing in my mind. But it was hard to keep my wariness bolstered when he kept healing me.

Once most of the pain had faded, he removed his hand.

“That’s the best I can do. You need a night to fully recover.”

I shifted, feeling mild pain and pulling muscles, but I was a lot better. He was right—I’d have full mobility by tomorrow.

“Thanks,” I said. “You’d be handy to have on my normal jobs.”

He grinned. “What you do is the opposite of my usual thing.”

“But think of how good you’d be at it. All that experience protecting valuables, you’d have no problem breaking in to get them.”

“I’ll think about it.” He grinned, but I knew he was full of it. “Where to next?”

“East,” I said. “To Norway. The scroll didn’t go far.”

“East it is.”

The wind cut off our words on the ride back, so we didn’t talk. Aidan confidently piloted the boat through the waves and pulled alongside the little dock. I hopped off, and he tossed me the rope. I tied the boat off to the cleat while he hid the key beneath the pilot’s seat.

By the time we were back in the car, it was fully dark.

“We’ll stay at my place tonight,” Aidan said as he cranked the ignition. “You need to sleep to heal. If the scroll were farther away, we’d take the plane and sleep on it, but Norway is only a two-hour flight.”

“What about the demons who were looking for it?”

“If that’s what they were after, they didn’t get the information they needed. And I don’t want you going until you’re healed.”

He was right. Going into tombs at less than one hundred percent was just asking for it. Without my magic, I needed to be physically one hundred percent to make it through the enchantments.

And I really wanted to wash the demon blood off me. I was starting to smell weird, and it was grossly sticky.

“Your place is near here?” Though I wanted to look at him—I wanted to do that way too often lately—I kept my gaze on the moonlit countryside. Hills rolled in the distance, dotted with sheep whose white wool glinted in the moonlight. I knew we were probably pretty close to where he lived. I didn’t have a great idea of the geography of Ireland, but I knew we were in the south, and when I’d raided the temple on his property yesterday, I’d been in the south.