King's Gambit by Ashley Meira

Author:Ashley Meira [Meira, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2016-04-27T23:00:00+00:00

12

We sat on my couch as Alex held my charred arm, turning it around to fully inspect the damage. The marks that had been deep gouges in my skin were now healed, leaving light pink marks criss-crossed over my forearm.

He twined our fingers together and kissed my temple. “You know, after hearing about how you broke into Wright’s safe, I'm beginning to think you have an addiction to this kind of stuff.”

“Sticks and stones, whips and chains.” I gave him a wink. “I think I’m building up a tolerance. That’s always good, right?”

“Don’t the nerves regenerate to new? I don’t think that builds a tolerance.”

I tapped my temple, and he pressed another kiss to the spot, making me giggle. “I mean it’s a mind over matter situation or something. Because that’s totally how it works.”

“I don’t like it when you get hurt,” he said softly. “If I’d been faster–”

“You would have been able to dodge a super-fast knife thrown from someone standing a foot away?” I scoffed and pecked his cheek. “You’re impressive, but not that impressive. I don’t like seeing you hurt, either, you know. Especially since you can’t regenerate. Leave the fatal injuries to me, okay?”

“How about neither of us get fatally injured?”

I pouted. “That’s no fun.”

“Morgan.”

“Fine,” I groaned good-naturedly. “On one condition.”

“I’m afraid to ask,” he said with a soft laugh.

I grinned, butterflies fluttering around my stomach at how wonderful, how normal, this was. “Then don’t ask. My condition stands, though.” The smile left me and I turned to face him head-on, cupping his cheek. “You were hurt. Really hurt. All healing magic does is speed up the body’s natural healing process, and it doesn’t extend to mental exhaustion. You still need to rest in order to fully recover. Hell, even I need rest to restore my mind after being injured.”

It was a longer version of what he’d said to me back in Dovesport after I’d exhausted myself healing my father, and I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a feeling of smug satisfaction at being able to throw his words back at him. I’m petty that way.

“Morgan–”

“No,” I said firmly, waving my index finger at him for good measure. “Exhaustion seeps into the soul. You know those days when you can’t even pull yourself out of bed? My magic heals the physical, not the mental.”

“There are–”

“No.”

“But–”

It was cruel, but I poked his chest right where he’d been stabbed. Alex reeled back with a pained grunt as I pushed him to lie on his back. “I think I’ve made my point.”

“Yeah,” he groaned. “You’re mean.”

I peppered his face with kisses to appease him. He made a half-hearted attempt to bat me away before pulling me flat against him and kissing me senseless. I shrieked and spent about three seconds trying to push him off before giving in.

“I feel like I got hit by a bus,” I said when we finally pulled apart for air. “And I’m in the midst of super-healing.”

It was true. Alex’s presence made everything a thousand times better, but physically, I felt like crap.

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