Stolen Hearts by Sasha L. Miller

Author:Sasha L. Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Published: 2011-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Part Seven

"How is Denzil doing?" Mervyn asked, setting his books aside. They were all anatomical reference books, if the titles were anything to go by, and Callisto wondered what Mervyn was working on.

"He's doing okay. Not great, and I think he's still pretty upset…" Callisto trailed off, shrugging. "I don't think there's anything but time that will help now."

"Probably not," Mervyn agreed, looking pensive. "Denzil likes to mope, but he's pretty resilient. A few weeks, and he'll bounce back."

"I hope so," Callisto said, hesitating before continuing, "Did Malone find Baldric?"

"No, unfortunately," Mervyn said, frowning even more. "He's disappeared, and Malone isn't even sure where he does his charm work, as he definitely doesn't do it at his residences."

"Could it be somewhere near where he grabbed me?" Callisto asked, fidgeting with the book in his lap. "He probably couldn't take me too far, right?"

"Not without attracting attention," Mervyn said thoughtfully, smiling at Callisto. "That's a good idea. I'll suggest it to Malone so he can concentrate his search there. And you know, it really is a good bet that he still has your heart and is keeping it alive, since he knew where you were the entire time. I can't believe his visit the other day was a coincidence, either."

"Oh," Callisto said, startled. He hadn't thought of that. "He'd keep it alive?"

"Probably, especially if he thought he could get another chance to put one of his charms in you, or as a bargaining chip when we do track him down," Mervyn said, shrugging. "It makes more sense than just letting it die."

"Oh," Callisto repeated, curling his fingers around the edges of his book to keep from touching the charm in his chest.

"In any case, there's nothing to do about it until Malone finds him," Mervyn said, tapping his fingers against the cover of his top-most reference book and looking pensive.

Callisto nodded, hesitating for a minute before asking, "What are you researching?"

"Hmm? Oh, just some more tweaks for your heart charm. Now that you're stable and can do some minor exertion—like climbing stairs—I'm going to focus on rounding out the other ways your heart rate would increase," Mervyn said. "Even if we get your heart back and get you all fixed up, this can go a long way for other people who need new hearts for whatever reason."

"Do you think you'll get… clients who will need new hearts?" Callisto asked curiously, wondering what Mervyn's typical customers were like. Surely not everything Mervyn did was as dramatic and drastic as replacing hearts.

"It's possible," Mervyn said, shrugging. "I get a lot of different problems thrown at me. But more likely I'll write up a report on the charm I created for you so other wizards can use it if they need to. Leaving out any reference to why you needed it, of course, and the other adaptations Baldric has included in his charm."

Callisto nodded, unable to keep himself from lightly touching the metal charm beneath his shirt. "How did Baldric know how to do

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