He hoped it would be the last.

Opulas pain and heat and shudders reached him and he could only endure. And know they were a precursor of worse, but he didnat want to think of that.

When he came to, he wasnat in the same room but lying on a hard table in a sterile place, naked. aWhat the h.e.l.l?a aPreparation for your ordeal to come,a a ThirdLevel Healer said, cheerful enough to irritate. aDecontamination and all physical, emotional, and Flair measured.a aI donat recall agreeing to this.a aPart of the procedure.a ah.e.l.l. Howas Opul?a The Healeras round face folded into serious lines. aThe sickness has him. Heas thrashing around a lot more than he was. Thatas your fault, I heard.a He sat up. aYouare done.a Her lips pursed. aJust.a Ura Heather and Lark Holly walked in.

aWhereare my clothes?a he asked. They were his favorite set of leathers.

aTheyall be fine,a Lark a.s.sured him.

aBeing decontaminated, too?a Couldnat be good for them, especially the padded tunic or boots. Dammit.

aThatas right,a Heather said. aYouare in excellent shape.a aGood to know. Gimme my clothes.a aIncoming scry from the Turquoise House on the wall screen.a The Healers turned to it. aMy clothes?a Garrett prompted. With a dark look, the ThirdLevel Healer went to a wall handle and pulled. Garrettas breechcloth, leathers, liners, and boots were there along with his pocketed belt. They didnat look any worse, but how would they feel?

aI need today and tomorrow to set up,a the Turquoise House announced arrogantly. aI received the specifications for the beds and bedsponges and linens and cabinets and medical equipment. I am upgrading them to luxury and ordering them from Clover Fine Furniture. I will send the bill to Primary HealingHall.a aYou wonat!a Heather exploded.

aThis is your project. Pay for it or cancel,a the House said.

The House was doing well, especially for an ent.i.ty that had no backup Family.

aThe All Councils will fund the project,a Lark soothed.

Heatheras expression set in furrows. It would take some of the shine off the project if it was funded by all the councils. Take some of her glory if she found how to beat the sickness through his blood.

aPrimary HealingHall can handle the expenses,a she said stiffly.

Lark Holly lifted a brow in his direction. aIncluding compensating GentleSir Primross for his time.a Garrett heard the grind of Heatheras teeth. Without sparing him a glance, she said, aAll right.a Head dressed fast. aMy thanks. Much to do, arrange. Gotta go.a aGentleSir Primross,a the Turquoise Houseas tones were warmer. aPlease come over tomorrow morning.a Garrett nodded. aWill do. Later.a He left and strode down the carpeted halla"spell cleansed every half septhour with fragrant herbs. Primary HealingHall could handle a load of expenses.

He turned the corner and saw his HeartMate leaning against the wall outside Opul Cranberryas room.

His body surged toward her, yearning. He feared for the boy and his gut twisted. aIs the kid okay?a

Five.

Artemisia looked at him with anger and his chest hurt. aLittle Opul has Iasc sickness. Of course he isnat all right.a A secondas pause. aThe transfusion went well. Though heas more active than most patients, it appears your blood is mitigating his ordeal. We are hopeful.a aHope is a terrible thing,a Garrett said.

Her emerald eyes gleamed with understanding. aYes.a He had to leave before more stuff fell out of his mouth. aTQ asked that I come by tomorrow morning.a aMe, too,a she said with a smilea"at the thought of the House and not Garrett. d.a.m.n, he was obsessing.

aSee you later, then.a In the next day, head be using a lot of Flair teleporting and keeping his twitchy nerves in order, so he took the public carrier to his office. On the way he decided to have client scrys forwarded to the man he trusted mosta"FirstFamily GreatLord Laev TaHawthorn.

The minute he stepped off the vehicle, the band of feral cats flowed toward him. Black-and-White tom said, We have heard you will stay at Turquoise House. You will feed Us there?

Garrett grunted. aIall make sure you have food.a Good.

He and the cat scanned the street and alleys, much busier than that morning, which felt like years ago to Garrett.

A change of place is fun sometimes and the yard of Turquoise House is nice. We will spread the word.

aHow did you hear?a Garrett asked.

The House told Us.

Garrett reached the few steps up to the building and glanced back. The cats sat at the bottom, all in a row, all looking up at him, tails curled around their paws.

He knew what they wanted. aIall check your food trough.a It is too low; dogs and others ate.

aSince this isnat a regular feeding time, Iam checking my office, first.a More than one cat sniffed in disapproval. He ignored that.

Inside his office, the wall scry panel showed ripples of Hawthorn purple. No doubt Laev TaHawthorn had already heard of the experiment. Garrett grimaced. Head have to talk, and explain or something. At least the n.o.ble lord hadnat called his personal scry pebble.

No other messages flashed so no clients had called.

Garrett took a bucket of dry kibble from storage and proceeded to the back door. More than seven animals were in the courtyard. Garrett sensed a racc.o.o.n in the bushes, which meant he must set a spell to clean the water after it left. Racc.o.o.ns werenat as communicative as cats and were scarcer. Garrett was cultivating the racc.o.o.ns. He didnat know of any FamRacc.o.o.ns. He might get goodwill from n.o.bles and others if he introduced another Fam animal.

He looked at the beady eyes a few meters distant and sent, Greetyou.

The racc.o.o.n ran away in a hunched lope.

The cats yowled for food.

Garrett dumped the kibble along a trough and hearty slurps began. The cats wouldnat finish it all and the racc.o.o.n would return.

Back in his office, after head squared away for his absence, he called Laev TaHawthorn.

The man answered immediately, with a gleam of curiosity in his eyes. aMerrily met,a Laev said.

aYeah, yeah,a Garrett said.

Laev laughed, then sobered. No matter that he loved and cherished his HeartMate, his first wife had died of the Iasc sickness. The illness had also affected Laevas FatherSireas health and weakened him to die later. aI heard about a new case of Iasc and that you went to Primary HealingHall.a aYes,a Garrett said.

aAnd FirstLevel Healer Ura Heather has a project to clear her name of the smudge the epidemic left on it?a aAlso true. I gave Opul Cranberry, age six, a transfusion.a aYou got good blood.a Garrett lifted and dropped a shoulder, sucked a breath to the bottom of his gut. aI agreed to an experiment to reintroduce the disease into me. FirstLevel Healers Ura Heather and Lark Holly will supervise the case and Iall be under constant observation by a SecondLevel Healer.a aWhat!a aYou heard me.a The ramifications would run through that smart head fast.

aThen NewBalm isnat working as well as we all had hoped.a Hawthorn had a financial interest in the herb so his mind naturally went to that aspect first. Garrett flicked his hand. aStill early days for that medicine, young harvests. The Healers antic.i.p.ate that Iall be unavailable for an eightday. I thought Iad forward any calls to you to hold.a aI donat like this idea.a aI donat much, either.a Laev tapped fingertips together. aIf the Healers believe it will work . . .a A line dug across his brows. aMuch to consider.a aYeah.a aI value you.a The warmth of friendship welled through Garrett, easing his mind. He could trust Laev. aThanks.a The manas face set into brooding Garrett didnat like to see. Laev asked, aSomeone will care for you?a aThe SecondLevel Healer,a Garrett said.

Laev frowned. aWho?a Garrett realized he couldnat avoid it any longer. Head have to say her name.

Eyes narrowed and keen, Laev asked, aWho is the Healer who will be on-site?a Yeah, Laev had deduced Garrett wasnat telling him something about the woman. Usually the n.o.ble wouldnat press, but there was payback. Garrett had pried a few secrets from Laev, so the guy wouldnat quit.

And, h.e.l.l, he was a friend. Breath trapped inside Garrettas chest so that it ached, then he said, aSecondLevel Healer Artemisia Panax.a aI donat know her or of her,a Laev said. Then his eyes widened, mouth opened, shut, and he cleared his throat. aI amend that. I know the lady.a Garrett stared, understanding that they both kept secrets that neither would reveal.

aYou can trust her,a Laev said.

aI know,a Garrett said. The Lady and Lord wouldnat give him a HeartMate he couldnat trust. He didnat know all the ins and outs of HeartMates and didnat want to discover them, but he already knew enough of the SecondLevel Healer to respect her.

Her superiors trusted her and now he had an independent opinion from his good friend.

Laevas gaze angled past Garrett, a habit of the n.o.blemanas when he was thinking. aWe have to beat this sickness. Ura Heather and my aunt are the main Healers on the case?a Lord and Lady, Garrett had completely forgotten Laev was related to the Healers. That was the problem with the FirstFamilies. Each and every one of them had ties to othersa"by blood, alliances, or enmities.

aLark Holly is your late fatheras sister,a Garrett said.

aThatas right.a Laevas look was direct. aI love and trust her very much. You want me to call my GaUncle TaHeather about this matter?a aThat would make everything worse.a aVery well.a Laev inclined his head. aKnow I will attend closely to this situation.a aItas a Healer deal.a Laev shrugged. aI have a business interest in the herb that mitigates the disease.a aI know.a aSo the Healers will keep me informed. As for your business, Iall take care of anything that is forwarded to me,a Laev said with relish.

aNo investigating. Only rescheduling.a aOf course,a Laev said blandly.

aThanks, Laev.a Garrett touched two fingers to his forehead in a short salute. aIam leaving for home.a His smile was more grimace. aThe experiment takes place at the Turquoise House, day after tomorrow.a aDo you want me to come with you?a Yeah, Garrett would like his friend near, a man in the whole mix that he could trust. But Garrett wasnat going to say so. aThanks for the offer. No. Just keep track of the whole deal.a aIall do that. Go with the Lady and Lord. Blessed be.a aBlessed be.a * * *

After the lovely Family ritual in a sacred grove of the sanctuary, Artemisia excused herself for bed. She didnat sleep.

Throughout the deeply touching ceremony, as she experienced the cycling energy of her parents and her sister, Artemisia realized a few things. One of the reasons she hadnat left this House for a home of her own was because of this loving acceptance. Theyad all faced the hideous scandal of being accused of conspiring with the Black Magic Cult murderers. They were innocent but tried in public opinion and found guilty. Theyad gone through that time together; not many others would understand.

And her mother and father were HeartMates. She liked being around them, included in the circle of love with her sister. Both her sister and she had HeartMates and neither of them had looked for their loves.

Men tended to do that if they were older than their HeartMates and experienced the connection with a HeartMate first in the dreamquests that freed Flaira"Pa.s.sages. Artemisia and Tiana knew their fated mates were men, and were older than they.

The few times that she and Tiana had spoken of the matter, theyad come to the conclusion their HeartMates werenat interested in them, perhaps because of the scandal. Who needed men like that?

Tiana had focused on her goal to be the premier priestess of the Lady and Lord in all of Celta and used the Mugwort name. But her teachers and colleagues were supposed to be compa.s.sionate and forgiving.

Artemisiaas peers were only supposed to be compa.s.sionate. Forgiving was a different matter.

So Artemisia went by the surname of Panax, a branch of her motheras Family of Healers who had distanced themselves from the Mugworts when the whole nasty mess had happened. She worked with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who completely ignored her.

She wondered if that would change if she became notable due to the experiment. If it helped her Family, that was good. Like most Families, they lived together in a large House. Unlike most Families who were not of the highest n.o.bility, the Mugworts lived in a Residence, an intelligent House. The Residence loved her, too.

And her home was utterly unique. It was the first Healing Grove founded by the colonists and became the estate of the caretakers, the BalmHeals, who had all died out. Celta was still tough on its Earth transplants, as the Iasc sickness proved. Illness and sterility took a toll on the populationa"human and animal and plant. But Celtans had the length of their life and the increase of magic, psi powers, Flair, augmented. Not a fair trade as far as Artemisia was concerned. Like everyone else, she wanted it alla"long life free of sickness and phenomenal Flair.

FirstGrove, BalmHeal estate, was a triangle in the northeast corner of Druida City, so two of the estateas walls were also the city walls. The concave triangular wall facing the city looked out onto only empty warehouses. The place was hidden from everyone except the desperate, the whispered secret sanctuary of Druida.

Like the rest of her Family, Artemisia was bound to the estate by blood and love. If she cut those bonds, she could never remember the location or returna"unless she, herself, was desperate. She was bespelled to not tell anyone of the place.

Her Family had been stripped of their n.o.bility and fortune and were running from Druida City when theyad been approached to be caretakers for the Residence. The best blessing of their lives.

No one knew what would happen when Artemisia and Tiana wed, if their men would be welcome at BalmHeal. If it was up to the Residence, he might be contrary and throw them all out, or grudgingly accept the new men.

Artemisia wanted a husband, but she wanted to stay in the sanctuary, too. She loved the old, crotchety Residence, her parents, the grounds that were a mixture of Earth and Celtan plants and hybrids. The sacred groves and the Healing pools were the best on Celta. No, she didnat want to leave. But she wanted a busier career outside the sanctuary.

She wanted a career, a matea"not necessarily a HeartMatea"and to live in her home.

She couldnat see Garrett Primross accepting those modest goals. Like Tiana, ambition burned in him.

His image slid into her mind with the thought. Tall, muscular, powerful, with excellent Flair. s.e.xy. And he loved solving riddles, but he wouldnat be contemplating her secrets when he was infected with Iasc and wrapped in fever and nightmares.

She hoped it wouldnat be nightmares, but with his history, she suspected theyad torment him. Not that she should look at him with l.u.s.t, enjoy the slow sensuality that ebbed through her in his presence. He was her patient, forbidden.

And she wasnat even sure she liked him.

Artemisia Mugwort Panax. Her name jerked Garrett from a doze near dawn. Head curled up on his bedsponge as if he were a kid, so he stretched long and hard, thinking.

Head heard the name of Artemisia Mugwort during his investigation for Laev TaHawthorn . . . and Artemisiaas younger sister was the best friend of Camellia DaHawthorn, Laevas HeartMate. A small mystery solved. There was something else, but his mind had alerted him to the new day. The last day before he was infected with the horrible sickness. His stomach tensed.

Better make the most of it. Head hired someone to spellshield his office and was due to meet him in a septhour. Head send that bill to Primary HealingHall. He wasnat sure who provided the HealingHallas budget; it wasnat funded totally by the councils of Celta. He thought n.o.bles who wanted to use the facilities paid an annual t.i.the and the Heather Family plowed gilt into it. Didnat matter much as long as he got reimbursed, but his curiosity encompa.s.sed everything.

He was glad that the Turquoise House had decided on luxurious linens and furnishings. Not that Garrett would appreciate them when he was thrashing around with the sickness.

He had other tasks: clearing s.p.a.ce in his no-time food storage so he could add his fresh food, dragging out his oldest clothes to wear, finding a d.a.m.n nightshirt. He didnat want to examine why he wasnat comfortable being nude with the SecondLevel Healer. Dozens of small errands he had to take care of, including updating his will.

Splat! Something soft and squishy hit his window. He glanced at the long smear of blood and winced. Dead mouse head. The feral cats were hungry.

Now he had to clean the window.

Artemisia arrived at the Turquoise House an hour before WorkBell, was greeted enthusiastically and informed she was the first to arrive. Which had her relaxing; that was irritating because shead told herself she was perfectly calm.

aCome in!a TQ said. aI have camp chairs and a table in the mains.p.a.ce by the window. My people like that window best. I also have an old drink no-time ready to be deconstructed.a He sounded insistent, so she let her steps take her to the small seating area and the window out onto the gardens. She halted when she saw several cats chasing each other in the back gra.s.syard. An orange mother cat followed by a small kitten avoided the others and paraded, tails up, to a cobbled s.p.a.ce. Moving so she could see the pair, Artemisia noticed an area complete with several bowls of food and a small fountain.

TQ said, aMy friend and your Residence, BalmHeal, says you prefer warm half caff and half milk?a As it spoke, the no-time drink unit extruded a shelf with a steaming china mug. Artemisia took it, though shead already had three cups that morning. aThank you,a she murmured.

aI have received all furniture and equipment on our list. A holo wall mural artist came yesterday afternoon. We practiced and I can sterilize the entire room and not affect the art!a aWonderful. I like murals for my patients.a aI have heard Opul Cranberry progresses well through the sickness. It appears the duration will be significantly shorter than antic.i.p.ated.a Shead already checked and was relieved. aYes.a aBecause of GentleSir Primrossas potent Flair-imbued blood,a TQ pointed out.

aYes.a aHe is a tough man and an interesting individual,a TQ continued with admiration.

Easier to agree. aYes.a aHere as requested, TQ,a Garrett called.

Six.

Artemisia tensed again at Garrettas voice, then forced her muscles to ease.

TQ broadcasted, aWe are in the mains.p.a.ce. Some of our cat friends have arrived to stay with us.a Artemisia said, aI donat have cat friends.a Then she realized TQ spoke of himself and Garrett. The guy had cat friends. Yes, he was interesting. And when he walked into the room, his impact made her catch her breath. He had a very intense aura and too much of an effect on her. Shead hoped shead been imagining that.

He wore standard trous and tunic of cotton in a deep brown that accented the light amber color of his eyes. The clothes didnat show his musculature, but Artemisia knew he had a good body.

TQ said, aHot, strong black caff, GentleSir Primross, your preference. Please take the mug to the GentleSir, Artemisia.a aCall me Garrett, TQ.a A corner of his mouth lifted.