Free Lost in You by Alix Rickloff Page B

him. She braced herself against the stair railing, trying not to think of the transformation she’d just witnessed. What else about him didn’t she know?
    “Bugger off, Evan,” the innkeeper said.
    “I won’t have you stirring up trouble,” the man answered.
    “Me?” Mr. Kay sounded aggrieved. “You saw what he done. Tried to murder us.”
    “He’s sick,” Ellery interrupted.
    All eyes flicked to her, making her suddenly aware of the state of her dress. The open coat showed off her bare legs. Conor’s jacket hung askew off one shoulder. With as much grace as she could muster, she pulled the jacket up and swung the coat closed around her legs.
    Evan stepped forward, placing himself between Conor and the men. “He calls on the animal spirit to fight through him. That’s powerful magic.”
    “He didn’t mean to,” Ellery said. “He suffers from mage sickness. He can barely stand, let alone fight. And he thought Mr. Kay had taken the ring. It was my fault. All of it.”
    “Your fault? How so?”
    “I was trying to get him a doctor, but we haven’t any money.”
    Evan studied Conor’s slack features, his shaking limbs. Now that the fever madness had passed, he trembled as if palsied, even his voice gone.
    “If it’s truly mage sickness, no doctor can help him. Only time and his own strengths.”
    “Get him out of here, Evan,” Mr. Kay repeated. “He’s one of them. He’s dangerous.”
    Evan shook his head, and Ellery wondered how she hadn’t noticed how wise and kind his eyes were. “He’d be more dangerous if we let him loose.”
    “I won’t stand for it,” Mr. Kay warned, but Evan was already taking Ellery’s place at Conor’s side, helping him up the stairs.
    “Come. Help me get him back to bed.”
    Ellery glanced back.
    “Evan.” Mr. Kay stood between the dart players, his face splotched with unreleased fury.
    Evan never even paused or answered. “Are you sure we can stay?” Ellery asked. Evan dropped Conor’s unresponsive body back onto the rickety bed. “Only until he’s well enough to travel. Those men downstairs can be bought or threatened, but not for long. I can’t guarantee your safety more than a day or so. Once an Other reveals himself, it’s safer if he disappears.”
    “Other,” she hesitated, “ Others come here?”
    Evan straightened from tucking the blankets around Conor. “Many. This is a place of refuge.”
    “Some refuge.”
    “My brother-in-law worries over his sister and his daughter living with such people.” Evan offered her a smile. “And being dependent on my charity also grates on his disposition.”
    “But what can I do?”
    “Rest. Sleep. He will mend, or he will die. That’s the way of mage sickness.”
    Perfect. Mend and she had to confront the fact that her traveling companion was part wolf and may be her father’s killer. Die, and she had to face the Keun Marow alone. Neither one a thought to make sleep come easier.
     
     
    “Well?”
    Conor woke to Ellery spinning in a circle, showing off a dress of sprigged muslin. Was this another dream? He’d been drowning in a swamp of hallucinations, each nightmare ending with his waking—or so he thought until the next nightmare began. So he couldn’t be entirely sure. Although, he had to admit that this one was a thousand times better than any he’d had yet. “Are you real?” His voice sounded thick and croaky. He cleared his throat. “Or are you another bad dream?”
    “So I’m a bad dream now, am I? That’s rich.” Conor pushed himself up on the pillow, even though it made his head swim. He wanted to say he preferred the half-naked look, but doubted by the challenge in her eye that it would go over well.
    What could he say? The cut was simple, the style plain, but Ellery’s height and generous curves filled it to perfection. Even the color suited her dusky skin and picked up the brilliance of her blue eyes. She brushed the bed, and it took all his will to stop himself from dragging