Free Cold Magics by Erik Buchanan

put the chair down and Eileen glared at her father. “Now, sit.”
    Lionel did as he was told. Thomas walked behind him and had a look at the dagger. It was in deep, buried in the flesh just outside Lionel’s shoulder-blade. Lionel’s breathing was tightly controlled, and the lines on his face were growing deeper with every passing moment. Thomas looked at George. “I’ll need help getting the dagger out.”
    “What are you going to do?” asked Lionel. “You pull that out wrong and you’ll do more damage than it did on the way in.”
    “Thomas can fix it,” said Eileen.
    “Thomas is studying to be a lawyer, not a healer,” said Lionel. “Get me a healer.”
    Thomas hesitated. Lionel had no idea that Thomas had magic, or that he could use it for healing. It was bad enough that Thomas had been courting Eileen. Letting Lionel know that his daughter’s sweetheart could use magic was something Thomas was pretty sure would add a whole new level of strain to their relationship. Worse, having the watch appear while he was healing the man would not do at all. Thomas sighed. “I’ll go get a healer, then.”
    “What?” Eileen spun to face Thomas. “You do it!”
    “A healer will do it better,” said Thomas. Eileen opened her mouth to say more and Thomas quickly cut her off. “There’s one a few blocks away. I can be there and back in no time at all. George, wrap it and keep pressure on it, will you?”
    “Aye,” said George, though his expression mirrored his sister’s. “I’ll keep him still, don’t worry.”
    “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
    Thomas turned and headed down the stairs. A moment later he heard footsteps behind him. He kept going, waiting until he was two floors down to face Eileen. She was livid.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, pain and anger making her voice a harsh whisper. “Heal him!”
    “I can’t,” said Thomas. “Sir Michael saw that he was hurt.”
    “So what?”
    “So if he comes back and finds out he isn’t, he’s going to be suspicious, isn’t he?”
    “So what?”
    Thomas sighed.
    “If he was in danger, I would, but the dagger is in his muscle, not his organs, and the way he’s breathing, it didn’t go into his lungs. He’ll be fine.”
    “He’s my father!”
    “He’s not going to let me take care of him!” snapped Thomas. “Not without telling him about the magic, and then what do you think his reaction will be?”
    Eileen opened her mouth, then closed it again. She still looked furious, but the beginning of resignation was showing in her face. Thomas took advantage of the moment. “Go sit with him. And take care of yourself, too. I’ll get the healer and be back before you know it.”
    He turned and ran down the rest of the stairs. Eileen didn’t follow. Thomas could almost feel her eyes on him, though, and could see her betrayed expression in his mind as he ran across the courtyard. The horses were still saddled and ready to go, but Thomas left them behind. Running would be faster in the crowded streets.
    The healer’s office was a storefront halfway down a narrow dead-end street off the market. The man had been a battlefield surgeon, and was expert at stitching up injuries. Thomas had been to see him once after a particularly embarrassing slip on the fencing floor had ended with a long a cut in his thigh. It had healed well, and left hardly any scar.
    Thomas reached the healer’s office in short order and only slightly winded. He banged at the door. The pale, thin man who acted as the healer’s assistant opened it and glared at him. “Shh! He’s working!”
    “I need his help,” said Thomas.
    “Everyone needs his help.”
    “The father of the girl I am courting has been stabbed in the back, while defending her life against five men who attacked us at my apartment.”
    The thin man cocked his head. “I don’t think I’ve heard that one before. Come in.”
    Thomas stepped inside. The door to the back room was