Relief swamped her mind when Bayard moved his hand from his sword in a forcibly casual move. She really didn’t want to have to use magic against anyone, especially not Bayard. He was a sweet, chivalrous man who sometimes made her feel less alone in these woods. They both sought each other out for needed company.
Her attention turned to the boy and she stepped closer to examine him. After a moment’s hesitation, she slipped a hand over his forehead. The boy’s budding magic scorched her hand and she snatched it away. Sour taste of his magic filled her nose and mouth and she grimaced as she backed away.
“You are right, my lord,” she said. “He is in the grip of a warlock fever.” She turned to face him. “Warlocks are born, just like you and I. His parents must have been of that stock and now he is coming into his power.” Genuine compassion and grief filled her face. “The most I can do is try to make him comfortable, though considering what he will become…” There was no need to finish that sentence. The implication that killing Leo would be the greater mercy hung between them.
She did not envy Bayard this dilemma, especially since she was partially to blame. Not for the first time, she quietly cursed herself for letting Leo touch the athame.
♘—Bayard shook his head. “I know his parentage and…” he huffed and placed a hand on Leo’s forehead, fighting the reflex to pull away at the intense heat. “Besides, I’ve never seen a warlock so young. All the men I’ve seen gripped with it were…well, men. I thought there was a law on that."
Her dilemma was sound, and the rather large elephant in the room was one he was already speculating. Would it not be simpler to kill him?
Even the thought had his gut squirming. Though Leo may be a pain in the arse most of the time, Bayard had grown rather attached to the boy. How could he allow her to murder him? It was out of the question for now.
It was several moments later that he made up his mind. "You make him comfortable, Claire. Do not harm him. Not yet.” He nudged his head towards the door, signaling both the guard holding Leo to enter Claire’s home, and a request for his own entrance into her cottage. Without asking, he was already stepping into her home, pausing only inches from the healer so intimately she could probably feel his breath. Just a moment. A glance downward before he continued in, hands behind his back. “Meantime, where do you wish to put him? I’ve taken leave to remain with him until he is well again."
