The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell Page A

while she herself just stood a few paces away, hackles up and a stream of mage flame flaring. Added three hours to our trip, staying clear of her.”
    Grovener cleared his throat. “Have you divined a means of Healing without touch, boy?”
    The apprentice blushed, hastily extending a blue glowing hand to Renee’s shoulder. “May I? Healer Grovener gave his permission.”
    Renee nodded and the boy laid his hand on her, the hot brush of his energy sliding along her Keraldi Barrier. Despite knowing what was coming, she gasped as the mage nicked an opening and slid past it. From here he could exploit her insides as he pleased. Seaborn had said mages once made a practice of it. That the Mage Council would have the boy’s life if he harmed her did little to quiet her heartbeat as his energy coursed beneath her skin. A few minutes passed before the flesh around the cuts on her arm heated and pulled, healing rapidly with the young mage’s assistance.
    “You seem all right. I found nothing beyond gashes on your arm, and they were shallow.” The apprentice pulled back. “Did I hurt you? I tried not to.”
    “Not at all.” She smiled at the boy and rubbed the pink skin now stretching the cuts’ edges closed. “Are you far from home?” she asked.
    “Half a day’s ride, if you have a horse.” His face said that his family did not. That would change once the young mage finished his training.
    Renee turned to watch Grovener cut away the dirty remains of Savoy’s shirt and mop a wet rag around the protruding remains of the shaft. The water in the washbasin reddened. “Do you know if the maid was telling the truth about the Vipers orchestrating the attack, sir?” she asked.
    Savoy winced as the blue light shimmering about the Healer’s hand touched the wound. “Yes. They issued demands.”
    “Quiet.” Grovener stepped back. “I must remove the arrowhead and sew the muscle before Healing. But I can mend you, boy. This time.” He reached for a small blade and hesitated, considering his patient.
    “I’ll be still,” Savoy said dryly.
    Grovener clasped the arrow while Savoy braced his good hand on the table’s edge. Tinges of nausea gripped Renee under her jaw when the knife pierced flesh. It was ironic, she thought, that a man who trained his whole life to protect himself could allow another to cut him. Healer Grovener need not know attacks and parries to deliver a fatal blow. He could just do it. If he wanted to. And Savoy trusted that the mage would not.
    Alec touched her between the shoulder blades and inclined his head toward the door. The warmth of his palm was welcome, like a blanket after a storm. She looked at Savoy.
    He stared at the wall while the Healer addressed his shoulder, but he felt her gaze and turned his head. “It’s not my first cut, de Winter. I don’t need the company.”
    Blushing, she let Alec lead her back to the barracks.
    * * *
    The next day, early rays of sunlight pulled Renee outside. She hadn’t slept. The previous day’s assault reenacted itself in her mind all night. Would a stronger fighter, a boy, have done better? Would Sasha have been safer with Alec? Would the screams and blood and crash of shattered dishes ever stop flooding her thoughts? She shook her head and picked up into a run. Dew-covered grass and the shush of green and gold leaves gave the still courtyard and empty walkways a mystical feel. A pair of bickering birds and several early shift guardsmen spiced the silence. She sighed. The guard detail had doubled overnight.
    Approaching the training salle, Renee frowned at the open door. Having never yet encountered company during her morning workouts, she secretly considered the room hers. Inside, Savoy flowed from stance to stance in an unfamiliar pattern. Sweat glistened in his hair and framed the angle of his jaw. The blade resting in his left hand slashed a deadly rhythm. He didn’t greet her.
    Renee’s heart quickened. Feeling blood rush to her face, she