“Fix my ribs?” He stopped working at the knot securing a rectangular flap over the bag’s opening. She had his full attention now. “You can do that?”
She shrugged. Then, unable to help it, she smirked. “I’m multi-talented. I can smash a room over you and break your ribs. And then I can fix them.”
His guffaw almost sounded like a cough of pain. He settled the bag and crossed to her.
Lena gestured. “Take off your shirt.”
He hissed out a breath as he pulled it over his head.
Her gaze rose with it, flowing over the skin revealed by the rising shirt, then made a slower return trip back down over his chest and abdomen. Yes, he was a finely built man. She couldn’t resist needling him a little to remind him of how he’d come into her life and turned it upside down.
“I don’t blame you for thinking I was propositioning you, considering you’ve talked to my sister. I know what she thinks of me. I am a little surprised you turned me down so fast.” She tilted her head back so she could look him in the face as he pulled the shirt away. She cocked a brow, making her voice a pointed purr. “Especially since you did promise to be good to me when we met. Remember?”
Reyes rolled his eyes.
Lena laughed. Still chuckling, she inspected the offending ribs. Livid bruises spread across his side and curved around to his back. She made a spinning motion with her fingers.
He dutifully turned. “This isn’t going to hurt, is it?”
She met his suspicious gaze, struggling to hold back another laugh. “No, Reyes. It isn’t going to hurt.”
“I’m fine with pain,” he growled, “I just like a little warning.”
She lifted her hands and placed them on his warm skin. She didn’t have to be in physical contact in order to make the Dust heal another. It was all mental. But the contact made her feel more connected.
She traced the contours of his ribs around her hands. Where his skin curved over the muscle and bones of his chest and abdomen, his olive tone paled. She focused in, past his skin, her vision blurring as she called to the Dust living within him. They woke and swarmed to the site of Reyes’s injured ribs. She told them how to pulse, and they sent currents of energy into his bones and the bruised flesh surrounding them to stimulate his cells. She could feel his skin warm under her hands and instructed a slight adjustment. She wasn’t sure if it the warmth or the contact or maybe even the connection of moments ago spurred her, but the urge to turn the touch into a caress nearly overwhelmed her. Just a little more and then—
“Stop.” Reyes’s voice, tinged with alarm, intruded on her thoughts. “Lena! Stop!”
His rough hands pulled her own away from his skin. He held her arms between them and gave them a small shake to get her attention. His eyes were wide and alarmed. He searched her face.
She blinked. She gave a final instruction and sighed, pulling away from the Dust. “What?”
“You’re glowing.” He swallowed. He didn’t release her arms, as if he thought he might have to hold her up.
“Yeah? Sparks do that. I’m overdue for grounding because of…because of what happened.”
“No. Lena. You’re….” His words trailed off. He shook his head. “It’s not the Spark latent bloom. Only we can see that. This is different. You’re actually….” He shook his head and released her to hold one hand up between them and the wall. The stark dark outline of his hand appeared on it, a shadow cast by her. “You’re actually lighting the room. I’ve never seen anything like this. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Except she couldn’t look away from the shadows she cast on the wall.
He dropped his arm to get her attention. “How’s your head?”
From the way he looked at her, he clearly expected her to fall to the ground writhing in pain at any moment. She should be on the floor, incapacitated by pain and the need to ground, but she wasn’t.
Instead of answering, she lifted her hand. She was glowing, the Dust beneath her skin incandescent. It wasn’t subtle, either.
“My head is fine.” There wasn’t even a twinge of over-stimulation migraine. Nothing. She looked from her arm to his face.
Reyes stared at her, fascination and a kind of fear at war in him.
“What about you?” she asked him.
He frowned. “Me?”
“How are your ribs?”
“Oh!” He moved gingerly, then a little more vigorously. He raised his brows and tried an experimental twist to the side. He seemed to have close to full range of motion. “It’s really good. So, you know, when you’re giving lessons, that’ll be a good one to know.” He nodded before he added blandly, “Unless I’ll start glowing.”
She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, still admiring the light cast from her arm as she made her way back to the little table. She hooked a stool with her toes and dropped down. “Hmmm.” She held her hand up again. “I guess this could make my escape a little difficult?”