Dead Reckoning

too much of an eyeful. When we reached the attic, before I could say anything the elf was on his knees beside Dermot. After a quick survey, Bellenos rolled the fairy onto his side to examine the wound. The curiously slanted brown eyes were intent on his wounded friend.
    Well, he might have glanced at my bare shoulders a little.
    More than a little.
    “You need to cover up,” Bellenos said bluntly. “That’s too much human skin for me.”
    Okay, I’d totally misread that, to my embarrassment. Just as Bill had been repelled by Bellenos’s scent, Bellenos was repelled by the sight of me.
    “I’ll be glad to put on real clothes now that there’s someone to stay with Dermot.”
    “Good,” Bellenos said.
    As blunt as Claude could be, Bellenos had him beat. It was actually almost entertaining. I asked Bellenos to carry Dermot down to the guest room on the ground floor, and I preceded them to make sure the room was okay. After a cursory look to make sure the bedspread was pulled up over the sheets, I moved aside for Bellenos, who was carrying Dermot as easily as he would a child, though Dermot was certainly less maneuverable on the narrow staircase.
    While Bellenos settled Dermot on the bed, I zipped into my room to dress. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to unwind the fringed and flowered shawl and put on some jeans (not shorts, out of deference to Bellenos’s human skin aversion). It was too hot to even think of a longsleeved shirt, but my offensive shoulders were properly covered with a striped T-shirt.
    Dermot was fully conscious when I returned to check on him. Bellenos was kneeling by the bed, stroking Dermot’s golden hair and talking to him in a language I didn’t know. My great-uncle was alert and lucid. My heart settled into a happier rhythm when Dermot even smiled at me, though it was a shadow of his usual grin.
    “They didn’t hurt you,” he said, obviously relieved. “So far, Niece, it seems living with you is more dangerous than staying with my own kind.”
    “I’m so sorry,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking his hand. “I don’t know how they were able to get into the house with the wards in place. People who mean me harm aren’t supposed to be able to enter, whether I’m here or not.”
    Despite his blood loss, Dermot flushed. “That would be my fault.”
    “What?” I stared down at him. “Why?”
    “It was human magic,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “Your little witch friend, she’s quite good for a human, but fae magic is much, much better. So I deconstructed her spells, and I intended to put my own around your house as soon as I finished sanding the floor.”
    I really couldn’t think of a thing to say.
    There was a sticky little moment of silence.
    “We’d better tend to your head,” I said briskly. I cleaned it some more and dabbed the wound with Neosporin. I certainly wasn’t going to try to sew it up, though it seemed to me that someone should. When I mentioned stitches, both of the fae seemed utterly disgusted by the idea. I put some butterfly bandages on the wound to hold it shut. I figured that was the best I could do.
    “Now I’ll treat him,” Bellenos said, and I was pleased to hear that he intended to do something more active than carry Dermot down the stairs to the bed. Not that that hadn’t been a help, but I’d expected a bit more, somehow. “Of course the blood of the one who harmed him would be best, and maybe we can do something about that, but for now . . .”
    “What will you do?” I hoped I could watch and learn.
    “I will breathe into him,” Bellenos said, as if I were a fool not to know that. My amazement startled him. He shrugged, as if I were too ignorant for words. “You can watch if you want.” He looked down at Dermot, who nodded, then winced.
    Bellenos stretched out on the bed beside Dermot and kissed him.
    I’d certainly never thought of curing a head wound that way. If my lack of knowledge of fae ways had been a surprise to him, this was a surprise to me.
    After a second I understood that though their mouths were together, the elf was breathing the air in his own lungs into Dermot. After detaching to take in another lungful, Bellenos repeated the procedure.
    I tried to imagine a human doctor treating a patient this way. Lawsuit! Though I could tell it wasn’t sexual—well, not overtly—this was a little too personal for me. This might be a good time to clean up. I collected the used sterile wipes