Ritual Magic

I’d call it healing.” Cullen frowned, tipping his head. “It’s almost as if he’s remaking his body instead.”
    This time it was Lily who asked what he meant.
    “I think he’s using what the elves call body magic. Healing and body magic are . . .” Cullen wobbled a hand. “The magic is similar, but they aren’t the same. Like, ah . . . you can do lots of things with your hands, but catching a ball and painting a picture are very different skill sets. Body magic’s not the same skill set as healing. And using body magic to heal is like having a hole in the drywall and, instead of patching it, you take down the whole wall and rebuild it.”
    Lily could relate to that metaphor. She’d been living with it for over a month now. “Maybe the Big B’s power can’t be used for healing. Given the way she likes to gobble down death magic, that would make sense.”
    “Yeah, probably, but the point is that I don’t know much about body magic. I’ve never watched someone using it and I don’t know how long it will take him to finish. He might be all rebuilt a lot sooner than we’re expecting. I can keep an eye on him, see if he stops spending power in the injured areas, but he could be healed enough to be a problem before that happens.”
    Rule frowned. “I’d hoped we could simply walk off and leave him when we got near the knife. If there’s a chance he’s healed or mostly healed, we’ll have to keep him with us so we can watch him.”
    “We don’t have to guess how much he’s healed,” Lily said. “We just take the bandages off and check.”
    Rule shook his head. “Only with his permission. The terms of the deal don’t allow me to search him a second time.”
    She stared. “They don’t say we can’t, either!”
    “If he doesn’t cooperate with the search, we’d have to hold him down. That’s a clear violation of the terms.”
    Oh, God. No wonder Friar had wanted Rule’s word instead of hers. She wouldn’t have a problem bending that part of the deal. If it saved all of them from a sneak attack by someone who didn’t just want to kill them, but make it last? No problem at all. But for Rule, the line was clear and absolute. “If you changed your mind about that,” she said slowly, “it would probably be corruption talking.”
    Rule’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
    “Earlier I was thinking about the difference between persuasion and corruption. Our, uh, our source didn’t exactly define the terms, did he?” She didn’t want to mention Sam in case Friar could hear them. As far as they knew, his hearing was only human . . . but maybe Her Bitchiness had upgraded that, too. “The way I’ve got it figured, persuasion messes up your thinking. Makes you lose your common sense. Corruption would make us lose our moral sense. For you, bending your word would mean a loss of moral sense.”
    “My word, once given, has no ‘bend.’ I keep it or I break it.”
    “That’s what I mean.”
    Rule thought that over, then nodded. “We can use that as a canary in the coal mine. If, once we’re close to the knife, I suddenly decide it’s okay to break my word, we’ll know that is corruption speaking.”
    “That would be one . . .” Lily’s eyes widened in sudden dismay.
    “Lily? What is it?”
    She swallowed and reminded herself to keep her voice down. “You know what Drummond said about when I was fighting the dworg. There was a spiritual attack. Was the knife nearby?”
    After a moment Cullen said, “Oh.” And, “Shit. No one acted like they were under compulsion, did they? The dworg would’ve bloody won if, say, Scott had been compelled to stop fighting.”
    “Which means,” Rule said slowly, “the knife was not nearby.”
    “Yeah,” Lily said. “But someone was able to mount a spiritual attack anyway.” And if the knife or the god could do that, how did she know any of her decisions tonight were truly hers? She wasn’t corrupted. Surely she’d notice if she made a decision that ran counter to her understanding of good and evil . . . wouldn’t she? But persuasion was a sly and sneaky bastard. Persuasion crept in and put thoughts in your head.
    Could she trust her own thoughts? How could she tell?
    * * *
    M IRIAM slowed as she neared the gate, pleased with herself for finding the place. She’d only been here that once. A barbecue, that had been. Rule had invited her and others from her coven, and his people had been very welcoming . . . one of