The Secrets of Lore Seymour

38. Seren the Strange One

When my eyes will themselves to open, Lore stands atop charred ground. Donning his usual grin, he looks at me and laughs, "I must admit, that was much stronger than I expected."

"Are you... are you insane?!" I scream, scrambling towards him.

There's heat all around, enough to suffocate, but my unsteady breathing has barely little to do with that. I can't look away from his hands, the ones I can't clearly see through the smog. Lore stares wide-eyed when I grasp said hands to inspect the damage. Dhampiri cannot use divinity. They cannot absorb divinity! It's never happened. There's a chance he won't heal from the damage. What if he lost his hands entirely? This damn foolish fool! Doing something so ridiculously stupid--

There's nothing. No damage. His hands are obscenely warm and trembling, but there's no blood, burns, or any sign of a broken bone. He's fine.

"Is there a reason you're groping my arms?" Lore questions after I've thoroughly touched and pinched his hands and arms until I get to his shoulders where I do the same. He stiffens uncharacteristically and eyes drift from left to right like he's searching for someone to stop me.

I heave a long, steady breath. He's okay. He's really okay. Praise the Mothers, if he wasn't okay I'd--I--I don't know.

"How...?" I rest my hands on his shoulders, continuing to eye him suspiciously. "You shouldn't--that should have killed you."

"While I am thoroughly touched and somewhat aroused by your concern, as you can see," Lore outstretches his hands. "I am more than alright."

"But how?"

"My trait is power absorption, which I can contain and use later in terms of things like electricity or even heat. Magic, on the other hand, I can only absorb momentarily and send right back out." Lore observes his own hand. His gaze darkens.

"The first time I tried absorbing magic didn't work out so well. The bones in my hands and arms were shattered. A maid had to spoon feed me for a month," he adds, making the previously dark expression disappear with a grin. "But now I've gotten used to it. As long as I get the magic out immediately, I'll be fine."

Immediately. He could have still got seriously injured, this idiot!!

"That's lucky for us," Jaryl says. He glances between us, his eyes lingering on Lore's shoulders that I now remember I'm still grasping. The very firm and strong and wide shoulders that I should be letting go of. Please, for my sake, let go.

Clearing my throat, I retreat and ask, "Where... where's Ikehn? Did he..."

"Perish," Lore finishes for me. "Absolutely." He nods ahead to a few ashes fluttering in the wind. "You can look for a few pieces of him over there, if you'd like."

"Well, we at least got proof that Ikehn was an unregistered mage," Jaryl says. "Although now we don't know whether he killed Ayden himself or ordered someone else."

"He definitely did it himself."

"How are you so sure?" I ask Lore, who stares at me like I asked a dumb question.

"Do you remember his office? Ikehn was an obsessive perfectionist."

I recalled the same observation earlier.

"A job like that, getting rid of someone who knew too much, I highly doubt Ikehn trusted anyone else to finish the job," Lore explains. "And, as a mage, I hear it's unbearable hiding their magic. The scene at Ayden's, all that power he used, was likely due to holding his magic in so long. He lost it, like he did here today."

"That would make sense, but we still don't have concrete proof," Jaryl reminds him. "Regardless, we all thank you for your help today, Your Grace. We can handle the rest from here. I'll let you know if we find anything else."