"Birsha," I rasped, kissing Booker's throat again for good measure. "Birsha got into Booker. But he pushed him out, didn't you?"
"Esther, please, let me look at you."
It was Booker who finally passed me to the other man, his brow tangled, and I snatched his hand in mine, refusing to surrender our connection in case Birsha tried to steal him away again.
Jonathon hissed as he turned me enough to look at my throat, touching spots gently and glaring past me at Booker.
"It wasn't his fault. He didn't do anything wrong," I said, squeezing Booker's fingers and wincing as Jonathon hit what would definitely become a bruise soon.
"Birsha could come back," Jonathon bit out.
"No," Booker said, sudden and rough. "He won't."
"All the same, I'm not leaving you alone with him until Magdalena has done something," Jonathon snapped. He sighed, staring at my throat and then glancing down at the rest of me. There were finger-shaped bruises on my hips too.
"Auguste," I said, tapping a finger against Jonathon's chin. "We had a fun night. I'm okay."
"You're bruised, you're going to have swelling. You need ice water and tea and—" Jonathon shuddered, his eyes squeezing tight for a moment before he shook himself. They were brilliantly green when they reopened. "Not now," he growled.
"Let him out," I said. Jonathon was right, my throat was hurting.
"He's too angry," Jonathon said.
"Let him out so he knows I'm safe."
Jonathon leapt out of the bed, his back tensing and bunching, growing as he marched for the attached room, a great snarl escaping. The door opened, and for a moment, I stiffened at the sight of no one, and then Mr. Tanner let out a roar from the other room and Ezra appeared, his eyes wide and flicking between the three of us.
"Shite, what did I miss, puisín?"
* * *
Mr. Tanner hadme cuddled in the crook of his enormous legs at the center of the bed, wrapped in a robe I'd brought back with me from Auguste's. Ezra sat nearby without encroaching on Mr. Tanner's territory, watching me move the bundle of ice across my throat with a worried twinge on his brow.
Magdalena stood at the foot of the bed with Booker, a pair of multi-colored spectacles perched at the end of her nose, as she rubbed her temples with her fingertips. I wanted to make a joke about what trouble I was, but it was starting to hurt too much to speak and the wounded sound of my voice just agitated Mr. Tanner.
"In a sense, Birsha was right. Your connection with Booker has disrupted my control over him," Magdalena said, picking up the spectacles and turning them so she was staring out of the purple lense, the green pinched in her fingers. "This hasn't happened before. He’s… Well, the strand of magic that might've exerted my will onto him is now loose."
"But how did Birsha grab it?" Ezra asked.
"Dumb luck? A spy? I don't know," Magdalena said, sounding especially irritated by the idea. "Birsha assumed that left Booker, and thus you, entirely defenseless. He didn't consider that the force with which Booker liberated himself from me could also be used to resist him."
"How do we know Birsha won't grab hold again?" Mr. Tanner growled.
"You don't, unfortunately," Magdalena said with a sigh. "I think it would be best if I reattached the tether."
"No!" I started to scramble up, grunting as Mr. Tanner slapped a massive hand on my shoulder to hold me in place. "No, I don't want Booker tethered."
"You have to be safe," Booker said before anyone else got a chance to speak.
"But you deserve to have your free will! I don't want Booker to be someone's servant. Or to do their bidding just to keep me safe! Oh, stop! I will live," I snapped, twisting to glare at Mr. Tanner when he tried to bundle me back down into his lap. He just glared right back, and it was twice as ferocious as I could manage.
"Well there's an easy enough solution to that worry, darling," Magdalena said with a shrug. "I will tether him to you."
I whipped my stare back to her in the quiet that followed. She had turned the spectacles to the green lens, examining me with pursed lips.
"No," I said softly, although there was a strangely possessive part of me, buried deep in my chest, that squeezed greedily at the idea.
"Yes," Booker answered.
Magdalena only blinked. "It's already floating in your direction. And Booker's growing…sense of self won't allow him to be tied to me. I doubt it will accept anyone else."
"What about someone like Auguste?" Ezra asked, frowning.
This time, Booker and I were firm in our agreement. "No!"
My eyes widened at my own vehemence. I trusted Auguste absolutely, but…
But if Booker's will was going to belong to someone else, I did want it to be me. I would protect it, never abuse the trust he had in me. Magdalena's arms crossed over her chest, head cocking with a slant on her lips that made me wonder if she wasn't reading my mind.
"Just your expression," she said, and I tried to deliver a growl worthy of one of my gentlemen.
"It's a good idea, little one," Mr. Tanner rumbled, sliding his hand down my arm to pat my knee.
I twisted, smoothing my fingers over his, absently amused at the absurd difference in our sizes before glancing up to meet his gaze. There was a little ring of blue on the inside near his pupils, my doctor watching calmly from inside.
"Let me up. I want to speak with Booker," I said gently.
Mr. Tanner and Ezra both helped steady me as I wobbled my way off the bed, ignoring Magdalena to walk up to Booker. He'd been wearing a frown ever since he'd shaken Birsha out, and as soon as Mr. Tanner and Ezra had coaxed me off Booker, he'd kept his distance from me. I reached up between us, pressing my fingers over the worried folds on his forehead until they softened.
His eyes were just shy of human now, and his expressions came more readily, cheeks twitching with a smile the longer I touched him.
"Has to be you," he said, words quiet scratches of stone on stone.