The Fire Immortal-Book 5

Chapter 1

Hi, guys! I'm so glad you guys have decided to stick with me for the fifth and final book in The Elemental Chronicles! After this, I will continue to update Justice, not Revenge and a companion book to The Elemental Chronicles, called The Elemental Companion. It'll tell the tales of magicians whom you've already met before, but you don't know much about them. :D Cover credit goes to @aurion- and the picture on the side is of Varmer. :D 

Chapter 1

                    Varmer lay back on the bed, ignoring the tugging feelings in his right arm. It wasn't something that he normally went through; he had forgotten how much the potion numbed his limbs. He had temporarily lost all feeling in his right arm thanks to the anaesthetic that Dr Lucy had kindly injected into his bloodstream. The Magician of Water stood next to him, pushing a needle and thread in and out of his skin.

                  "Does it hurt?" Dr Lucy asked, pausing in her stitching, her latex gloves covered in Varmer's slippery blood.

                  "My arm?" Varmer asked. "No."

                  "What about your heart?" she queried, surprising Varmer with her curiosity. For the most part, Varmer's magicians, including the guard, were obedient drones. But it made sense that Dr Lucy would be more free with her questions; she could see into the past with her second gift, meaning that no one had secrets from her, except what they planned to do in the future. Not only that, but she also worked as a shrink for the magicians; she could read between the lines better than almost anyone Varmer knew.

                   Varmer was silent for a moment, watching Dr Lucy stitch up the wound that Dahlia's dagger had cut. The wound had been deep; Dr Lucy had doused it in potions and needed to stitch both the front and back of his arm to get the wound closed. A long roll of bandage sat on the cupboard next to various potion bottles.

                  "Ellie's death must have been very hard on you," Dr Lucy noted, pushing a little to see his reaction.

                    Varmer laughed without humour; it was an ugly sound, like it was forced out of him against his will. He tucked one hand behind his head to support his neck. Dr Lucy eyed him sharply, her pale green eyes seeming to penetrate his very soul. Although she did not have Sapphire's healing magic, she was more than competent at identifying potions and was an expert on magician biology.

                   "I did not believe that Benjamin would betray us," Varmer said slowly, not entirely sure that what he was saying was true; perhaps he had doubted Benjamin's loyalties before. "What about you? You are... were his psychologist."

                    Dr Lucy raised a pale blonde eyebrow silently. "You know that I am not permitted to tell you anything that my patients tell me. It's called doctor-patient privilege, my lord, you know that."

                    Varmer sat up abruptly, his nostrils flaring in his impatience, to stare at the doctor. His temper flamed inside, but he cooled it down almost immediately. Back when he had been younger, his temper had been so quick, that ten years prior, Dr Lucy would have been reduced into a pile of ashes. Slowly, but surely, he had learned to control his temper better; he was much less susceptible to quick flashes of anger.

                   Much as he wanted to blast Dr Lucy into flames for her own stubborn attitude, he could not afford to do so. Her knowledge about magician biology was extensive and irreplaceable; no one in the world knew as much about the workings of the magician body as well as she did, not even Sapphire or Jared.

                  "I should kill you right now for your own impudence," Varmer snapped, knowing full well that it was an empty threat.

                   Dr Lucy continued to sew his arm, undeterred by his anger. "Doctor-patient confidentiality benefits you as well, my lord," she said. "If it did not exist, I could tell anyone about your... condition."