Julia blinked her eyes open to see an unfamiliar ceiling above her. It was popcorned, like the ceilings of her childhood had been. This was one of those old-style houses that weren’t built anymore. The only ones that remained were the ones in clans that hadn’t been fully destroyed during the Great Dark War.

Julia blinked again, and tried to shift her body so she could see more of where she was. But her attempt at movement immediately shot searing pain through her entire body. She winced, and lay still again, closing her eyes against the flood of sharp, stabbing sensations that filled her. Why did everything hurt so much? And where was she? She couldn’t be in Torch Lake. All the houses there were only a few years old. But the last thing Julia remembered was being in her own kitchen in her cozy Torch Lake house, getting ready to go meet Jasper at the Winking Wizard. She was obviously missing a big gap of time.

As if her very thoughts had power, the instant she thought of Jasper, she heard his voice. It was low and whispering, but it was him. He sounded like he was having an argument with someone…someone whose voice also sounded familiar to her. With great effort, and bracing herself against the pain, Julia turned herself sideways slightly so she could look around the room. As she did, some strange bags that smelled like they were filled with herbs shifted on her body. She frowned, sniffing at the bag closest to her face. It smelled vaguely like mugwort.

She was in a strange house she’d never seen before. On the floor beside her were a bunch of blankets and pillows, as though someone had been sleeping there. Beyond that, there was what appeared to be a black medical bag. A coffee table was covered with herbs that she recognized as medicinal. She’d seen many of them in the local Magical Medicine Pharmacy down the street from the Advocacy Bureau. The little pouches all over her body must be filled with magical herbal concoctions. Was she in a doctor’s office? It would make sense, since she hurt so badly. Something not good had clearly happened to her, although she had no memory of what. This place looked more like someone’s home than a medical office, though.

When she turned her head a little more to look at the front door, she saw that she had not been imagining the voices she’d heard. Jasper stood there, speaking with Jake. That had been the other familiar voice. Julia couldn’t hear them well enough to understand what they were saying, so she moved her hand with her magic ring ever so slightly in their direction and whispered, “Magicae audite.” Instantly, the listening spell made it easier for her to hear what was being said.

“What were you thinking, anyway? She could have died on the flight over! She was in no condition to be carried around by a dragon like that.”

Julia’s eyes widened. Jake sounded angrier than she’d ever heard him before. And his anger was being directed squarely at Jasper. But why? Jasper stuck his chin out defiantly in Jake’s direction. “There wasn’t time to go through all the bureaucratic hoops. If I hadn’t done what I did when I did it, Julia would have lost her magic, and you know it.”

“I don’t know it,” Jake said, his tone seething. “And besides, we still don’t know whether Dr. Pasko saved Julia’s magic. Or her life. She’s been pretty touch and go from what I understand.”

Julia’s eyes widened even more. Save her magic? Save her life? They were arguing about her, and it sounded like she’d been through something pretty serious. But what? She tried to sit up again, but the pain was too much. Besides, she wasn’t sure she wanted to interrupt the conversation that was going on right now. It didn’t sound like something she wanted to get in the middle of, even if it was about her.

“Caleb said her vital signs were looking a lot better this morning,” Jasper insisted. “We won’t know until she fully wakes up whether her magic is still intact, but this was the only chance she had and you do know it.”

Julia felt her magic ring on her finger, wanting the reassurance that it was there. From what Jasper and Jake were saying, she’d been in danger of losing her magic. That could only mean she had come into contact with some sort of dark magic. But how, and where? She rubbed the band of her magic ring with her thumb, trying to calm herself and think clearly. She still had her magical abilities, at least right now she did. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to perform the Audite spell. Was she still in danger of losing her magic, though? The thought nearly paralyzed her with fear. Magic was her life. If she lost it, she’d never be able to achieve her dream job of Advocate Defender. She almost sat up in a panic, but then Jasper was speaking again.

“Besides, you should stick up for me. We dragons should stick together.”

Jake let out a long, exasperated sigh. “I’m People’s Governor! I can’t exactly condone law-breaking, Jasper!”

“Did I actually break any laws?”

“Kidnapping someone from the hospital is against the law. So is destroying half the wall of a hospital room.”

“I’ll pay to replace the wall. And as for the kidnapping, it was an emergency. Surely there’s some legal loophole for that.”

There was a long pause. Julia turned her head slightly to look, and saw that Jake was rubbing his forehead wearily. “Fine. I’ll talk to the High Council for you. But please try to lay low for the next few days. I know you can’t stand Dr. Pasko, but don’t get into any big arguments with him. Just…just behave yourself okay?”

Jasper grunted. “I’ll try. If he does manage to save Julia then I guess I can’t be too mad at him.”

As if on cue, a man who must have been Dr. Pasko suddenly walked into the room. He was wearing a white doctor’s coat, and he looked like he’d barely slept the night before. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his white hair was shooting off in every possible direction. As he turned, Julia saw that the embroidery on his doctor’s coat read “Pasko.” He was indeed the doctor they were speaking of, although Julia wasn’t sure why Jasper wouldn’t be able to stand him. His eyes seemed kind enough, even if he did appear a little bit eccentric.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” the doctor said, his voice the epitome of professionalism. Jake and Jasper fell silent, and the strain that suddenly filled the air was palpable. Julia decided this was a good moment to finally sit up and let everyone know she was awake. With a small grunt, she forced herself to push through the pain and sat up so that her back was against the armrest of the couch, and her legs stretched out in front of her. When the three men saw that she was awake, they all forgot about their other worries and ran over to her.

“Julia!” Jasper yelped, running to kneel by her side. He took her hand in his, and Julia felt her body warm at his touch. She gave him a weak smile. Dr. Pasko started feeling her forehead, then her pulse, and then asking her a series of rapid-fire questions about how she felt. Julia’s head was swimming as she tried to keep up. She saw Jake in the background, bouncing nervously from one foot to another.

“I thought I might lose you,” Jasper said, his voice breaking. Julia turned her eyes to him, and for a moment the rest of the world faded away. All she could see was him, his handsome face looking back at her with an earnest expression. She felt a rush of emotion. Even though she didn’t know yet what had happened to her, it sounded like he had saved her life, and her magic. If that was true, how could she ever repay him? She’d already been falling for him. If he had rescued her from something horrible, that was just one more big reason to give in to what her heart was telling her: that Jasper Moffatt was the kind of man who came along once in a lifetime.

“What happened to me?” she asked, her heart pounding as he reached up to trace a line down the side of her face.

“First we should check all her vitals,” Dr. Pasko interrupted, reaching in the nearby black medical bag for some sort of tool. “Then we can discuss what happened.”

“No,” Jasper said, his voice firm. “She’s well enough. She needs to hear, and know.”

Julia watched as Jasper glared at Dr. Pasko. The older man looked like he might protest, and for a moment the heavy tension was back in the air. But then, Dr. Pasko nodded.

“Very well. I suppose if she’s awake then she’s well enough to hear what happened.”

Julia turned back to look at Jasper. “What…what happened? I heard you saying something about my losing my magic. But I can still perform spells. I just tried one a minute ago to amplify sound, and it worked.”

The look of relief that flooded across Jasper’s face was so intense that it was almost heartbreaking. “Oh, thank god,” he said, and pulled her fully into his arms. She thought she felt him let out a sob or two. Jake was letting out an excited whoop, and Dr. Pasko started racing back and forth across the room in a frenzy, which made him look even more like a mad scientist.

“Oh my god, it worked. It worked? It worked!” Dr. Pasko rambled as he paced, seeming unable to contain himself. Julia pulled back from Jasper to look in his eyes, surprised to see tears trickling down his face.

“You’re crying?”

“Happy tears,” he said, wiping at his face. “I’ve never been so overjoyed in my life.”

Julia was glad he was happy, but she was starting to get annoyed. She felt like she was missing out on some sort of joke that everyone was in on but her. “Okay, can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?”

Jasper nodded and took a deep breath. “Long story short, you accidently came in contact with an ancient dark magic curse that causes the wizard it infects to lose their magical abilities. It’s irreversible once it happens, and the curse can also cause death. Needless to say, when I realized you were infected like that, I was really freaked out for you.”

Julia frowned, sitting up straighter. The fog in her mind was clearing slightly as she woke up more, and the pain in her body was decreasing a bit. But she still felt confused. “I don’t remember anything, except feeling quite tired and sick right before I was supposed to go meet you at the Winking Wizard. How did I get cursed with dark magic? Did I come into contact with a dark wizard? Everything feels like a blur.”

“Remember those balls that you picked up in the advanced Advocate training room? The ones that Kai freaked out about?”

Julia nodded. How could she forget that fiasco?

“Well, those weren’t fake magical artifacts.”

It took a moment for Julia to comprehend what Jasper was saying, but once she did, her jaw dropped. “There were real cursed objects in there? That’s against regulations! How did that happen?” She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. No wonder Kai hadn’t wanted her to touch the balls. He must have known they weren’t fake.

“The High Council is investigating Kai right now, from what I understand,” Jasper answered. “But it sounds like there wasn’t exactly malicious intent behind it. From the bits of information that have been reported back to me, it sounds like Kai was indeed infected with a curse himself at some point, and has gone slightly crazy. He’ll probably be pardoned for having real cursed objects, but he’ll have to go through some serious rehab before he’ll be allowed back inside the Advocacy Bureau building.”

“Wow.” Julia wasn’t sure what else to say. The Advocacy Bureau had such strict security that she could hardly believe that Kai had been able to sneak anything cursed into the advanced training rooms. But that just went to show that things could always be improved.

“Wow is right,” Jake said, speaking up for the first time. “This could have turned out really badly for you. It probably would have, if not for Jasper.”

Julia saw Jasper give Jake a grateful look. Jake was offering a truce of sorts, it seemed.

“What did happen to me, though? How did I end up here? Where is here?”

Jasper looked uncomfortable again. “Well…”

Julia narrowed her eyes at him. “Jasper? What’s going on?”

“I sort of kidnapped you from the hospital.”

“You what?”

“It sounds worse than it is.”

Jake couldn’t resist a snort of laughter, and Jasper glared at him. Their truce was on shaky ground, it seemed.

If Julia hadn’t still been in so much pain every time she moved, she would have thrown her hands up in the air in frustration. “Stop beating around the bush and just tell me what happened already!”

Jasper sighed, and looked sheepish. “Alright, fine. Basically, you ended up in the hospital thanks to Rachel. She was worried about you and came to check on you, then realized you needed an ambulance. She called 911, which probably saved your life. Then she called me from your phone when I texted to see why you hadn’t met me at the Winking Wizard yet, like we’d planned. When she told me you were in the hospital, I came immediately.”

“I don’t remember any of this,” Julia said, looking from Jasper to Jake to Dr. Pasko. No one contradicted Jasper’s story, so it must be true. But it felt strange to know she’d been in an ambulance and then in the hospital, with no memory of it whatsoever.

“Well, it’s not surprising you don’t remember it, because you were in a coma,” Jake interjected. Julia looked at Jasper for confirmation, and he was nodding.

“You were really sick. They called in a specialist from across town, who quickly realized that you’d been infected with a magic sterilizing curse. He told us that you would almost certainly lose your magical abilities, and possibly your life. There was no known cure. Of course, we were all devastated for you. The clock was ticking closer to the moment when the damage would be done and irreversible, but there was nothing any of us could do. That’s when I overheard the doctor who was a specialist talking on the phone with someone about one doctor who might possibly have a cure. It was experimental, but it was your only chance. It was worth a shot.”

“I’m assuming that doctor was Dr. Pasko?” Julia asked, glancing over at the doctor. Dr. Pasko smiled at her, but she felt Jasper grimace. He really did not like the man, which confused her. Why would he hate someone who had just saved her life and magic?

“Yes. Dr. Pasko here has spent the last few years studying magical medicine. An interesting choice for a shifter.”

“I’m interested in the intersection of shifter medicine and magical medicine,” Dr. Pasko interrupted. “I want to find ways for both branches of medicine to work together. This will bring a wider range of health to both shifters and wizards.”

“Right,” Jasper said as he grimaced again. “Anyway, I knew time was of the essence for you, and the doctors in Torch Lake were arguing about whether you were strong enough to move. They couldn’t just have Dr. Pasko come to you, either. Apparently his medicinal potions don’t survive transport very well, and the Torch Lake pharmacies didn’t have all the ingredients he needed. So, long story short, I shifted into dragon form and broke you out of the Torch Lake hospital, flew you here, and begged for Dr. Pasko to help you. Which he did. And it looks like you’re going to make a full recovery so, regardless of everything else, I owe him a big debt of gratitude for that. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”

Julia shook her head in amazement as she processed everything. It sounded like Jasper’s quick actions really had saved her life. She hoped that he was right that he would be forgiven his “kidnapping” of her due to the emergency nature of things. She would certainly testify on his behalf. If she’d been conscious, she would have gladly told the doctors she’d take the risk of flying in a coma, if it meant her magic would be saved. She’d rather die than live without magic. She was about to open her mouth and say this to Jasper, when she realized she still didn’t even know where she was, or how far away from Torch Lake they were.

“Wait a second. Where is here? I don’t even know where I am.”

Jasper looked uncomfortable and paused for a moment before answering.

“We’re in Lost Garden.”

Julia furrowed her brow. Why did that name ring a bell? Then, suddenly, it hit her. “Lost Garden? Where the Lost Garden Clan lives.”

Jasper nodded.

“But…isn’t that your old clan? I thought you swore never to go back there. And, wait, is Dr. Pasko the doctor who…” Julia trailed off, hardly able to believe what Jasper had just told her.

“Yes,” Jasper said, calmly but with a look of great anguish on his face. “Lost Garden is where my old clan, the Lost Garden Clan, is located. I did swear I’d never come back, but, well, that was before your life and magic depended on my coming back. And Dr. Pasko here is indeed the doctor who treated me after I was injured defending Lost Garden during the Great Dark War. In some strange, ironic twist of fate, he was the only one who could save you.”

Julia was floored. No wonder there had been so much tension in the air. She looked over at Dr. Pasko, who looked so distraught and kindly that it was hard to imagine him treating Jasper as awfully as Jasper had claimed. But Jasper wouldn’t have lied. Dragons didn’t have it in them to lie. So what was going on here?

Dr. Pasko cleared his throat. “Jasper, about, uh, the treatment I gave you after the Great Dark War—”

“Yes, I know I owe you,” Jasper interrupted, his voice on edge. “And I’ll pay you, and pay you for Julia’s treatment. I hope you’re happy that you’ve gotten what you always wanted from me, after all.”

Dr. Pasko looked uncomfortable. “It’s not that, it’s just that—”

Before Dr. Pasko could finish his sentence, a loud banging sounded at the door.

“Open up, by order of the Lost Garden High Council. We’re here for Jasper Moffatt and we know he’s in here. He stands accused of treason, and anyone aiding and sheltering him will be accused as an accomplice to a traitor.”

Dr. Pasko nearly jumped out of his skin. “Jasper, I can talk to them and convince them to come back later, I’m sure. Julia has barely woken up and—”

“No,” Jasper said, standing wearily. “I might as well go face the music now. If they want to hear what I have to say for myself, then so be it.”

“I’ll come with you,” Jake said. “You’re part of my clan now, and I’m not going to let them push you around like this. It’s ridiculous after all you did for them!”

Julia felt her whole body tensing up with alarm. “Wait, what? Jasper, you can’t go to a High Council accusing you of treason! What if they condemn you and you can’t get away? I…I need you!”

Jasper’s eyes softened as he turned to look at her. “I promise I’ll be alright,” he said, and then his voice turned husky. “I need you, too. I’ll be back for you soon, but now that you’re in stable condition, this nuisance needs to be dealt with. Try to rest, and don’t worry about me. I’m a dragon. They don’t scare me.”

Jasper leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, which sent a rush of tingling warmth through her whole body. Jake raised an eyebrow when he saw the kiss, but he said nothing. In the next moment, before Julia could gather her thoughts enough to say anything else, both Jasper and Jake rushed out the front door to face the insistent High Council messengers.

Dr. Pasko seemed just as shell shocked. “Why those…those bastards!” he exclaimed, then clapped his hand over his mouth and glanced at Julia. “Pardon my language, ma’am.”

Julia waved off his apology. She wasn’t sure whether his “bastards” comment had been directed at the High Council messengers, or at Jasper and Jake. And she wasn’t sure how much she could trust Dr. Pasko. After all, he was the one who had screwed Jasper over after the Great Dark War.

But Julia didn’t have much of a choice right now. It was either trust Dr. Pasko or be stuck here while Jasper was standing trial for treason. If Jasper was facing such serious accusations, Julia wanted to be there. So she looked at Dr. Pasko, and in the firmest voice she could muster up she said, “I need to go to Jasper’s trial. Can you take me there?”

Dr. Pasko hesitated for a moment, and Julia thought he was going to refuse. But then he nodded. “I want to see this, too. I shouldn’t let you out of this house since you just woke up from a coma, but you’re recovering quickly, and this is a serious trial. If you’re feeling up to it, I’ll take you.”

“Then let’s go,” Julia said, forcing herself to stand up despite the pain. “Jasper needs me.”

Dr. Pasko only grunted in reply. Julia wasn’t sure what he meant by that grunt, and she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting to Jasper. He’d saved her life and her magic, and she’d be damned if she let anyone convict him of treason and get away with it.

She was going to go add her voice to the others that were speaking up for her man.

Her man. She rolled those two words over in her mind and smiled, despite the pain and stress that filled her. If they managed to get through this and get back home, she was going to make sure he knew that she definitely wanted a second date. And a third and a fourth and, well, she wouldn’t mind a future full of more time with Jasper. He had saved her magic, and shown her that she didn’t have to choose between romance and a career. She didn’t have to choose between a life of love and a life of purpose. With Jasper, she could have both.

“I’m coming for you,” she whispered as she climbed into Dr. Pasko’s sleek black luxury car. And if it comes down to it, I’ll fight for you. I’m one of the best wizards around at advanced magical defense techniques, and I still have my magic, damn it.

She hoped a fight wouldn’t be necessary, but if it was, she’d win it. No one was going to mess with the love of her life. Not even the entire High Council of Lost Garden.