The young man scrambled up immediately and reached out with both hands like he was trying to steady me instead of the other way around.
But something was strange about him.
I stepped back and looked at him properly.
Something about him felt off right from the first second. He had just come out of the corner where Benjamin and those powerful strangers were tearing into each other, and the air back there was thick enough with raw magic that most people would have liquefied on the spot within moments of stepping into it.
But here he was, still standing, breathing, and talking. Maybe Benjamin had done something to keep him alive this long.
Looking at his face didn't help settle the question either—he was unnaturally handsome, having great levels of sharp, clean features that made me wonder if he was even human at all.
On top of that his whole body was already laced through with magic poison.
