Ghosting the Hero Read Online Free PDF Page B

down.
     
    * * * *
     
    Simry finished an afternoon of work and headed to medical. Three more of her students had jumped out of their bodies just to see what they could do. Two had broken wrists and one had a concussion.
    Simry settled in a chair and quickly caught her loose students, stuffing them back into their bodies. The medical students took it from there, healing the broken bones and the contusion with their own means.
    Simry sighed and got to her feet. The healing instructor grinned.
    “I do love your classes. We always get to practice right afterward.”
    “Not as much as the flying course.”
    “No, not as much as that, but a lovely variety of coma and injuries. It really makes us work.”
    Simry stretched. “I am so happy I can be of use. No matter how many times I tell them not to do something, they seem drawn to it.”
    Healer M’rin looked them over. “They don’t seem incredibly stupid. Just adventurous, I suppose.”
    As Simry glared at her students, they looked sheepish and glanced at each other.
    “It was a group effort. They wanted to try it together. Gee. I hope I got them back in the right bodies.” She raised her voice for the last sentence.
    M’rin caught on. “I hope so. The last time it happened, we had them mixed by the psychic-healing class. It took you a while to help sort them after that.”
    Simry gave a theatrical shudder. “Or the two that were spliced together.”
    The three in the beds were staring at their limbs and trying to figure out if they were who they thought they were.
    Simry chuckled and headed off for dinner.
    M’rin stopped her. “Drinks later?”
    “Sure. I will meet you in the dining hall.”
    “I will be there as soon as this bunch is sorted. Yivick is a fire healer, so this is not going to be fun.”
    Simry left quickly before the screaming started. Flame healing was definitely not something she enjoyed experiencing or listening to.
    Dinner with friends and drinks with M’rin seemed to be her kind of evening.
     
    “So, why is the new Guardsman taking massage courses?” M’rin looked at her over the top of an ornate cocktail glass.
    Simry spluttered. “What?”
    “I was teaching a therapeutic massage class this morning, and he was in it.” M’rin smiled slyly.
    Simry blotted at her lips with the back of her hand until M’rin handed her a napkin. “Did he say why he was in the class?”
    “Nope. He was just intent on learning all he could with the simulators.”
    “Let me know how he does with a living patient.”
    “You aren’t going to volunteer? You normally offer your body for education.” M’rin grinned.
    “I...”
    M’rin laughed out loud. “There is something between you, isn’t there?”
    Simry remembered being in his mind. “Not as much as I would like. I was inside him and that creates a bond on both sides.”
    “Oh, sounds dirty. Tell me more.”
    She sighed and made a rude gesture while drinking deep of the cocktail. “Nothing to tell. I kept his thoughts company while his body was paralyzed. He focused entirely on me.”
    M’rin gave her a long look. “That explains his fixation; what about your reaction?”
    Simry blinked. “What do you mean?”
    “When you think about him, you smile. It is a slow, sexy smile that has never crossed your face in my presence, not even when Leodar is doing naked yoga.”
    “I...” she rubbed the back of her neck. “He was a hero to his people, and they just threw him away, yet he still wants to save them. It was in his mind when I was inside him. He wants the best for his people even if they abandoned him when he needed saving.”
    “And you are interested in him beyond the wounded-warrior attraction.” M’rin had that sly smile again.
    Simry got up and refilled their drinks. “I am not sure. Aside from a few disasters as a teen, I haven’t really sought out the opposite sex.”
    “Or the same sex, though I have offered.” M’rin sighed wistfully.
    “As pretty as you are, you are