Page 20 of The Tea Witch's Promise

The empath mage gave me a concerned look. "Are you sure? You know what happens if you let your emotions take over."

"It's fine," I assured her, and not just because I didn't want her using her empathy magic on me. I didn't fully understand how it worked, but I knew it did wonders for some of the patients here, and I'd rather she saved her strength for them.

"All right," she agreed. "But if you want, I can go get one of the others to finish up for you. There's only one other person in the waiting room."

I shook my head. "They've been healing for hours too. I've got this." I cracked my neck and tried to ignore the strain in my body. In reality, it was probably better if I didn't use any more magic. I'd been drinking tea all day, so if I felt this bad, then there was a good chance I was heading towards overexertion myself. But there was always so much to do and I didn't want to be the one who let it slip past me unnoticed.

"If you're certain," Hayley said.

I nodded.

She gave me a concerned look but didn't say anything as I made my way to the waiting room. It was always calmer towards the afternoon and got busy again when night came. But that was going to be someone else's problem. Earl would be here to take over for the night shift along with Grey Steeper, and I could get some rest.

My gaze landed on the lone person sitting in the waiting room, and concern filled me, stopping my ability to think straight.

Katie.

I hurried over, trying to get a hold of my emotions and failing miserably. It was like admitting how I felt about her the other night had unlocked a new level of worry inside me when it came to the dog ward.

"Katie? Are you hurt?" I asked.

She looked up, her whole face softening when she saw me. "No, not me. I'm here with Oliver. More training scratches from Howie."

Relief washed over me but I still felt a bit dizzy. I hadn't seen her since I admitted my feelings to her and this was not how I expected our next conversation to go. Though I wasn't exactly surewhatI expected, or what I even wanted. I should have lied about my feelings to her, then things could have just gone back to normal. But the way she'd asked had made me think that she wanted to hear the truth.

And the selfish part of me had really wanted her to know.

But I shouldn't be focusing on that right now. If Oliver was hurt, then he needed my full attention. "Where's your brother?" I asked, looking around for my best friend. The last thing I needed was him walking on me making a mess of things with his sister.

"Oh, Hana is treating him now," Katie said, waving vaguely towards the room Hana saw patients in. "I'm just waiting for him."

"You're a good sister." I resisted the urge to pat her on the head like we used to do as children. I might've done so last week but I didn't want to make her uncomfortable now she was aware of my feelings. I would only be overstepping.

Katie let out a thoughtful hum. "Am I though?"

"Of course. The bond you two have is so strong and I would know, I'm kind of the expert on sibling bonds," I attempted to joke.

She chuckled. "You do have plenty of them."

The conversation stalled and for once, I wished there were other patients here so I had something to do. Instead, I stood in awkward silence while Katie fumbled with her shawl.

Memories of the night outside the tavern flooded back and I vividly remembered how warm it had felt to have her smell wrapped around me. And the care with which she'd put it on. She'd been so close to me that it had been hard not to kiss her.

Except that kissing her when she had no idea how I felt would have been all kinds of wrong.

"I don't think I've ever seen it so quiet in here," she said eventually, breaking the growing silence between us.

"It's unusual. We saw lots of patients earlier." I waved towards the chalkboard with lots of names crossed out behind the nurse's station.

"Long day?" Concern entered her voice as she looked me over, almost as if she was trying to check on my well-being. I had to admit that I liked it, even if I was trying to be careful not to read too much into it.

I nodded. "You could say that."

"You should make sure to relax later. There's the weekly bonfire. I was planning on having a drink or something. Are you going?" A strange expression crossed her face.

"I wasn't planning on, I'm really tired," I said before realising she might be extending an invitation. "But I suppose I could swing by. Maybe a nice drink after work is exactly what I need."

"It is." She got up from her seat and bridged the distance, pausing right in front of me. "If you work too hard, you're going to need a healer yourself." She put a hand on my chest, making my heart race.