by G. K. DeRosa
He gave me a weak smile and laid back down without a word.
My heart sank. I whirled to Kaige, my small strides eating up the distance between us. “We need to make a plan now to get him to Draconis.”
Kaige’s lips twisted into a scowl. “Solaris, I don’t know how we’re going to do that. Bringing you was risky enough, but one of the chief ministers of equality? If Turstan gets wind of it, that could be what causes the downfall of both our races.”
I got right up into his face and ground my teeth. “I don’t care. Turstan can go to hell. As soon as this quarantine is up, we’re going to Draconis and you’re going to find an alchemist to find a cure. I won’t let my dad die because of me.”
Kaige released a frustrated sigh and raked his hands through his wild hair, tugging at the ends. “Fine,” he rasped out. “Just remember you’re the one that wanted me to be king. If the nobles find out what I’ve done, I’ll be ousted before the week is out.”
“That’s only if you get caught. And we won’t.”
My friends survived the quarantine period.
Not one of them had contracted the illness. My heart soared, all the terrible things forgotten for a brief moment as I watched Gavin, Isla, and Carissa through the glass pane. Carissa was even sitting up now as her sister held a bottle of water to her parched lips.
Kaige trudged into the room, his eyes refusing to meet mine. This certainly wasn’t the first time we’d fought, but something about it felt different.
“I’m sure you heard most of it, but I’ve told them we’re leaving. I offered to secure a doctor before our departure, but Isla said she had a friend in SciComm that would come treat Carissa.”
I nodded. “Thank you for taking care of my friends.”
“Of course.” Kaige’s icy mask was on, but he couldn’t hide from me. The tumultuous undercurrent churning below the surface ravaged the blood bond, coursing through every inch of me.
I swallowed down the thrashing emotions and pushed forward. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yes. Malcolm is in Isla’s sedan, resting comfortably along with all of our belongings. Isla was kind to let us borrow her car. I’ve already told her where she can retrieve it after we take off.”
I turned back to the viewing window and flipped on the audio switch. “I wish I could say goodbye to you guys in person.”
Gavin and Isla approached the glass, and Carissa turned her gaze to me. The dark bruising under her eyes had already lightened. It was incredible what a little nourishment and love could do to a starving human.
“When will you be back?” asked Gavin.
“I don’t know yet. I’m not sure how long it’ll take for the alchemists to find a cure.”
“Be careful over there,” said Isla, placing her palm up against the glass, “and thank you.”
My jaw dropped. “For what—risking your life? Almost getting you guys killed?”
She pushed her glasses up her nose and fixed her eyes on mine. “For saving my sister. If you hadn’t stolen that plane, we would’ve never discovered she was alive. You may have done a lot of stupid things, Solaris, but I’ll never forget what you did for my sister.” Her eyes bounced to Kaige for a second, and a small smile pulled at her lips.
I swept my finger under my eyes to keep the tears from rolling down. “You guys take care of each other, and I’ll see you soon.” I pressed the button and turned away before my shaky voice betrayed me.
The drive to the jet was quick thanks to Kaige’s lead foot. We swerved through the quiet early morning streets, gray cement buildings passing in a blur as we weaved across town. The stark white dome of the Capitol building loomed ahead in the distance, and Turstan’s smug smile flashed across my mind. This wasn’t the end. I would come back for him.
The small sedan wound its way up to the fourth floor of the vacant parking garage. It wasn’t even six in the morning; none of the government drones had made it to work yet. Lucky for us.
Kaige pulled into a parking spot and slammed the car into park, killing the engine. Digging into his pocket, he revealed a small black device and pressed a button. The magnificent obsidian royal jet appeared, and my mouth hung open. No matter how many times I saw it, I couldn’t get over the precision of the invisibility screen.
“Come on, we have to hurry.”
I yanked my attention away from the beautiful aircraft and hurried around back to open the door for my dad.
“Facemask.” Kaige pointed at the blue mask hanging around my neck.
“Oh, right.” I placed it over my mouth and got out of Kaige’s way. I still didn’t understand why I had to wear it anymore, but he insisted.
I trailed behind Kaige, and the heartbreakingly frail form he held in his arms. I couldn’t believe how quickly my father was deteriorating. It was nothing like what I’d experienced.
As soon as I locked the cabin door, Kaige once again enabled the invisibility shield. A huge aircraft like this would not go undetected in Imera for long, especially not this close to the capitol. I followed him into the main cabin where he lowered my dad into a sleek black leather captain’s chair and reclined it to lay flat.
My dad’s eyes were shut, dark shadows bruising his sunken orbitals. Pallid flesh stuck to sharp bones and fiery red sores puckered his skin. My heart constricted, my fingers itching to wrap around his hand and provide some sort of comfort. It wasn’t fair; I couldn’t even get near him.
Kaige walked by me, his arm brushing against mine. “I’ll prepare the plane for take off. Do you want to fly?”
I shook my head, wrapping my jacket tighter around myself, hoping it would keep me from shattering. “I want to stay here with him.”
He interlaced his fingers through mine, and warmth radiated from his palm, a soothing balm for my tortured soul. There was nothing I wanted more than to sink into his chest and have his strong arms protect me from all the awfulness.
But I couldn’t.
It felt selfish to indulge my own desires when it was because of those desires that we were in this mess.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” Kaige whispered as he released my hand and trudged to the cockpit.
I wanted to believe him, but there was one important fact no one had dared mention. It weighed heavily in the back of my mind, and by the anxiety rippling through the bond, Kaige had thought of it too.
Malcolm had been in the hands of his Collective captors for a full day after he’d been infected. I cringed at the picture forming across my vision. From the cuts, bruises, and wounds mottling his arms and torso, there was no doubt in my mind.
Bodily fluids had been exchanged.
Chapter 10
Kaige
Malcolm looked worse with every passing minute. He was curled up on his side in the bed, a layer of sweat coating his pallid skin. His lids were closed, and his body twitched as he restlessly slept. And my little human sat next to him, her lips pinched.
She’d barely spoken more than three words to me since we arrived in Draconis.
I’d managed to sneak the three of us into Castle De La Divin without being discovered, and Garridan ushered us into another room hidden within its depths. I couldn’t risk going back to the one Solaris stayed in before. Xander knew about that one.
My fingers curled into fists thinking about my brother. It was going to take all the strength I had not to tear his head off the moment we came face to face. He almost killed Solaris. The poison should have killed her.
Instead, her coloring was normal once again, and there wasn’t a trace of illness lingering in her. She’d discarded the mask before we exited the plane. But I couldn’t be certain she was healthy until an alchemist examined her.
“Are you sure this nocturne won’t go nuts and try to bite my dad?”
It took me a moment to respond. Her voice was soothing to my soul even if an angry edge sharpened it.
“Yes, he’ll be fine.” I reached out to touch her, but my hand dropped when her shoulders tensed.
I tried to choke back the hurt her iciness caused me. She was blaming us for her father’s condition. The heavy currents of guilt choking the bond told me that much.
“But how can you be sure, Kaige?” she snapped.
“He and the other alchemists work with the human blood and the aevitas plant to produce synth. They are required to have a very good handle on their thirst and…” I hesitated and shoved my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching out to her again. This information was going to tighten the bands of worry roping around her chest. “He smells different.”
Her head whipped around, those green eyes piercing right through me. “What do you mean?”
I’d been around plenty of humans now, and I hadn’t bitten any of them, but the blood flowing through their veins was still mouthwatering. Her father’s, on the other hand, was completely unappealing. “He doesn’t make me thirsty. At all.”
A line formed between her brows. “Do I smell different?”
I shook my head.
“Did I ever smell different?”
“No.”
Her cheeks paled as Solaris realized her father’s condition was much worse than hers had ever been.
Three knocks echoed on the door, sending her pulse skyrocketing.
“That’s him.” I darted out of the bedroom and quickly crossed the small sitting area toward the door. The alchemist I’d contacted was to meet me here alone and without a word to anyone else.
I opened the door, meeting those dark, knowing eyes.
Gods I hoped this wasn’t a mistake.
“Sir.” Delvin bowed his head before his eyes roamed over the lavish interior of the room. Velvet and silk covered furniture fit for royalty mixed with rich mahogany wood. An intricately carved mantle framed a crackling fire, a bear skin rug warming in the heat before it. “What is this place? I’ve never—”
I cut him off with a quick lift of my hand. “Spare me. I know this room was used for humans before the prophecy, and you’re old enough to know as well.”
He blinked at my uncharacteristic frankness. “Of course, sir.”
I secured the lock, the metal clank echoing hollowly against the stone walls. When I spun around, Delvin’s gaze was heavy on me as if trying to see beyond the thick walls of ice and marble always surrounding me.
Solaris was the only one with that ability.
My lungs expanded, trying and failing to breathe deeply. A dribble of cold sweat leaked down my nape. “What I’m about to show you cannot leave this room. No one else must know what I’m involving you in. Understood?”
His long, bony fingers clasped in front of him. “Perhaps we should call the king. You stormed out of your coronation after attacking your brother and disappeared for days—”
“I am the king.” My voice dipped several octaves, and silver swirled through my irises. Power seeped through my pores, choking the room around us.
Some of the color melted from Delvin’s hollow cheeks. “Yes, Your Highness. Of course.”
“And as your king, I’m trusting you with this important task. I’m also trusting you to keep it quiet.” I could have compelled him—and I may still need to—but once he saw Malcolm, he would understand the significance of this.
Delvin was close on my heels as I led him into the bedroom. His sharp intake of air hit the back of my neck the moment he caught sight of Solaris and her father.
“Kaige, you’ve brought humans into Draconis,” he hissed, his brown eyes bouncing between the two.
Panic flooded the bond, and Solaris threw her arm across her father’s torso, shielding him.
I turned to Delvin. “Yes, I have.”
“B-But why?” He shook his head. “You’ve broken the law. Execution is punishment for this.”
“I’m the king. I’ll change the damn law if I have to.” I stepped so close that Delvin’s silver robe brushed my legs. “I know how synth is made and since consuming human blood is against the law, every nocturne in Draconis is guilty as well. Should I arrest everyone?”
The alchemist took an infinitesimal step back. “No, sir. Of course not.”
A fit of coughs suddenly consumed Malcolm, breaking the tense standoff between the alchemist and me. Solaris ran a hand along his arm until he stopped.
Delvin’s eyes narrowed on the ailing human, and he sniffed the air. “He’s ill.”
“That’s why I brought you here.” If any of the alchemists could formulate a cure, it was Delvin. He was one of the oldest and most talented in Draconis. “And she may be sick as well.” My stomach clenched remembering the agony Solaris had been through.
She has to be okay.
He crossed his arms against his chest. “I’m sure the human doctors in Imera are quite capable of treating their own kind.”
“Not for this.” I dragged my fingers through my hair and shoved them behind my back so he couldn’t see the sudden tremors. “The illness came from Mortiphen.”
Delvin’s head whipped around. “Mortiphen? How would they have come in contact with Mortiphen?”
“I was poisoned by a nocturne.” The fury radiating through Solaris’s voice darkened the bond and squeezed the air from my lungs. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were capable of killing my brother herself.
The alchemist’s brows dipped. “Are you certain, Kaige? Mortiphen is not easy to produce. Mistakes are easily made, resulting in a weak or completely useless potion.”
“Xander made it.”
The second the words crossed my lips, Delvin’s entire body turned to stone. He knew the chances of Xander screwing up a potion were slim to none.
“I see.” He licked his pale, dry lips and inched closer to the shivering human on the bed.
“You can make a cure, right?” Solaris’s chest was moving rapidly as Delvin looked over her father. “He’ll be okay, right?”
He ran his hands along the sides of Malcolm’s neck, checking his glands. He barely stirred as the tip of Delvin’s finger peeled back one of his eyelids, revealing the bloodshot orbs. He made a humming sound and then flipped his wrist over, his gaze following the prominent web of veins beneath the man’s ashen skin.
“Answer me!” Solaris jumped from her seat, her hand landing on Delvin’s arm.
My protective nature took over, and I was in front of her in seconds, a growl clawing up my throat.
The ancient alchemist blinked, his head tilting as he scrutinized me. “What else is going on here?”
I swallowed hard and pushed Solaris further behind me. “Nothing.” I hadn’t intended on revealing the blood bond between us. The fewer people who knew, the better.
Delvin’s eyes narrowed, unconvinced. “I thought you said she was sick from Mortiphen?”
“She was—is—sick.” I glanced over my shoulder at Solaris, her jaw clenched and those green orbs like two twin fires. There was nothing weak about her right now.
“Did she just contract it from the older male?”
“She passed it to him.” My words were like knives to my human’s heart, and pain seared the bond.
The alchemist’s lips pursed. “That’s not possible. If that were the case, her illness would be much further along.” He motioned his weathered hand toward Solaris. “She’s not exhibiting any symptoms that I can see.”
“Examine her and tell me if she’s sick then.” I reluctantly shifted Solaris in front of me, her body rigid.
Suspicion crossed Delvin’s expression as he noted the way I held onto her. “Please sit, young lady.”
Solaris slowly took the chair next to the bed again, her jaw stiff as Delvin approached. The rapid beat of her heart echoed through the small bedroom. I remained next to her, my hand on her shoulder.
The alchemist’s silver hair glistened in the soft light of the room as he peered into her eyes. When his fingers touched her neck to check her glands, she flinched, and her pulse skyrocketed again.
“It’s okay,” I whispered gently. My hand left her shoulder and drifted toward her nape, my thum
b rubbing small circles. “You’re safe. I promise.”
She relaxed into my touch, knowing I’d never let him hurt her. “Okay.”
Delvin didn’t say a word as he checked her glands, but I could sense the gears in his mind whirling. My behavior toward Solaris wasn’t normal.
He bent forward, nearly folding his long, thin frame in half. “Open your mouth please and stick out your tongue.” Solaris complied, and he made a humming sound.
My fingers stopped moving on her nape. “What is it?”
Delvin stood, his perceptive gaze on me. “She’s not sick.”
A whoosh of air exited my lungs.
“I’ll have to take a blood sample to be sure,” he said.
“No!” Icy terror bled through the bond, and I knew she was thinking of Xander’s fangs ripping open her neck.
Delvin’s hands lifted. “Not like that. I would never drink the blood of another nocturne’s human.”
I attempted to swallow the knot growing in my throat. It was pointless to deny the bond. “How did you know?”
One fluffy gray brow arched. “You nearly attacked me when she touched my arm, and you barely let me touch her during my examination.” His gaze lingered over her neck, raising my hackles. “Her blood doesn’t have any human appeal, like a tasteless, odorless meal. The only reason for that is a blood bond with a nocturne.”
I shouldn’t be surprised. He was older than Garridan. “Aren’t you going to remind us of the prophecy?”
He shook his head. “Clearly, it’s a little late for that.”
Solaris’s shoulders slumped, feeling once again the weight of our choices.
“I need to retrieve a few supplies and take his blood as well.” The lines in Delvin’s forehead deepened as his eyes lingered over Solaris. “I’ve never seen a human recover from this poison.”
“Can you cure him?” she asked again, her hands wringing in her lap.
“I don’t know.” Deep shadows crossed his face, hollowing his cheeks even more. “Please tell me she didn’t consume this poison in Imera.”
My silence was answer enough.