Her eyes widened. I didn’t add that I’d been a Dragon myself at the time. Instead, I stated, “I think the crystal dust pumped my ability.”
Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth twisted. “Well, we have no shortage of that. But once this is over, I need to do an assessment of you. I don’t like people taking it without supervision.”
“Okay,” I said. Once this was over, she and I did need to talk. There were more than a few things I needed to understand about my ever-changing body.
I turned away from Cara, and met Marcus’s gaze. The big guy was leaning on the balcony entrance. I longed to be doing this with him, but until he got control over what was inside him—
Well, that was at the crux of everything, it seemed. I looked back at Cara, and asked the obvious question.
“When do we go in?”
10
Rafael
Isobel’s new laboratory was a definite step up from her last one. Bright and airy, it was located in the stronghold’s upper level, with windows along the entire length of one wall. The ceiling soared above us—there was no doubt that this had been built to accommodate Dragons.
The setting sun sent questing rays through the panes to reflect off the bright metal bars of the shiny new cage in the room’s center. Brock had spared no expense—adjoining it was an even smaller one, especially for me, with room for the coven around it. They could sit if they so desired. Cushioned chairs stood ready, a boon for the three that were heavily pregnant.
As I paced circles in the tiny cage, I didn’t want to contemplate what manipulating the bloodmagic would do to a developing child. Whatever those three spawned would not be shining examples of Liberi goodness.
They’d given me a chair, too, which was bolted down. Twitchy and restless, I didn’t sit. They’d pumped me so full of bloodmagic that I thought I would explode, but then they’d given me crystals loaded with the blue lifemagic. The two energies were at war within me, crashing around and setting every nerve on fire.
They needed something from me today that I wasn’t sure I could still provide. And because of that, they had recruited another—a young Liberi healer, powerful enough to be in the Watcher training program. She shone with a healthy blue glow that made me hunger for a time before the blood energy had corrupted us all.
She stood near my cage, looking nervous but buoyant. A true Isobel convert. I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, I’d been one, too.
It was only a matter of time before she was as polluted as the rest.
Our victim for today was more than willing—the Centaur Vic. He strutted into the room with his torso and tail both held erect. A good-looking young specimen just entering maturity, with a promising breadth to his shoulders.
His four hooves clopped against the stone floor as he walked straight up to Isobel, but his eyes were on Brock looming beside her.
“I want one of mine to be a Dragon,” Vic said.
Isobel smiled at him. “We haven’t collected a Dragon yet.”
“Can be done,” Brock rumbled with a shrug, as though they weren’t discussing draining a Dragon to death.
Isobel stepped forward. “First, we have to split your human and equine halves,” she said soothingly. “Once that is done, we can start inserting other possibilities.”
Vic’s mouth twisted, but he nodded.
Isobel gestured to the cage. “For everyone’s safety, it is best if you go through the process in there. It is more crucial for the bestial insertions, but we might as well get the protocol in place today.” She pointed to me and the new Liberi healer. “You need to stay next to the healers. They will guide you through. It won’t be pleasant, but it is necessary.”
The young Centaur straightened. “I understand.” Then he paced into the cage, and Isobel shut the door.
What was coming would test Vic’s commitment. Of that, I had no doubt.
Isobel raised hands that glowed red, and the coven followed suit. Specially designed bins along the side wall responded—they were filled with crystals primed with the bloodmagic.
I tensed as the light shot out to envelop the Centaur. Linked to the energy, I sensed how Isobel wielded it like a sword, slicing into Vic.
He collapsed to the ground, and his pain hammered at me. I leaned against the bars, placing my hands on his human shoulders, while the healer wrapped hers around his arm. I had to fight to call upon my own healer through the red haze. But the young woman’s power was pure, and I could both tap into it, and direct her.
Vic endured the agony until I saw the schism appear in his life essence, and then, he started to scream.
The healer flinched, never having experienced this. “Hold onto him,” I said through gritted teeth. “If you don’t keep him stable, he’ll die.”
