Which was probably more accurate than she wanted to think about. Though it was better by far than thinking about the harrowing last few hours. Jadren had taken the brunt of it, willingly complying with everything his mother demanded of him, not even drumming up enough spirit to argue with her. He’d behaved like one of those automatons, woodenly obeying, seeming unaware of Selly’s presence except to draw on her magic to attempt to heal himself around the various attachments his monster of a mother wanted to implant.
And, every time, when he’d accessed their bond and her magic flowed into him, she felt his agony through the connection. That and a despair so profound she didn’t know how he bore it. Perhaps he couldn’t bear it and had broken entirely. He certainly seemed to lack any vestige of his usual spirited and sardonic nature. Except for a panicked moment when his mother had brought out the promised chains in order to hold him still for a precision implantation around his eye that upset him so much he couldn’t help twitching. Then he’d been like the half-feral creature he named her, screaming like a wild thing as the hooks penetrated his skin and dug into his flesh, curved like the fangs of that snake.
No wonder he’d puked at the memory that had evoked. Selly didn’t know how Jadren was even a functional person if he’d spent his life this way. Maybe he wasn’t. That would explain a great deal.
He’d finally lost consciousness and nothing his mother had tried had revived him at that point. Selly had been frankly relieved to be tossed with him into the test-subject enclosure. At least inside of it, no one could torment him further, or her by proxy. She didn’t understand her feelings for Jadren—it would help if they stayed one way for more than a few hours at a time—but watching him suffer had hollowed her out far beyond the magic he’d drained from her.
Pacing back to Jadren, she crouched to check on him. Though the guards had dumped him in a heap on the floor, Selly had rearranged his splayed and bloodied limbs into the most comfortable position possible, which wasn’t saying much, given the hard and sterile space. If she’d hadn’t seen him heal from the arrow wound, she’d be panicking herself, certain that he couldn’t recover. As it was, his body and inherent magic was working on its own. She’d tried feeding him some of her magic, even though everyone had told her it never worked that way.
Sure enough, it didn’t. But he seemed to be recovering anyway, if slowly. They’d been provided with a pitcher of water and some cloths, which she’d used to clean up the worst of the blood. Reserving one of the cloths and keeping it clean, she soaked it in some water and wrung drops into his open mouth, trying to get some into him. As she watched, a coil of copper wire extruded itself from his swollen and bruised eye orbit, uncannily like a worm emerging from its burrow, then fell to the floor with a ping. She shuddered in sympathy, plucking up the thing and flinging it to the far corner with all the other bits and metal pieces his mother had implanted and that his body was rejecting.
“Such a touching display of devoted care.” Lady El-Adrel’s cool voice broke the silence in the room, making Selly jump. She hadn’t been able to hear anything through the thick glass, but the monster herself now stood on the other side, watching them with clinical interest, Jadren’s father standing behind her and just to the side. His gaze was fixed on his son, expression impassive, but concern straining his posture. Fyrdo had been present for the extended experimental session, also, assisting his wizard with singular focus. Something else Selly couldn’t understand.
“Is that why Jadren wanted you so badly, because he knew you already loved him? Is there Fascination at work, perhaps?” Lady El-Adrel mused, her voice coming clearly though no other background noise did, so some enchanted mechanism must allow her words to penetrate the cage.
Selly didn’t bother to reply. She had no answers anyway, except that caring for a companion who’d been brutalized was simply the human thing to do and that wasn’t something a person of Lady El-Adrel’s corrupted heart could understand. Incapable of love.
“It’s always better when a familiar loves their wizard,” the woman continued, “isn’t that so, Fyrdo?” She looked over her shoulder at him, turning enough to caress his cheek with elegant fingers.
“Always, my love,” he agreed fervently, sounding for all the world as if he meant every word, his eyes all for her. But when she turned back to Selly with a smug smile, his gaze went directly to Jadren, all semblance of affection gone, strident worry bracketing his handsome mouth.
“It’s good that you love him. He won’t be able to resist bedding you, though apparently he has so far.” Lady El-Adrel shook her head, regarding her son with what on anyone else would look like a fond smile. “Stubborn fool. But he’s always been so desperate for affection and he’s clearly attached to you, plus you’re in his power now which is the greatest aphrodisiac for any wizard. I’m inclined to keep you two boxed in here together until his self-restraint fails.”
“But…why?” Selly asked, unable to imagine what this woman wanted or how she could know about their intimacy or lack thereof.
“To demonstrate that I control every aspect of his life and body,” Lady El-Adrel answered coolly. “Jadren has a distressing tendency to think he’ll be able to escape me someday. I imagine that somewhere, in the rotten depths of his worm-ridden heart, he thinks you’ll be the key to his freedom. But he’s mistaken. You are yet another chain by which I bind him.”
“How could you?” Selly demanded, her own restraint collapsing. “How could you torture your own child like this?”
Her smile never dimmed. “Science requires it, little familiar. I answer to the demands of a higher calling. Besides, he’ll recover. He always does. Surely you know that about him by now?” She lifted a brow. “You can’t be that dense. If you are…” She shrugged philosophically. “Well, you’ll understand Jadren’s little secret soon. It’s up to you to make sure that he’s ready for another session in the morning.”
“Another?” Selly echoed, almost unable to fathom it.
“Yes. We all have to keep working until I’m satisfied that I’ve pursued all variables.” She pursed her lips in irritation as she gazed at the pile of extruded gadgets. “There must be a way to solve the rejection problem. I’ve arranged to have food delivered. I suggest you both eat and sleep well. You’ll need your strength. Come along, Fyrdo.” She glided away and, with a last, longing look at his son, Fyrdo followed.
“Is it gone?” Jadren whispered through cracked lips, his voice hoarse and broken from his unending screams.
Relief surged through her, along with fury. The typical mix of opposing emotions he elicited in her. She thumped him—gently—on an uninjured spot on his arm, not wanting to hurt him more, but needing to relieve the urge to touch him. “You were faking unconsciousness, leaving me to verbally fence with your monster of a mother!”
He produced a weak grin. “You were doing so well.” Grimacing, he worked his jaw, then spat out another metal piece. She threw it to join the others.
“What is she trying to do to you?”
“Make me a better man?” he ventured. “No wonder she’s finding it an impossible task. Help me sit up.”
“I don’t think you should,” she replied dubiously, nevertheless supporting him as he struggled to a sitting position.
“All the blood has pooled to my back,” he said on a pained grunt. “If I were a corpse, you’d see all kinds of nasty corruption of the flesh. In an ostensibly still-living man, it hurts like you shot a dozen arrows into my back. Now to stand.” He took a deep breath, tipping back his head to look at the ceiling as if he might will himself closer.
“I really think you should stay still.”
“Being upright and moving accelerates the healing. Trust me.” He grimaced. “And, ah—I could use your help again.”
“Do those words burn in your mouth?” she muttered, looping his arm over her shoulder and pushing up with her legs, glad they were strong enough to lever them both upright.
“Yes, burns my throat like that pitiful excuse for brandy your brother serves.” He gritted out the sarcastic reply, trying to sound like his usual uncaring self, but his breath came in pained gasps and he leaned heavily on her as they limped across the small enclosure.
“You need more of my magic.” That emptiness in him called to her, tugging insistently, ravenous and needy.
