The last time we met, I was naked and trying to escape the Academy. I’d been conscripted into service within his army after that meeting, which only heightened my uneasiness.
“How do you feel?” he asked as he strode to my bedside.
“Uhm. Fine?” Lord d’Refan quirked a brow at my less than confident answer, and I cleared my throat in response. “Fine, sir.”
“That’s good. Most are extremely tired and unable to move for nearly forty-eight hours after injection and sample removal. You’ve recovered in less than five.” His words were factual but carried an edge of intrigue.
Again, I struggled with something to say in response.
“That’s . . . good.” I rubbed the pins and needles out of my hands as Lord d’Refan perched on the edge of my bed. The pose was completely undignified for someone of his station, but something in the way he moved and spoke told me that propriety didn’t matter a lick.
“It is. You’re quite extraordinary, Lex. Did you know that? Of course you didn’t.” He continued to talk without giving me the opportunity to speak. “The son of a pleasure house whore.Father unknown. Found on the streets near death. What a . . . happy coincidence that General d’Alvey was able to find you and bring you here that day.”
Again, I said nothing, unable to tear my gaze away from the man on my bed.
“Each of my unAwakened soldiers goes through this same test. It’s standard procedure, as I’m sure General d’Alvey told you. We test for a variety of things—communicable diseases, possible genetic abnormalities, blood type. And, most importantly, your blood’s affinity. Did you know that our Magical Experiments department can test for that?” I shook my head at his rhetorical question. “It’s amazing, really, what they’ve been able to come up with. Astounding. Groundbreaking. Would you like to know what you tested as?”
Glee shone in his eyes and coated his words.
I nodded my head mutely.
“Pleasure,” he said simply.
“I could have told you that, Lord d’Refan. My mother was a relatively powerful Pleasure Mage,” I said, and Lord d’Refan roared with laughter.
I wasn’t quite sure what was so funny in my statement, but I laughed along anyway.
“My dear boy. Yes, we all could have predicted Pleasure. But your test indicated a high potential for a second affinity.”
I cocked my head at his admission, something like a dream just out of reach niggled at the back of my mind.
“Pain,” he said with a maniacal grin. “You have the potential to carry the affinity for Pain. Which means, after some . . . training. You could be able to wieldbothaffinities. Not just Pleasure Magic. But PleasureandPain.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline at his admission. The room was silent.
“I . . . carry both? Is that normal?” My voice shook against my will at the question.
Lord d’Refan set one of his hands on my knee and squeezed. I’m certain he meant the motion to be comforting, but it only made me feel trapped.
“No,” he stated simply. “Not at your current levels. But I know of ways to coax both to the surface.”
I gnawed hard on my lip, my focus still on Lord d’Refan’s hand on my knee.
“And, you’d like to try that with me?”
A second maniacal grin spread across Lord d’Refan’s face at my question.
“Smart boy,” he said as he patted my leg before rising from the bed. “In short, yes. I want to try and coax both to the surface.”
I glanced at Rohak behind Lord d’Refan, but couldn’t make out his expression from this far away. Lord d’Refan and the elderly man, however, looked almost hungry.
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I.”
Lord d’Refan laughed again.
“No, you really don’t.”
My shoulders sank a bit at his admission.
