“Fuck,” Roy roared. “Someone give us an antidote. Now!”
Rook locked eyes with me.What does this mean? Is our blood that toxic it’s killing them?
Be rather convenient.I shrugged, cursing the leather biting into my wrists and the fractures autographing my bones.Would save me a job.
I kept my thoughts blasé, all while deeper worries lurked.
Could they no longer stomach our blood because our blood was no longer human?
“Sir?” A servant girl dashed into the room. “I don’t know what can make you vomit. Would raw egg whites work? Saltwater? Tell me and I’ll—”
“Here.” One of the scientists ripped a brown glass bottle from his trolley. “Ipecac. It’s not commonly used these days, but it’ll do the trick.” Pouring healthy amounts into the shot glasses still stained with Rook’s blood, he gave it to the men still conscious and dripped it into the mouth of the man foaming on the floor.
Once each one had been dosed, he screwed the lid back on. “I doubt such a small amount will cause lasting damage. Just get it out of your systems and my colleague and I will continue another day when—”
“No.” Roy cringed as he rubbed his stomach, looking nauseous as the ipecac started to work. “Draw four bags from each. Send it to the lab to start testing. I refuse to accept their blood is ruined. It has to be a glitch. It has to be.”
“Hang on.Four?” The scientist closest to Rook blanched. “That’s too many. They might not survive—”
“They will.” Pointing at me, Roy spat, “He did. Three bags never drained him like they would a normal man. Four. Do four. And not one less, do you hear me? We need as much as we can to figure out what the hell is going on.”
“Yes, sir.” The scientists shared a concerned look.
Staggering from the room, Roy Swift and the board members didn’t look back as four black-suited guards replaced them, taking up the spots against the wall and doing their best to ignore a puddle of vomit on the floor.
One made eye contact with me, tapping his watch as if waiting to drag us to our prison cell.
The scientists plugged in wireless headphones, then got to work inserting yet more needles into us.
I ordered non-existent fire to answer.
I tried to focus on their hearts.
And I couldn’t do a damn thing as they took one, two, three, four bags of disgustingly tarry blood from both of us.
Rook’s eyelashes fluttered as her head lolled.
Her thoughts went quiet as they took too much.
The same weakness that came for her, came for me, bringing its friends, nausea and dizziness.
Rook passed out.
I happily followed her, promising that when I woke up, I would kill them.
Chapter Twenty
“I REALLY DON’T THINK WE SHOULD.” Lucien’s soft voice sounded croaky and gruff as we sat cross-legged facing each other on the bed.
We’d woken a little while ago—lying side by side like twin corpses. It’d taken us an embarrassingly long time to get up the energy to sit upright, and an even longer time to get up the courage to try to eat, even though we knew what would happen if we did.
My head throbbed in time with my sluggish heartbeat. Every breath was too shallow, and my bones ached with a deep, grinding pain that had nothing to do with the frequency weapon, and everything to do with the fact that they’d drained me within an inch of my life.
I finally had firsthand knowledge of how Lucien felt the entire time he’d lived at Cinderkeep. My eyes met his and my heart fell all over again. No wonder he’d acted so warily around me back then. I’d been utterly oblivious to how much I’d meant to him or how my arrival had given him such hope. All while that hope had tortured him.
“You look as bad as I feel.” I smiled, fearing it came out more like a grimace.
He rubbed his neck self-consciously. His skin didn’t hold a single glimmer of golden fire. His eyes no hint of a scarlet ring.
