Page 94 of By the Flames of Her Fury

But I wasn’t willing to take the chance.

I stayed still as Mortep strapped me to the chair, then raised a needle. “Perhaps an immobilizing serum, just to be sure.”

The cold shock of the serum surged through me, coating me in icy numbness. One by one, my limbs fell like dead weight, succumbing to the potion. I watched, unable to move, as he took another syringe off the table in the center of the laboratory. This one was filled with black liquid, and golden threads glowed throughout it, like pulsing veins.

“You’re positive this one will work?” Scarven asked.

“I adjusted the dosages of vireroot and blue vervain to account for any unwanted side effects,” Mortep replied. He flicked the vial with his middle finger. “She won’t remember a thing. Unless we want her to.”

Scarven’s lips curved upward. “Perfect.”

Mortep pushed the needle tip into the crook of my arm. I expected pain—that was what usually came with these tests. Icy and sharp, or searing like flames, or bone-crushingly heavy. Sometimes my magic would turn on itself, tearing me up from the inside as it fought off the intruding source. Other times it would make me pass out altogether, and I’d wake up back in my cell.

But this one…this one felt different. Because I didn’t feel anything at all. A weightlessness floated through me, like I was soaring on a cloud. My mind went pleasantly foggy. It was almost as if I was drifting off to sleep.

“Go ahead, my lord,” I heard Mortep say, but it was distant and murky.

Then one voice, one rich, loud, crystal clear voice broke through. “Vera,” Scarven boomed, although his lips didn’t move. I could feel his voice, his presence, in my mind.

I could sense physical parts, like his heartbeat and pulse, but also…him. His emotions. His desires. His commands. They settled into me like a second skin, and I couldn’t tell where mine ended and his began.

“You have been so good, Vera,” his disembodied voice said. Pleasure and pride surged through me, both my own and his—they were one and the same, two layers floating together on the fringes of my mind. “As a reward, we’re going to let you move again. But you mustn’t fight back.”

Fight back? Why would I fight? If he didn’t want me to, I didn’t want to, either.

A moment later, the immobilization was lifted. I sucked in a deep breath, rolling my head along my shoulders as the tension left my body.

“Break out of your restraints.”

With barely a thought, I summoned my phoenix fire and burned through the leather cuffs binding me to the chair. I shook them off and saw a strange line of black running through the veins on my arm, almost like ink. A warning prodded at the back of my mind.

But Scarven’s voice vibrated through me again, and I stood to face him, my thoughts going blank once more.

“Pick up the knife.” His lips still weren’t moving. He pointed to a shiny dagger on the edge of the laboratory table, and I grabbed the hilt. “Stab your leg.”

I didn’t have to think twice. I plunged the blade into my thigh. I gasped as the pain registered, but it was muted. Hidden, almost, behind a wall of Scarven’s emotions. I would rather do what he wanted than give in to my own discomfort.

Another warning blared through me, making my brow furrow. This wasn’t normal. I shouldn’t be feeling this way. And Fates, my leg hurt. This was⁠—

“Mortep,” Scarven snapped, out loud this time. The Alchemist hovered closer and stuck another needle into my skin.

I blinked as my mind went supple again. My shoulders dropped, and I released the hilt of the dagger, letting it stick out of my leg as blood dripped to the ground.

“Good, Vera. Now, there are a few more things I need you to do.”

44

Vera

The door closed with a soft snick. Starke leaned against it, eyes following me as I moved around the room. There was a fireplace on the center wall, accented by a settee and a couple of chairs. Across from that was a bed with white sheets and gold fringes. An armoire stood in the corner by the door to a bathing chamber. Directly to my right was a pair of glass double doors, and when I padded across the soft rug to reach them, I glimpsed a balcony overlooking the village square outside the palace.

The sight took my breath away. Everything was cloaked in shadows, but in the distance, golden rivers of both water and fire glowed bright enough to light the streets and buildings, dripping in dark gold.

“My room looks nothing like this,” Starke said, peering at the balcony. “They certainly do love you here.”

Everett’s words drifted back to me. “They know exactly what to say to manipulate you.”

I shook them off with a twitch of my neck. Just because the Elders were kind didn’t mean they were manipulating me. “It’s not Saltmourne, that’s for sure,” I said.