Reluctantly pulling myself away from him, I wandered into the bathroom and closed the door. I took a long, hard look at myself in the mirror, staring at my naked reflection, trying to see if I looked any different. Although nothing had changed on the outside, I felt strange on the inside. It was as if I’d unlocked something that had always been there, waiting for the right person to come along. With Navan, I didn’t feel the need to hesitate or hide. I could be wholly me in his arms, and he loved me all the same. I grinned at the memory of the previous night, and the things we had done. Even with the aphrodisiac spiking our desire for each other, it had been the right moment for it to happen. In the cold light of day, nothing felt wrong, or like it shouldn’t have happened. In fact, it felt the opposite.
Running the hot water for the shower, I stepped in and let the soothing liquid calm my aching muscles, reviving my spirits for the day to come. A few moments later, Navan peered in through the bathroom door, grinning mischievously as he saw me standing under the cascade of water. Without waiting for an invitation, he hurried over and stepped in behind me. Restraining himself, he kissed me deeply before reaching for the jar of shampoo, which sat on a ledge carved into the wall. He took out a small amount and lathered it between his hands before running it through the damp tresses of my hair. When my whole head was smothered in suds, he gently tilted my head back into the running stream and washed it all out, planting delicate kisses on my face as he did so.
After quickly washing his own hair, he plucked a fluffy towel from the rail and wrapped me in it, drying me off as I struggled not to laugh. It was so sweet and unexpected, brightening my mood immeasurably. That was the thing about Navan—it wasn’t often that he showed his playful side, but when he did, it was the best thing in the world.
Ten minutes later, we were dressed and ready to head downstairs for breakfast at Angie and Lauren’s apartment. However, when we arrived, everyone seemed way more on edge than Navan and me. I could practically feel it even before I knocked on the door, the tension flooding out when it opened. Part of me wished I’d stayed curled up in the warmth of our bed, instead of venturing into this anxious atmosphere, and from the look on Navan’s face, he felt the same.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Angie cried. “This could ruin everything!”
“Angie, you need to calm down. It’s a test run. It might not even work,” Lauren reassured her, but I could see doubt on her face, too.
“I’m guessing you got the message?” Angie asked, whirling in my direction.
“I did, but I don’t think we need to worry until we see how it goes,” I said, following Lauren’s line of comfort. “They might have synthesized our blood, but there are a lot of other factors that go into making a successful elixir. We know that from everyone we’ve spoken to. This will likely just be a work in progress, to show how far they’ve come,” I reasoned, hoping I was right. If we got to the lab and the elixir worked, we were doomed. Not just us, but the whole universe and everyone in it. Immortal Vysantheans were a terrifying prospect. It could not be allowed to happen.
“You better be right,” Angie muttered, chewing her bottom lip nervously.
She only calmed when Bashrik entered, ten minutes later. Her eyes darted straight to him, his eyes already on her. In any other situation, it would have been a sweet sight, making me wonder when the pair of them were going to resume their garden party antics, but right now I just wanted Angie to calm down. Her fear was infectious, and it wasn’t what we needed.
Bashrik took her to one side, speaking in a low voice, while the rest of us paced the room. I tried to eat some of the fruit that Lauren had put out, but my appetite had vanished. I kept wondering if last night had dulled my senses, making me oblivious to the severity of the situation. I had presumed it would all be okay, but then, I was basking in the glow of newly discovered passion. Of course I thought everything was going to be okay. It was a truth, universally known, that new lovers thought themselves invincible.
“Do you think it’ll work?” I asked Navan quietly.
He gave a light shrug. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t. Even with synthesized blood, they’ll have a long way to go before they crack the code of the elixir. My father always said that experiments mean years of trial and error. I find it hard to believe that they have the right mix already,” he replied, though it didn’t really calm my nerves.
“But Queen Brisha has something nobody else has,” I reminded him, recalling Yorrek’s personal scribblings on the subject. “She has Yorrek and his book of near-successes. Surely, that must narrow down the options a bit?”
A worried frown crossed Navan’s brow. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said, but the confidence had gone from his voice.
At half past seven, we left the palace together as a quintet and made our way toward the site of the new alchemy lab. Bashrik and Angie led the way, and the rest of us followed close behind. The streets were surprisingly empty, with only a few passersby wishing us a good morning.
With ten minutes to spare, we arrived at the alchemy lab. My eyes drank in the majesty of it. It really was impressive, the glass elements glinting in the morning sunshine, looking like a waterfall frozen in time. Pandora was waiting for us on the steps, though there didn’t seem to be anyone else around. Perhaps the crowds would come later, at the official unveiling. Even so, I doubted the legitimacy of this meeting. After all, it had been Pandora who’d sent the message, not Queen Brisha herself. Was this some sort of ruse to get us where she wanted us? Had we said too much to Brisha? Had Orion decided he no longer needed us? Or was I just being paranoid, spurred on by the anxiety of my friends?
Probably.
“Welcome,” Pandora said coolly as we approached. Holding the door open for us, she ushered us into the building beyond before bringing up the rear, the door shutting with a very final slam.
We paused in the central atrium, staring up at the dynamic skylight Bashrik had implemented, the intricate glasswork casting a rippling ocean of blue light downward to greet us. It was stunning, the radiance moving in an almost liquid manner across the ground, the light dancing off the neighboring windows in a spectacular show of rainbow refraction. Meanwhile, Pandora walked past us, her boots echoing on the sleek floor. As she reached the door on the opposite side of the atrium, she turned, barking at us to follow her.
Drawing our eyes away from the pretty lights, we hurried after her, traipsing down a long, beautifully decorated hallway, the windows looking out on the city. I kept my gaze on the now-familiar buildings and skyscape, allowing it to ground me while keeping my thoughts away from what was to come. Whatever the conclusion, we would figure something out. We always did. Surely, our luck hadn’t run out yet?
We arrived at a large circular auditorium with raked seating, a prominent stage and a vast screen behind it. Queen Brisha was standing on the stage, an excited grin upon her face. She was certainly dressed for the occasion, looking like the Vysanthean version of an eccentric college professor, clad in a checkered gray pantsuit, her hair tied up in a bun.
“Welcome!” she announced. “Please, sit in the first row!”
She hurried across the stage and brought out five coldbloods, a mix of men and women. Behind them, two male coldbloods and one female followed, their lab coats singling them out as alchemists. Yorrek was notably absent, which surprised me somewhat, though he was probably still locked away in his cottage after the events of the garden party. Even with the Elysium in his system, he’d have known something was up. He, more than anyone, would know the peculiar effects of a mind-wiping serum.
We sat down tentatively in the front row of chairs, though it felt strange with the other seats empty behind us and to the sides of us. This really was a private ceremony.
“Good morning,” Queen Brisha continued, resuming her spot in the center of the stage, while the test subjects lined up behind her and the alchemists stood awkwardly to one side. “I am so delighted you could make it on this momentous occasio
n. After all, none of this could have been possible without the generous donations that you gave to us.” She smiled, her eyes seeking out me, Angie, and Lauren. We smiled back politely, though it wasn’t like she’d given us much choice.
Before anyone could say a word, she continued, pacing across the stage as she spoke. “Here, we have five test subjects, who will be given the first batch of immortality elixir that has just come out of our laboratory this morning. Once it is in their systems, our alchemists are going to run tests on the cells to see if there is any change,” she explained, gesturing at the corresponding individuals. I had to admit, the test subjects looked even more nervous than we did.
I faced forward, not daring to look at the others on either side of me. On my right sat Navan, while on my left sat Angie, and I could feel the animosity rippling off them both. I understood it completely. After all, if this elixir worked, would the queen then want regular samples of our blood to make more? It seemed like the only rational thing to do, if it was a success. A shiver of dread shot up my spine as another thought crept into my head: what if she wanted all of our blood? I mean, would she ever truly be satisfied with a small amount? If there was a chance she could offer her elixir to every single coldblood in the North, surely she would take actions against us, to make us take her to Earth, where she could harvest every drop she needed.
I gulped, reaching out to take Navan’s hand. To my left, I noticed Angie doing the same to Bashrik, though she was careful to keep the movement from Brisha’s watchful eye. I almost felt sorry for Lauren, who was sitting on Navan’s other side. She had no one’s hand to hold, and yet she seemed to be the calmest out of all of us. Her face was oddly a picture of serenity, not a trace of fear on her features. I envied her for that.
“Shall we begin?” Brisha asked, clasping her hands together. “Alchemists, administer the elixir,” she instructed, sounding oddly like a gameshow host. Unfortunately for me, I’d always found gameshow hosts unbearably creepy, and the sound of her voice ramped up the thunder of my heart. With every fiber of my being, I prayed that the elixir failed.
I held my breath as the alchemists moved forward with a tray of hypodermic needles, each tube filled with a bluish liquid. Deftly, they lifted the needles to the arms of the test subjects and pushed down on the plungers, the blue fluid disappearing beneath their ashen flesh.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Each injection had been administered, and now all we could do was wait. My pulse was racing, the blood rushing in my ears, my mouth dry as a bone. I couldn’t bear the silence, or the prospect of success. And yet, I knew it was a possibility. That was the worst part about it, that I knew there was a chance this could work.
“The elixir has been administered to our five test subjects. Now, we must draw their blood for analysis,” the female alchemist announced, her voice ringing out across the empty auditorium. It was the moment of truth. Taking out much larger needles, they moved toward the subjects.
But before they could get near, the five individuals spasmed wildly, blue froth gathering at the sides of their mouths, their eyes rolling back into their heads. Beneath their ashen skin, their veins expanded, colored a deep purple that pushed against the underside of their flesh, threatening to burst through.
As the first of their agonized cries ricocheted outward like a gunshot, I realized that their faces were aging at a rapid pace, their skin shriveling up, dark spots splattering across their features, everything collapsing in on itself. It was as though the very bone beneath was decaying, their bodies crumpling with it.
It was horrifying to watch, and yet I was helpless to tear my eyes away. After all, it was my blood that had been used in this experiment—it was my blood that was somehow doing this to them. I didn’t understand it, but then there was no way anyone could wrap their head around what was happening. These people were decomposing in front of us, with no hope of a reprieve. There was no antidote, no anti-elixir, only a painful death.
As Queen Brisha’s gaze locked with mine, it was clear she felt the same. Her fury was written all over her face… And I realized with a sinking feeling that she blamed me for this. My blood had done this.
From the rage in her eyes, I couldn’t help but feel there would be no amnesty this time.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Seize them!” Queen Brisha roared into a comm device taken from her hip.
Black-clad soldiers barged in from the side doors of the auditorium, evidently having been there to guard against outsiders trying to enter the building during the event. They surrounded us within seconds, but we were on our feet, ready to fight. It may have been my blood that had caused this reaction, but it wasn’t our fault it hadn’t worked! It seemed that Queen Brisha did have a streak of Gianne in her, after all, when the right buttons were pushed.
“Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this,” I breathed to Lauren, knowing she’d had access to the alchemists and their findings.
She shook her head, her face a mask of horror. “I didn’t touch the test batch. I didn’t even know it was ready,” she whispered back. Given her calm demeanor throughout the trial, I had wondered if she’d done something to tamper with the elixir, but I could tell when Lauren was lying, and she definitely wasn’t lying now.
The soldiers thundered toward us, their boots pounding on the hardwood floors. The fast percussion matched the beat of my heart, adrenaline pulsing through my veins. We had to try to get out of here before Brisha could punish us for something we didn’t do. Ordinarily, I would’ve tried to talk my way out of it, but the queen no longer seemed in the mood to listen. I had never seen her this furious.
In a way, it was understandable. If I’d thought myself close to cracking immortality, only to have success snatched away, I’d be pretty pissed too. Even so, that didn’t give her the right to punish us for her failure.
“Head for the fire exit!” Angie hissed, gesturing at a narrow side door tucked away in the shadow behind the stage. The path to it was clear, but there were soldiers running down the aisle toward it.
I sprinted for the door, bursting through it to the blare of a siren going off. The others followed close behind, the sound of their footsteps bringing me comfort. Beyond the door was a flat expanse of gravel and underground lighting, with a few saplings reaching skyward, leading up to the slope of the mountainside. My eyes darted around to find an escape route. There were buildings on either side, and slim passageways that cut back through to the city. I headed for the passageway on the right, picking up speed. It was only as I reached the entrance to the alleyway that I turned over my shoulder to make sure my friends were following.
Bashrik and Navan had just launched into flight, while Angie and Lauren were about twenty yards away, running hard in my direction.
“Come on!” I screamed, holding out my hand as though we were in some death-defying relay race. “Help them!” I bellowed up to the brothers, seeing the horde of winged soldiers pursuing my friends, the sky turning black as they filled the outside space. Without hesitation, Bashrik swooped out of the sky, his arms outstretched to grab Angie. He managed to get hold of her arms, pulling her upward. He was almost at the rooftop of the building where I stood, when three soldiers shot forward and took him out, shocking him in the neck with an electric spear. It stunned him for long enough that he lost his grip on Angie, and her body fell from the sky.
I screamed, watching her plummet, but another soldier arced downward, plucking her out of harm’s way. She flailed as he held her fast, her legs kicking wildly, her arms doing everything they could to land a punch, but the soldier was too experienced and too fast.
Meanwhile, Bashrik had circled back around, rubbing his neck, trying to bring his limp arm back to life, while Navan rocketed toward Lauren, who was trying to feint around a group of soldiers that had landed directly in front of her, blocking the path between her and me. She was surprisingly fast,
darting this way and that, but she stood no chance.
Navan managed to grab her by the waist and haul her upward, evading the soldiers and heading for the mountains instead of the city. They could lose their assailants in the icy landscape, and I could hide among the buildings and alleyways of Nessun. But if I kept running, what would happen to Angie?
Bashrik answered my question a moment later, when he barreled toward the soldier that held her. In the cold sunlight, I saw the flash of a blade, though I wasn’t sure who held it—Bashrik, or Angie’s captor.
A moment later, I realized that they were each holding a blade, and each of them knew how to wield it. The soldier and Bashrik swiped at each other with incredible speed, Angie dodging out of the way. One false move, and it would pierce right through her, and yet her eyes didn’t move from Bashrik’s face. She trusted him innately; I could see that. She knew he wouldn’t let her come to harm.
Bashrik twisted around the side of the soldier and, catching him off guard, sank his blade into the soldier’s hand, then knocked him out with a blow to the back of the neck. He put his own arms around Angie as the soldier tumbled to the ground, lying in a crumpled heap at my feet. Around his waist, I recognized the familiar belt of explosive devices, their orb-like exteriors glinting black in the sunlight. Suddenly, I had an idea.
Turning my gaze back toward Navan, who was growing smaller in the distance, I realized I would have to make a decision. Hidden in the shadows, the soldiers couldn’t see me, nor was their focus on me, considering everything else going on around them, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before they came this way to figure out where I’d gone. Queen Brisha would see to that.
It felt awful to admit, but I wanted to run. I didn’t want to face another trial, not knowing the outcome. This time, the queen had no reason to be lenient. She could take every drop of blood we had to keep working on the elixir, and we would be helpless to stop her. I had seen the unmerciful look in her eyes when she had turned to me. All potential alliances had gone out of the window the moment those poor test subjects had crumbled in front of us.