Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Thirty minutes. I just guessed you guys didn’t need all night.”
“Let’s go.” Luna reached for my hand and then jerked away; her small frown killed me inside as we made our way past a snoring Jasper in Aengus’s arms and down the hall toward the kitchen.
The door was closed but unlocked again.
I pulled it open and very slowly led the way down the stairs. As before, the lights were all off except for the overhead spot that hovered near the long metal table.
A new body was there, this time a young girl who looked to be maybe eight or nine years old.
“No,” I whispered as I reached for her wrist. “No pulse.”
“Do something,” Luna hissed, tears in her eyes. “She’s just a little girl!”
“I—” My voice cracked. “I don’t have the same power, Luna. Even if I did, we aren’t supposed to meddle in mortal affairs. If death came for her, even a Fae can’t stop it.”
“I refuse to take that as an answer,” Luna said through clenched teeth. “Oh, honey,” She grabbed the little girl’s bruised hand and held it in hers. “You’re so frail. What did they do to you?” Her white-blond hair was tucked back in a braid, and her skin was almost translucent, like someone had taken all her blood—even vampires wouldn’t dare do that.
Luna sniffled as one of her tears dropped onto the little girl’s arm. Where it landed, the skin instantly started to heal.
“Wait.” I held out my hands and closed my eyes as a blue flame lit up over her face, and then a blue tattoo behind her right ear lit up. “She’s Winter Fae.”
“Jasper stole a Fae? But why?”
“No idea, and it’s not typical for Fae children to even be on this side of the mist unless he’s—” I frowned. “Going in and kidnapping them?”
“I’m going to murder him when I see him!”
“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.” I searched around the metal drawers for the drug that I’d seen earlier and came up short. Whatever he’d been doing, he’d cleaned up really well, covering his tracks, the bastard.
Did he know I’d been down there?
Whispers sounded and were getting louder; I grabbed Luna’s arm without thinking and jerked her back to the closet under the stairs.
She was whimpering when I closed the doors, blanketing us in darkness.
“Shit.” My eyesight was perfect, even with the inky blackness surrounding us, and I’d left two huge bruises on her wrist. “I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay.” Voice small, she lifted her left arm. “Cast on one arm and bruises on the other. You sure you don’t want to just get me naked, so you stop breaking me?”
I let out a string of curses. “Please don’t tease me when I’m inches from your face, when I can smell your arousal, when I have no choice but to stay right next to you…”
“I’m either irresistible, or you resent me; I can’t decide which it is?”
“Both.” I hung my head. “It’s always a little bit of both mixed in with a heavy dose of self-loathing.”
“Ah, can’t forget the self-loathing part.”
I smirked. “Exactly, it’s the best one.”
The voices grew louder, drawing our attention.
Two attendants—Nurses? Technicians? Scientists?—in blue scrubs stopped in front of the girl. One pulled out a syringe while the other started an IV.
“Why would they start an IV if she’s dead?” Luna whispered, her breath fanning my neck, sending chills down my spine, and making me almost forget my own name. “Wait, if she’s immortal, how can she be dead?”
“Good question. Immortals can still die; they need blood, food, and water just like any human. And I didn’t feel her heart beating.”
Another tear slid down Luna’s cheek.
I wanted to kiss it away to tell her that it was going to be fine, but for the first time in my existence, I was in the dark. I had no idea if I could solve our curse, let alone help the innocent children who were somehow getting stolen by one of my most trusted advisors to be tested on.
“Batch two of Adrina-X,” the female attendant said while the other checked his watch. “Ready?”
“Now.”
They injected the IV with the Adrina-X, whatever that was. And I watched in absolute horror as the little girl jolted awake, her eyes wild with fear, her body convulsing like they’d just possessed her.
“Shhhh, calm down,” the woman said. “Just one minute…” She injected something else into the IV. The girl started to calm down, her eyes heavy with sleep.
“Jasper will be thrilled that the blood worked,” the man closest to us said. “This is going to save a lot of people.”
“Yeah, but at the cost of what?” Luna murmured from next to me.
“Agreed,” I whispered.
“We’ll, of course, need to consistently use the blood from the orphans, and we’re short on inventory right now—let’s discuss busing in some children from other orphanages at our next meeting. If a few go missing or run away, nobody will miss them anyway.”