15. Invasion
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Invasion
“She is beginning to wake.” The muffled voice reached inside and dragged me the rest of the way to consciousness. Hester hovered over my face, and her gaze softened with relief.
I readjusted my shoulders. The uncomfortable dip of Al’s cot pressed against my spine. Gripping the pole of the cot, I pushed myself upright and immediately stopped. I let out a shaking breath. Soreness radiated from my limbs. They felt as if lead pressed down on them.
“Lie back down,” Hester encouraged.
I gave in and fell on my back, then winced. My mind worked to connect the reasoning for my aches.
Cassiel.
All Cassiel, and for once, the ache came from pleasure.
“You two continued mating for an entire dawnlight, young lady,” Al commented from a few paces away. He had rolled a smaller table close by and tapped the vial of red blood in his hand before placing it on the iron holder.
A blanket lay across my breasts, covering me to my feet. Faint sounds reached my ears. I looked around, but it didn’t come again.
“Very well. Now, Hester.” Al held out clamps with a rounded cloth at the end. “Collect a sample as I directed.”
“Yes, my lord,” she murmured and took the metal pincers. She met my eyes with apology in hers. She stood near the end of the cot. “Would you please raise your knees and widen your legs?” Her face turned red.
“Excuse me?” I shook my head, not understanding.
“I must take a sample of your . . .” Her throat bobbed, and she waved a hand over my lower half.
“Absolutely not!” I exclaimed, squeezing the fur in my hands, and kept my thighs securely locked together. Hester’s eyes widened, and she shook her head the barest bit.
“I am happy to do it instead,” Al said, smiling.
My insides went cold. Either Hester did it or Al would.
“Ah, very kind,” I stuttered over my words, mind racing. “Hester is more than equipped.”
Al gave me a knowing look. As distracted as he was, he was not stupid.
“Now lie back.” Al patted my shoulder.
Hester raised the edge of the fur blanket. She nudged my legs, and I raised them so she settled the bunched fabric on my knees. Cold air touched my sensitive womanly flesh. Heat spread across my cheeks.
Hester maneuvered the clamps into position.
A sound came through again. I focused on the faint noise. The bookshelves were shut to the hidden entrance, and still I could hear his shout. If I could hear him through the sealed bookshelf, he must be bellowing.
Hester pressed that cloth to my sex.
“I must insert it.” Her brow furrowed.
I clenched my legs together.
“What is this for?” I wheezed, horrified.
“It is only the first of many insertions, so you best accept this will be happening again.”
Al’s grin seemed sinister. The calculation in his expression made my heart plummet. I had not seen such avarice from him. He never fooled me with his kindness. Al was a scientist studying his subject. Nothing trumped that.
Another roar echoed.
“Your bondmate is quite . . . impassioned,” he mused. “He has not ceased since I took you away.” Al clicked his tongue. “I had to threaten him with never seeing you again to get him to clean the mess he made with his blood.”
Hester turned the clamp in her hand and withdrew, taking the cloth from inside me.
Al hurried over with a jar. He angled it for her to place it inside and quickly sealed it with a cap.
Hester tugged the fur down to cover me. I lightly touched Al’s arm as he swept past. He hesitated with a questioning look on his face.
“Something has continued to bother me, and no matter how I turn it, I cannot make sense of it.”
“If it has nothing to do with Awakening Warlords, I am happy to provide some clarity.”
“The prophecy states Sigils will appear on bondmates. Why the plural? Are the other realms like this one? Does each council have a blueblood with the Sigil ability?”
“Ah, now this I know about.” He crouched beside my cot, and I sat up, still clutching the blanket to my chest. “Each council from across the four realms was to find one blueblood with the marking gift, and the prophet was to provide information of the Warlords’ bondmates.”
“Except there has not been contact with Jalixo.” I said.
Vaner had mentioned there was no longer access, and I wished I knew what that meant. Did Liadan know this? If there was no longer access to the other two realms, did that mean the Warlords were in a similar position as Cassiel?
“Nor with the Isot realm. For the last century, which is exactly the issue.” Much could change in a century.
“What of Oro?” I breathed. That had been where Liadan would take me.
“It is the only one accessible.”
“If the prophecy was created by the councils, how did they anticipate knowing of the bondmate if the only realm with a prophet was Sycarious?”
“They had not anticipated being completely cut off.” He patted my thigh once. “Is that all, dearie?”
“If not for the Sigil, how would they know they are bondmates?” I blurted.
“Well, that would be impossible since the redblood must be Awakened. Without the fundamental changes, their mating pull would not surface.”
“And the injections to suppress redbloods are across all the realms?”
“Yes, the Registry had spanned across all the realms and dispatched the injections.” He shrugged. “But now, without our prophet, the council is blind.”
“Alchemist!” a bellow echoed.
“And there is our Lord Vaner,” Al chuckled, standing. “Return her to the cage, Officer,” Al said to Officer Brandt who approached.
Hester handed me a fresh frock. I looked at Officer Brandt, and he turned his back, offering me privacy to change.
“He seems almost fond of you,” Hester murmured, eyeing Al.
“Like one would care for a pet subject.” I had no confusion where Al was concerned.
“Hester!” Al shouted from across the work chamber.
Footsteps thundered down the stairs.
Vaner burst into the work chamber. “Return her to the cell now.”
He crossed toward Al in three paces and began to whisper. I did not have a chance to listen. Officer Brandt waved a hand forward. I made my way toward the bookshelf and had to take a moment to crouch to open it.
I almost knocked my elbow into Officer Brandt, who stood much too close.
His inhale was audible. I stepped inside the gas lamp lit chamber. The officer still felt closer than usual, but he had been relatively pleasant and I did not want to anger him by asking him to offer me space.
“Do not sniff at her,” Cassiel drawled. He rolled his head to the side to pierce Officer Brandt with his eerie gaze.
So he had been doing as I suspected.
Officer Brandt did not address Cassiel, but he distanced himself and approached the winding mechanism to open the first slat of the glass pane.
“Enter,” he ordered gruffly, rigid as he eyed Cassiel still sprawled on the cot.
I stepped through, then waited as the pane closed behind me and the second slat opened to the cell.
Once the entrance was sealed by both panes, he left and shut the bookshelf. Cassiel rolled off the single cot in the cell in a smooth motion.
‘Come rest.’ Without another word, he sat against the stone wall beside the cot.
I hesitantly approached and sat. Cassiel seemed to still be inside his thoughts. He was not alone. I sighed and closed my eyes to mask the tears sheening over them.