Blazar's muscles coiled like springs, taut as bowstrings ready to snap. Cold sweat trickled down her spine as the healer approached with that accursed scope.
A sickening dread pooled in her stomach, churning with each step Theo took toward her. That cursed scope wouldn't just see her wounds - it would see through the tight bindings flattening her chest, detect the hormonal differences in her blood, reveal the jagged slave brand hidden beneath her clothes.
The mark they'd burned into her back - a twisted crescent moon with three slashes through it - that declared her someone's property. A mark she'd fought, killed, and bled to conceal since her childhood.
Her fingers twitched toward the hidden blade strapped to her thigh, its familiar weight both comfort and promise.
The infirmary walls seemed to close in, the sterile white suddenly suffocating.
Blazar's jaw clenched so hard her teeth might crack, lips pulling back in a feral display of defiance as her eyes darted between the approaching healer and the door—calculating her chances of making it to freedom before they could stop her.
"Try it," she snarled, voice low and dangerous as a cornered wolf, "and I'll shove it down your throat." Her hands balled into white-knuckled fists, nails digging crescents into her palms, the pain grounding her against the rising tide of panic threatening to overwhelm her senses.
Vesper threw his head back and laughed, the sound rich and warm as if she'd told the funniest joke he'd heard in centuries.
His perfect white teeth flashed in the infirmary light, crimson eyes glittering with genuine amusement. The laugh lines around his eyes crinkled, the only sign of age on his otherwise pristine face.
"Oh, he's perfect," he exclaimed, clapping his hands together with childlike delight. "Theo, can we keep hi. ? I'll feed him and walk him and teach him to fetch—" He leaned forward, his hair falling across his face as he studied Blazar with undisguised fascination, like a collector discovering a rare specimen.
"This isn't a request." Theo's voice cut through Vesper's amusement like a steel blade, cold and clinical. His fingers danced across the scope's crystalline surface, activating it with a ominous hum that made the hairs on Blazar's arms stand on end.
Ancient runes etched into its silver casing flared crimson, casting an eerie glow across Theo's gaunt features, highlighting the hollow shadows beneath his eyes—eyes that had seen too much and forgotten nothing.
Blazar's heart hammered against her ribs as the scope began to whir, its central lens rotating like a hungry eye seeking secrets. Her throat closed, every instinct screaming to run, to fight, to survive as she had always done.
Vesper's fingers curled around Theo's wrist with startling speed, halting the scope's advance with effortless, dangerous grace.
The movement was fluid as water, yet Blazar could feel the coiled strength behind it—the strength of something not entirely human.
His smile remained, but his crimson eye darkened to dark maroon—the first real warning Blazar had ever seen from him beneath all that careful charm and polished veneer.
"That toy of yours killed the last interesting thing it touched," Vesper murmured, his voice sweet as poisoned wine, each syllable dripping with honeyed menace. He leaned closer to Theo, lips nearly brushing the healer's ear. "Remember?"
The tension between them crackled like static electricity, making the infirmary's antiseptic air feel suddenly charged. Theo's throat bobbed in a visible swallow, but his eyes remained defiant even as a faint tremor shook the hand holding the scope.
Vesper's thumb stroked the edge of the scope almost fondly, tracing its intricate engravings with an intimacy that made the gesture somehow obscene.
"Six months ago. A transfer student from the Blacksteel Forges." His voice dropped, intimate, as if sharing a secret with a lover. "Iron in their blood. Real iron, not the diluted nonsense nobles have. Theo here got curious." His eyes never left Theo's face, watching for every flicker of emotion with predatory intensity.
A pause stretched between them. The infirmary lights buzzed overhead, an insectile drone that filled the silence. Dust motes danced in the shaft of afternoon sunlight streaming through the high windows, casting dappled patterns across the gleaming tile floor.
"The scan triggered a metallurgic cascade," Vesper continued, tilting his head with bird-like curiosity, fingers still wrapped firmly around Theo's wrist.
"Their veins turned to rust inside their skin." He sighed, wistful and theatrical. "Such a waste. I never even got a taste." His tongue darted out to wet his lips, leaving them glistening in the harsh light.
Theo's jaw clenched, a muscle jumping beneath his pale skin. His eyes flashed with something like shame before hardening again. "It was an accident," he ground out, words clipped and defensive.
"And this will be one too," Vesper said pleasantly, his smile widening to show just the edges of teeth too sharp to be entirely human, "if you point that thing at my new favorite vintage." He didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to. The underlying threat hung in the air between them, palpable as the scent of antiseptic and fear.
Theo's shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly. His fingers loosened their grip on the scope, the crimson runes fading as the device powered down with a dying whine. He lowered the scope to his side, defeated.
Blazar's pulse roared in her ears like thunder, blood rushing so loudly she could barely hear her own thoughts. Iron in their blood.
Rust inside their skin. The gruesome image seared itself into her mind, bringing bile rising to the back of her throat. If the scope reacted that violently to metal, what would it do to her? To whatever unnatural blood ran in her veins—blood that had that sometimes seemed to move with a will of its own when moonlight touched her skin?
Vesper caught her stare and winked, a mischievous, conspiratorial gesture that sent an involuntary shiver racing down her spine. "Don't look so nervous, little storm. I'd never let something so crude ruin you." He licked his lips, a deliberate, sensuous motion. "When you break, I want it to be my teeth doing the work."
The words hung between them, promise and threat intertwined so tightly Blazar couldn't separate one from the other. She felt herself caught in his gaze like a moth drawn to flame, knowing the danger but unable to look away.
A horn's blast shook the infirmary walls, followed by the hollow, robotic voice:
"All circle leaders to the Ivory Tribunal immediately. Princess Aria's edict."
Vesper's ever-present smile vanished. "Ah," he murmured, his golden eye darkening. "She's invoked the Blood Accord."
Theo paled, his fingers tightening around his medkit. "The last Tribunal ended with three nobles beheaded."
"Duty calls," Vesper sighed, releasing Blazar with theatrical reluctance. He leaned in, his lips brushing the shell of her ear, his breath chilling her skin. "But this isn't over, little storm." When he pulled back, he winked. "I still owe you that proper lick."
Then he was gone, Theo trailing behind him like a shadow.
Silence.
Blazar turned to Vyne—and froze.
His yellow eye was flickering, the mechanical iris spasming wildly.
"What's wrong with you?" she snapped. "Feeling sick?"