“I hope to make him stronger. Powerful. Impervious to weakness and sentimentally. The leader I know he can be.” Istvan turned, striding past the tanks, going down the new row against an adjacent wall.
“What are you talking about?” I followed behind, stopping beside the man I had spent the last five years living with. His gaze was on the newest water tank at the end.
Slowly, my gaze followed his.
Oh. My. Gods.
A harsh noise shot from my lips, and I stumbled back, my eyes wide in horrific shock.
Holy. Fuck.
A figure floated inside the tank in only his briefs, equipment and monitors attached all over his body, his eyes closed.
“Caden.” His name came out more of a squeak, my lungs contracting, not able to take in air. I couldn’t speak or move; my shock at seeing Istvan’s only son, the boy I loved at one time, and still cared for, being used as a lab experiment rendered me frozen. I just saw him last night, standing next to his father. What happened since then? Was this Caden’s choice?
“Don’t worry, he’s fine.” Istvan peered at an electronic pad on the side of his tank, showing vitals and blood pressure. “I would do nothing to hurt my son. Not if I can make him better. Stronger. Invincible. A legend in his own right.”
Dread dropped like rocks in my stomach at his words. What did that mean?
“He’s being prepped for his procedure later.” Istvan slapped the glass as if he were patting his son’s shoulder with pride. His gaze went behind me, toward the doors, excitement dancing in his eyes. “Speaking of…”
I felt it. My body ignited with familiarity, knowing who was there before I could even look. Istvan’s plan was suddenly clear. He was sicker and more twisted than I even thought, but now it seemed like something I should have seen coming.
“Here comes the donor,” Istvan relayed.
I whirled around, my gaze landing on aqua eyes.
Warwick.
Chapter 11
“No!” A cry broke from my lips. In an instant, guards were on me, holding me back from reaching Warwick. I didn’t even realize I had been moving to him.
“Te geci!” You son of a bitch! Whipping my head to see Istvan with a haughty smirk on his face. Thrashing against my wardens, I pitched myself toward him. “Mi a fasz van veled?” Why the fuck are you doing this?
“Because I can,” Istvan replied honestly. “If this man is what all the stories claim him to be—deadly, powerful, can escape even death—what father wouldn’t want that for their son? I would think you’d want it for the boy you claimed to love so deeply.” He peered at Caden, then to Warwick, his tone mocking. Challenging. “Oh, how fleeting young love is. So ardent in the moment, so flimsy to time.”
“You should talk,” I spat. “Where’s Rebeka? How fast did you toss her over for some young girl for political reasons?”
“The only reason marriage is even worth anything is to strengthen holds between countries and claim more land. Rebeka was no longer of use to me.”
I blanched at his words.
“Don’t give me that look. You are not so naïve. Rebeka used me as well to achieve a higher position in life. But before you think me so heartless, I did love her. I will always love her, but my country, my people, come first.”
“You mean your ego comes first,” I seethed. “Look around, this has nothing to do with humans or helping anyone.” I motioned to the test subjects in the tanks, the people being tortured on the tables. “This is solely about you. About your hunger for power.”
His chin lifted. “I don’t expect you to be wise enough to see the bigger picture. To understand the cruelty of life and know sacrifices always have to be made to advance.”
“I. Don’t. Know. Sacrifices?” I spit out each word with venom. All the people I’d lost, what I had been through, forced to do, to survive.
“You are young. You have no idea how cruel life can be.”
I rejected his implication that arrogance and misogyny in youth meant you were impervious to pain, and being a woman meant I never experienced hardship. What was sick was he did know the torture, assaults, and heartbreak I had been through, and yet I was still naïve and foolish to him. He was the one who had no idea.
“I don’t get you.” I wagged my head. “You claim to hate fae, but all you want is to be one of them.”
“I don’t want to be one of them.” His lip curled in disgust. “I want to be better than them.” he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “The best of human and fae together.”
“Isn’t that just a half-breed?” I blinked in confusion. “The people you called an abomination?”
“Not a half-breed, but our own species. A super-soldier.” He peered purposely at me. “Neither fae nor human.”
Neither fae nor human. Ice slid down my vertebrae, my pulse pounding in my ears.
“What do you mean?” I licked at my dry lips, sensing the answer but hoping I was wrong.
“Dr. Karl ran your blood work this morning.” Istvan turned to me. “Do you know what he found?”
No sound made it out of my throat.
“Your Immunoglobulin M levels are even higher than last time, which were already past any level of survival.” He tucked his arms behind his back, strolling closer. “I know you are not human anymore after taking the pills. However, your levels even eclipsed the fae we tested here.”
Pills have nothing to do with it. I’ve never been human. I could hear the gulp I swallowed down resonate in my ears.
“You know what we found when we tested his blood?” Istvan flicked his head at Warwick, my gaze following. Something about him made an alarm go off in my head, but Istvan’s voice drew me back before I could analyze it. “The same thing… not just close to your level, but the exact same.”
Not a muscle moved; no expression passed over my face.
“You know what else we found?”
Silence.
“Neither of you fell under human or fae.”
Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
“I no longer need this nectar to make my army. I have it right here.” He nodded at us. “You and Warwick are ground zero. The start of a new race.”
My mouth opened to rebut his claims when movement from Warwick shot my attention to him. His legs dipped, and he stumbled back into the guards.
Blinking, my regard went over him—limp, eyes glazed, unsteady. I realized this whole time he hadn’t said a word or even tried to fight against the guards.
“What the hell did you give him?” Alarm ticked at the back of my throat.
“Come now, Brexley. I taught you better. Do you really think I wouldn’t sedate the man known to be a legend? The one called The Wolf?” Istvan strolled closer to Warwick, examining the beast of a man. Greed blossomed in his eyes, excitement at what Warwick could provide him. What he could create.
“Please…” I wrestled the group of guards, getting a few steps closer. “Don’t hurt him.”
Istvan’s head snapped back at me, understanding creeping over his face. “You love him.”
The claim made me suck in. I didn’t respond. Istvan wasn’t allowed to know my heart. To have access to my thoughts and emotions. Though, even as I locked my expression down, I knew it was still written all over me.