“After the Colorado shooting and the Vermont attack, I’m surprised you’re willing to speak so freely against the OGGB.” Maya took a small step back like she didn’t particularly want to be caught standing too close to Kalen. “They’re on the hunt for anti-loyalists, especially here.”
Here, because of … Eve?
The Vermont attack?
Isobel recoiled, acid spilling into the back of her throat. Theodore slipped his hand through the ties in the back of her hospital gown. His palm pressed against her bare skin, surprisingly cool despite the absurd heat of his body. The touch gave her something to focus on, and she concentrated on the way he gently drifted his fingertips over the subtle bumps in her spine until some of the panic had subsided. Niko still hadn’t taken his eyes off her, and it seemed like he released a short breath when she blinked back into focus.
Kalen stared stoically at Maya, who eventually deflated slightly, withering under his stare, their brief battle of dominance presenting a clear winner.
“I won’t tell anyone about her eye—your eye.” Maya flicked her attention to Isobel, frowning slightly at the way Isobel’s skin had turned ashy, sweat gathering on her forehead. The Guardian paused for a breath before continuing. “But if you aren’t going to allow the academy to study her,” she turned back to Kalen, “then I would like to—”
“No,” Kalen cut across her. “Nobody touches her. Looks at her. Studies her.”
The room grew quiet, Maya’s attention turning immediately assessing. Even Sophia peeked out at Kalen, brows jumping up. Maya looked back to Theodore and Isobel, her eyes dancing between them, her lips pinching. “While it is possible for the soul artefact to feed off a surrogate to heal a soul infraction, this recovery has been quite miraculous.” Her attention narrowed on Theodore. “Have you been tested, Mr Kane?”
“Tested, how?” Theodore’s voice was silky smooth, his grumbling vibrations under control as he turned his attention to soothing Isobel.
“Have your eyes been tested?” Maya asked sharply.
Kalen stepped forward in a blur, but Isobel quickly sat up and then raised herself onto her knees, fighting off dizziness as Theodore’s hand slipped away from her back and everyone in the room turned to look at her. She clutched Theodore’s knee to keep herself steady as she held herself up. The situation was seconds away from spinning out of control.
“Don’t disrespect my surrogate,” Isobel demanded quietly. She fought to keep her tone even despite the shake in her limbs. “If you … if you keep it quiet that I’ve been hiding the fact that both my eyes changed, you can have the chain. You can study it or whatever you want to do with it. That’s why you keep coming back, right? Because of the soul artefact?”
“And you.” It was Sophia who spoke, giving a small shrug. “She’s very excited that Aphelina is blessing us again.”
“Agreed.” Maya eyed the chain. “I won’t tell a soul. Not even if they torture me.” She assented so fast that Isobel found her mouth popping open, the arguments she had been trying to muster falling away.
Not even if they tortured her?
Who the hell made promises like that?
“I advised your bond specialist to cut the chain away when you woke up,” Maya continued like she hadn’t just shocked all of them. “They had to add links to close it properly. But if you would permit me to do it now?”
Dread filled Isobel, and she curled a hand protectively around the chain circling her wrist. She looked to Kalen, but he was locked into some sort of silent conversation with Niko. Niko nodded subtly, and Kalen fell back a step, moving away from the Guardian to put his back against the door.
They were allowing this to go ahead.
For a moment there, it almost seemed like Kalen was about to advance on Maya. Maybe he could force her mind to go back in time just like he had forced Isobel’s body back in time. Kalen met Isobel’s eyes, dipping his chin in a short nod, and she turned back to Maya, swallowing hard.
“Will it hurt?” she asked, staring down at her forearms. Hurt didn’t even begin to describe how it had felt to have the light torn out of her. Just the thought of it had her fingers curling into fists, wanting to close around her strands of light and hoard them close to her chest.
Where were they now? The thought sent another tingle of panic shooting down the back of her neck.
“Yes,” Maya stated plainly. “But your bond specialist will do it either way. You can’t go about your life tethered to someone else. You’re out of the woods now, so there’s no reason to keep the connection … especially since they only did it to humour me in the first place. If you don’t believe in soul artefacts, then you have nothing to worry about, hm? You won’t feel a thing. It’s just a random chain that appeared completely out of thin air for absolutely no reason whatsoever.”
Isobel sank back onto her heels. Theodore caught her hips and pulled her fully back into him again. She crossed her legs, cradling her bound wrist as Maya brushed past a roll of bandages on the table beside the bed, picking up a small pair of pliers. They must have been left by whoever added the links to her chain. She held out her hand, but Theodore pulled Isobel’s wrist back, holding out his own hand first.
Maya snapped the chain deftly, and the pain was immediate. Sharp, hot, warm, and wet. It felt like a knife straight to her chest. She gasped, pressing her hands against the hospital gown, surprised that no blood flowed over her fingers. The pain speared all the way through her body, making tears spring to her eyes. Her toes curled, her body hunching inward, trying to curl into a ball.
Maya paused, eyes on Isobel. She didn’t look triumphant that she had been right about the chain being some sort of soul artefact, only sympathetic over Isobel’s pain. Thin lines bunched between her elegant brows as she waited for Isobel to recover.
“J-Just do it quickly,” Isobel chattered out through her teeth, lifting her shaking hand.
Maya quickly cut the chain, but it seemed to come alive suddenly, glowing furiously and immediately wrapping around Isobel’s wrist again, digging painfully into her skin. Isobel’s breathing turned harsh. Theodore didn’t seem to be breathing at all. Kalen and Niko both surged forward a step, Niko’s eyes widening in astonishment. Kalen whipped out a hand, holding the other Alpha back from coming any closer.
Maya put the pliers to the chain again but pressed down much slower, her grip experimental. The chains glowed and vibrated in warning, but the further Maya adjusted the tool away from Isobel’s hand, the less of a reaction she got. When she was far enough away, she quickly made a cut, and the end of the chain whipped up, striking Maya’s hand and leaving behind a welt, blood already welling up to the surface of her skin before it recoiled to wrap contentedly around Isobel’s wrist. The end of the chain settled down over the back of her hand, nestling against her skin.
Sophia rushed forward, quickly wrapping her mother’s hand in a bandage while Maya just stared at her torn skin, brows pushed high, mouth slightly parted. She seemed to be breathing faster, but she held her composure well.
“It’s still alive,” Maya eventually stated, turning slowly back to Isobel.