Page 64 of Summer of Sacrifice

“Seleste?” Arielle pulled her mind back to the room. “What should we do?”

Seleste turned to Gaius, sorting through all of her medical knowledge. “When two different types of blood mix, the foreign blood becomes toxic. This usually kills a person rather quickly, but with the use of magic and Laurent’s Elven lineage, perhaps it prolonged the process. When Winnie healed Laurent’s magic, she inadvertently healed the blood as well, but it was still Chresedia’s and still present in the simplest form.”

She rubbed at her sightless eye, an infernally itchy thing it often was. “What if I…unheal the blood? Unless Laurent and Chresedia had the same blood type, which is possible but unlikely considering the state of his health until Winnie healed him. Perhaps if I unheal this vial’s worth, the blood would begin to clot.”

Gaius’ mouth had turned down in a scowl long ago, but he continued listening intently.

“If I do this, could you use any of your tools to tell the difference? Find one of the clots?”

With a swivel back toward his worktable, Gaius pulled a tool toward him. A cylindrical device on filigreed legs, open at the bottom, and a domed glass covering the top. Seleste hadn’t seen one in over a hundred years. “This is a clin d'œil.” He held up a thin sheet of glass. “If I place a portion of the blood on here and look through the scope of the clin d'œil, it would magnify the blood. I would, in theory, be able to see a clot. Separating it entirely from Laurent’s blood is beyond my knowledge.”

Seleste nodded resolutely. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” She turned. “Arielle, I have an idea, but it is…unconventional.”

“I’m listening.” There was an air of excitement beneath Arielle’s even tone.

“I am going to spill a little of the blood in your palms. You have no cut on your hands at present, do you?” Arielle shook her head. “Good. I will pour the blood, and you will tell me what you sense. I will use my magic to sift and?—”

“Wing it!” Sorscha cheered from her side of the room. “This is exciting.”

“For lack of a better term,” Sorscha chuckled, “yes.”

Gaius handed Seleste the vial as Arielle stepped forward, her palms up. Seleste popped the cork, pulling a deep breath into her lungs. “Here goes nothing.”

Crimson lifeblood poured into Arielle’s hands, pooling as she cupped them together, little rivers of red flowing in the creases of her palms. A hush fell through the room as they let Arielle work. Her brows knit together, her lips moving soundlessly. Seleste set her magic to waiting, ready.

“Laurent’s blood is so pure.” She chuckled, swirling her hands and the blood with it as it smeared on her skin. “I’ve never sensed Elven magic before. This is remarkable…” She flinched suddenly. “Hers…it’s so twisted,” Arielle breathed. “It feels like Aggie’s indigenous seed of magic, but…warped.”

Seleste sent her magic diving into the blood, closing her eyes as she searched for anything that felt like Aggie. Like a dark, contorted version of her Sister Autumn.

Seleste sucked in a breath. “I feel it.”

A shiver snaked down her spine. Arielle was right. It was similar to Aggie’s magic but wholly wrong. Violated. Desecrated. A ripped-open corpse where a goddess should be.

She felt more than heard Sorscha come toward her, standing between her and Arielle. “I’m going to create a link between the two of you,” she said quietly, letting them keep their concentration.

Seleste couldn’t feel anything, and she did not open her eyes, but she did hear Gaius gasp.

“Gods above,” he cursed, Sorscha muttering something similar.

Curiosity warred with logic, but Seleste held fast, a tendril of her magic wrapping around the foreign, unholy thing in Laurent’s pure blood. Her magic latched on. Almost howling with triumph, she dove within it, nearly seeing what Arielle was feeling, until she began to pull apart the knitting of Winnie’s healing spell.

“Let me help,” Arielle whispered just before a spangled shimmer of power joined hers, plucking at threads.

Gaius’ chair scraped across stone, almost distracting them, but then he was there at Seleste’s side. “I can see it. Why can I see it?”

Seleste opened her eyes just in time to witness Gaius dipping a minuscule spoon into the small pool of blood in Arielle’s hands.

“What can you see?” She couldn’t help the itch of curiosity. It still looked like any other blood to her natural eye.

“The clotting,” he muttered, rushing to his clin d'œil. “I could see it from across the room.”

“That’s decidedly not normal,” Sorscha snarked as she broke her spell and Arielle rushed to a washbasin in the corner.

“I’m inclined to agree.” Seleste made her way to peer over his shoulder as he poured a droplet onto his sheet of glass and placed it under the clin d'œil.

“This is unbelievable.” He looked up from the scope, into Seleste’s eyes and then back down. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

He stood to give her a view in the clin d'œil, and Seleste peered in, sending her magic to search the blood as well. A small gasp escaped her. “Gaius!” She popped up. “How did you possibly scoop out precisely one clot with none of Laurent’s blood present?”

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