Page 104 of Heart of Dawn
“You’re a dozen roses compared to this damn place.”
“Maybe the manure making them grow.”
“Never, Ori. Never.”
We shared a kiss on the lips. Brief, a peck, but enough to load several springs in my step.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump.
“Floor twenty,” the facility’s voice said.
I squeezed my mate’s hand. “Stay by my side.”
He squeezed it back as the doors opened.
He gasped, freezing in place.
“Ori?”
The stench of blood magic hit me.
“Orion!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ORION
Blood magic overwhelmed me, swallowing me in a sickening storm of iron and crimson.
“Orion!” Miko barked.
I lost my grip on his hand, falling, falling, falling. Sinking into so much red, my brain pressing against my skull.
“Only one place for it to go, cherry fae,” Dawn said, somewhere in the redness.
“What are?—”
“As I learn, as I grow, I come across interesting facts. I may have faltered in your wretched homelands, yet it does not hinder my learning.”
Ding! Ithadweakened itself by eating my people.
“You… You assbug…”
“Nasty Faery insects. See? I learn things. Like devouring blood magi to unlock their secrets. They have always tasted foul to me, but now I understand their uses.”
“You can…use their…”
“Magic? Yes. Yes. Yes. Dawn is grand.” It laughed. “Another fact I came across is High Altitude Cerebral Edema. Have you heard of it?”
A million drills screamed in my skull, preventing me from answering.
“A terrible thing. Apparently, your brain leaks out of your spinal cord.” More laughter.
I tried fighting, the magic far too intense. Worse than my previous dalliances with the blood-loving assbugs.
“You do not win,” Dawn said. “I win.”
