Page 59 of Defiance
Hands in the crowd rushed his tail, prying it open. Charlie pulled on his clothes, begging them to stop in a panicked sob. Novak turned around, snarling and spitting, looking for his quarry in the crush of bodies. His claws and plume mail were fully extended, ready to slice them all to pieces for the audacity. His quarry was frightened, and the desperate animal sounds she made grated in his soul.
“I-I have her!” Sath yelled, staring at Novak with wide-eyed fear. He held Charlie against his chest as a HIXBS doctor pressed an aero-syringe to her neck.
“Charlotte!” Guei gasped, clutching her cheeks as she slumped in Sath’s arms.
Pioden’s tail whipped around Novak’s neck, pulling him up shirt. Their plume mail scraped against each other like swords on a battlefield as Novak’s pupils widened and his fangs dropped. He roared, digging his claws into Pioden’s tail with vicious precision as he yanked on his own, trying to rip it back from the hands of so many “brave” people. His feet slipped on the stones as he lost the wrestling match against a dozen other men.
“There are holding cells, yes. The palace guard will know where, Pioden. Take him,” Guei commanded.
Pioden’s forearm banded his neck, tail winding around his arms and muzzle. Novak’s tongue lolled from his mouth as he fought for air, dragging Charlie’schemiainto his lungs untilthe edges of the world burned neon. Scent burn consumed his senses until nothing else existed.
Just Charlie’s magentachemiaas the world blurred and her sedated whimpers faded.
25
Something small, wet, and chilly pressed against my forehead, droplets of water riding down my temples to nestle in the shells of my ears. I flinched, turning my head sideways so the water wouldn’t drip into my ear canal.
“Where…” My voice was gravel, and when I tried to open my eyes, they felt like I’d rubbed sand directly into my corneas. My eyelids pried open like rusty doors.
Someone tsked above me.
“That advenan’s bite gave you an awful fever, dear,” Guei murmured in a soothing, low tone. “It’s my fault. I should have pulled you aside, yes? Ferulis has always been reckless, but an advenan without a merit collar…” A frown pinched her wide, thin mouth. “He should be held accountable, putting you in such danger.”
Novak didn’t bite me at the party. I wasn’t falling for that. I rolled to my side, head pounding. I was on a clinic table with a thin white mat, my elbow crushing through the cushion into the hard steel beneath as I propped myself up. A drumbeat of pain squeezed my head. That icy wetness seeped into my hairline and temples, easing the intensity.
“Where’s Novak? I want to see him,” I slurred.
Guei smiled like the Mona Lisa, full of secrets and allure. She gave my trembling fist a pat, rubbing her thumb over my wrist.
“Lay back down, Charlotte. I need to measure the bite, hmm? You should rest before your long journey.”
All it took was a gentle nudge, and I rolled back on my shoulder blades, winded. I was just soheavy.
“There… Much better.” Guei tapped my cheek with motherly affection, humming as she drew down my blanket. I was naked, I realized. My dress was gone. My hair was loose. I looked over at her table and saw the ties and pins I’d used in it laid out like surgical tools on a small silver tray, like she was cataloging me.
Ice shot down my spine and a holoscreen beeped to Guei’s right. She glanced at my elevated vitals and muted them. Then the weight on my limbs grew, as if I were being sucked down into the table like a magnet to a fridge. The mat compressed around me with a plas crinkle.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, finding it hard to take full breaths. My esophagus felt wrong. My ears popped. I could breathe fine but felt like I shouldn’t be able to.
Guei took a snap of my breast, then measured the distance between the pink pinpricks Novak’s fangs had left amidst my pale freckles.
“Well, isn’t it always power? Humans are a gamechanger, after all. Best to get in at the starting line,” she mused, carefully logging her measurements. She winked once and a blue filter slid over one of her large black eyes. “Pink, colorimetric y 0.2 by x 0.4. I always guess visible colors incorrectly, yes. Did you know, we hjarna thought humans were orange and red when we first saw you? The other species still tease us for it.”
She chuckled as if we were enjoying a cup of tea.
“A gamechanger?” I breathed, on the brink of panic. Lucidity returned to me in tiny drips. It had happened. I’d really been taken.
According to plan.
I trusted Novak to find me. Whether I’d be in one piece when he did…
Focusing on Guei was better than focusing on myself. I watched her and wondered if Jharim’s parumauxi were watching too. Had they activated? Would I know? Something whirred and clunked beyond my eyeline.
“Would you like to hear a story, Charlotte? To pass the time during start-up, yes.”
“By all means,” I said, using bluster as a crutch. “Give me my James Bond moment.”
The reference went right over her head.
