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“And how are you going to get this magic substance into him?” She laughed and the sound was verging on hysterical.

“You. You’re going to transfuse him.” Dmitri made his voice cold, no room for doubt.

“I’m not a doctor and we have no equipment for a transfusion. Besides, you and Benet aren’t of the same species. Your blood would be just as likely to kill him.”

Dmitri reached across and gave her a small shake. “You’re a veterinarian, you know the techniques. If I knew how to do this, I would but you’re trained to practice medicine.”

“On animals.”

Jaw set, hard edge to his voice, Dmitri pointed one talon at himself.

“The Khagrish scientists said we were animals. Sweetheart, no matter how civilized, humans are nothing but big animals, okay? We’re wasting time Benet doesn’t have.

You have to go to the vet facility in the village at the stables and get whatever equipment you need to do the job.

I’ll get him to his bed and do what I can to clean up the visible wounds but you have to hurry. ”

“And not get caught.” Biting her lip, she stared at him, then gave a curt nod. “All right, it’s an insane idea but obviously there’s nothing else we can do. And I know you trust your goddess.”

“With my life and Benet’s,” Dmitri replied, He gathered Benet’s body carefully, trying not to cause further injury and rose to his feet. For a Badari the weight of even a heavily muscled, tall man like Benet was nothing.

Marushka scrambled to her feet. “All right, I’m going. This late there shouldn’t be anyone else there.”

Dmitri halted and surveyed her with an eyebrow raised and a frown. “Not in that. You have blood all over you now and the Court dress will draw attention even if it wasn’t stained.”

She shook her head as if to clear it and ran one hand through her elaborate hairstyle, destroying the braids and artificial birds and butterflies set among the curls. “What can I wear? I can’t go in my underwear.”

“Benet has tee shirts and sweatpants in his room so grab a set, change and go.” He shrugged and continued on his way to the bedroom, satisfied she was thinking again instead of reacting in shock. He only hoped the transfusion would come in time to save Benet.

Marushka shed her formal court gown and yanked on the first clean black tee shirt she found.

She had to roll up the sweatpants and secure the waistband with a belt she found in the closet but the loose shirt was knee length on her and covered the waist. She was left with her shiny, embellished shoes but there was nothing to be done about it.

Not wasting time checking in with Dmitri again, she headed out of the apartment and struck out across the village.

The veterinary center was next to the stables, all of which should be deserted at this time of night, except for the night watchman.

The closer she came to the buildings, the more nervous she got.

There were security guards on patrol and she hoped she could avoid them, although fortunately she’d been here a few times checking on the estate’s horses, so the guards might be familiar with her.

She had official credentials but not with her.

Marushka’s heart was pounding by the time she ascended the stairs to the entrance and as she reached for the door control, she paused and took a deep breath.

Calm. She had to be calm. And efficient. And if anyone was there, she had to act as if there was nothing unusual going on. She had a right to be here.

The building was brightly lit but no one else was there.

Her heels clicked on the shiny floor as she made her way briskly to the equipment storage room, emphasizing how empty the place was.

Transfusions of the kind Dmitri wanted her to carry out were extremely old-style medicine, not performed in most places but Marushka remembered they’d had one lecture on the techniques in vet school.

The professor had said dismissively transfusions were still in use in certain extremely rural portions of Outlier.

The Empress’s Games drew entrants from all parts of the interstellar nation, including those scorned sections, since participation was mandatory.

Accordingly the vet center inventory should include the right devices for the procedure.

The idea was to be fair to all and provide anything any vet connected to a team could need or want.

She scrolled through the endless lists of available tech on the reader.

So absorbed was she that she didn’t hear someone entering the room until the person was right behind her and one of his shoes made a squeaking noise on the floor.

Marushka jumped and let out a little scream as a man said, “If you’re here this late, one of Nichevsky’s prize horses must be in deep trouble indeed, your grace. ”

“Dr. Kruschimir, you startled me,” she said, hand to her heart.

“Sorry. What are you trying to find? Maybe I can help.” He peered over her shoulder. “Transfusions? You’re kidding me.”

The man was an older colleague and while Marushka wasn’t afraid of him, she needed him to be gone so she could take the equipment she required and hurry back to Benet.

“Well you know, occasionally the old ways are the best,” she said mildly.

“We might not do it but I promised to see if what we’d need was available and have it ready tomorrow. ”

Shaking his head, the vet walked past her to the other side of the room and picked up a prepacked medkit. “Better you than me. I wouldn’t want to be doing such an antiquated procedure on one of those priceless beauties your father brought.”

“We—we might not. We’re trying not to worry Father over it.

” If Dr. Kruschimir mentioned this odd encounter to anyone—and she was sure he would—there’d be problems but Marushka wasn’t going to worry about it tonight.

Solve one problem at a time., She pretended she was making notes on her handheld and scrolled to another area of the database to throw the other vet off the scent.

He puttered a bit as if waiting for Marushka but she stayed head down, scribbling totally useless notes until he said good night in a disappointed tone and left the room.

Then she shut the database and ran to the correct shelf to grab the right kit.

She hadn’t brought anything to carry it all in and she cursed her lack of forethought as she hurried to the next room to pick up an empty medbag.

This was all taking far too long and her hands shook as she packed the transfusion kit into the bag and slung it over her shoulder.

The night guard was entering the building as she walked up to the door and he nodded pleasantly and held the portal open for her. “Late night stable call, my lady?”

“Can’t be too careful with our high bred horseflesh,” she said cheerfully.

To allay suspicion she strolled toward the stables but then cut through the building, watched by sleepy, uninterested horses and ran the other way toward the apartment buildings.

Grateful not to have encountered anyone, she averted her eyes as she rushed past the blood-spattered spot where Benet had been assaulted.

The gravlift to his floor took forever in her opinion but then she was rushing down the hall and stabbing the access panel for entry.

Practically falling into the hallway in her haste, she noticed in passing Dmitri had cleaned up the entry. “I’m sorry it took so long,” she said as she darted into the bedroom. “Old Dr. Kruschimir showed up and I had to stall until he left. How’s he doing?”

Dmitri rose from the chair beside the bed and took the bag from her. “Breathe, devochka. He’s still with us by the grace of the goddess, although not doing well. He was severely beaten. I’ve done what I can for the external injuries and cleaned him up.”

She began sorting the various implements she was going to need, laying them out in a neat row on the bureau. “Has he said anything?”

“No. I think we can safely assume Prince Vasili is behind this though.” Dmitri sounded grim. “It could have been a rival team but I doubt it. The sheer viciousness of the attack argues for a personal grudge. What do you need me to do?”

She ran a decontam ray over her hands, anxiety over what she was about to do making her shaky.

“I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never actually done this procedure.

I’ve only seen it demonstrated in a holo once, years ago in my second year.

I don’t know how much you can give. I don’t how much his body can take.

And underlying all of that, I know he shouldn’t be able to tolerate your blood.

I’m only doing this because you won’t let me call emergency services and I have to do something.

I can’t let him die—I love him.” Tears prickled in her eyes and she sucked in a deep breath.

Crying now wouldn’t accomplish anything.

“Nothing about this is scientifically sound.”

Dmitri came to her and gave her a hug, careful not to touch her now sterile hands. “This is an act of faith. My faith in my goddess. Benet will survive, I promise you.”

She closed her eyes and tried to quell the trembling threatening to take over her body.

Anxiety ran rampant through her nerve endings.

I can do this because I must. Re-opening her eyes, she stepped to the bedside.

“I’m going to prepare his arm now. If you can sit in the chair, I’ll be ready for you in a minute. ”