Page 127 of Bonds of Starfall

A breath she hadn’t known she was holding fell from her lips. "Oh." She hadn’t known vampires could be, well…

"I was turned," Nessen revealed, finishing up by unhooking the wires on the chair. "Rhyden saved me when I was an old manwho didn’t know what to do with this new hunger for blood. That was years ago."

Rin found herself studying Valkar at the information. He met her stare with an overt challenge.

"All set," Nessen finally said, patting the chair. "Up you go. I won’t hurt you, Vesperin."

Valkar arched a brow. Right. She’d made a promise.

Cyrus was reluctant to let her go. "Ves… you’re sure about this?"

She licked her chapped lips as she stared into his purple eyes. "We need help."

He followed closely as she walked to the chair, crawling awkwardly into it. She shifted as Nessen hooked electrodes to her temples, fitting fabric cuffs with wires running on the insides to her wrists.

Her eyes widened as Nessen swung a circular device over her chest, making her flinch deeper into the chair. It hovered inches from her breastbone.

"It’s alright. This allows me to get a better read on your Stella. Painless." Nessen waved a hand over it as if to demonstrate.

She nodded shakily.

Nessen stepped back to the monitors, and Cyrus stayed right by the armrest, not moving even when Valkar barked an order.

The monitor was lit with real-time heart rate, brain waves, and data she couldn’t wrap her head around.

Her heart kicked up, showcased by the spiking lines on the monitor.

Valkar’s jaw ticked. "You won’t feel any pain."

The circular thing over her chest whirred to life and began to spin. Its soft whooshing noises made her eyes squeeze shut.

True to Valkar’s word, she felt nothing, just a faint thrum from the proximity of the machine and dull pinch where the velcro of the cuffs on her wrists rubbed her skin—tender fromthe fabric ties he’d used to tie her to his bed, when she’d struggled to break free.

Eventually, the whirring stopped, and Nessen spoke. "Are you sure she’s an Aetherborn?"

Rin opened her eyes, Cyrus staring down at her. Sometime while the machine had been going, she’d rested her head on the chair back.

"I’m positive. There was nothing?" Valkar asked, looming behind the older man, staring at the monitor. A thick purplish-blue mass shimmered over the outline on the screen. Was that the Aether?

Nessen pointed to the mass, and Rin sat up, curving around the equipment to get a better view. The cuffs tugged at her wrists.

Nessen’s finger traced the outline of the body on the screen. "This here is the shape of the Stella." He pinched the screen and zoomed in. "It’s empty."

And it was.

A hollow, vast space right beneath her heart.

She had known her Stella was nonexistent, but toseeit…

Valkar looked away from the screen, toward her. She strained against the cuffs, wanting to be released, and his lips quirked darkly as he watched her struggle.

"Let me up," Rin demanded.

Cyrus tugged at the electrodes on her temples, and the machines beeped loudly.

Nessen was so focused on the screen, he merely waved a hand.

Valkar grumbled but stalked forward, shoulder-checking Cyrus as he began to loosen the cuffs, his rings cutting into her skin.