Page 35 of Lord of Ruin (The Age of Blood #2)
Shan only watched, absorbed by the way he twisted Mel’s desires, pulling her strings so that she looked up at him with a zeal that could not be faked.
His power might have been immense, but there was more to him than his simple magic.
It was his ability to twist others to his cause, to radicalize those around him, to turn people into believers.
Shan had been so foolish to think she ever had a shot at standing up to him. There was nothing Lost Aberforth and the Sparrow could have done to stop him. Instead, there was only this. Walking hand in hand with the Eternal King and hoping to temper the harshest of his edges.
Even that felt like too much to dream of.
Following the Eternal King and Mel out of the cell, she watched as he shepherded the girl towards the bed, left over from the days of the Blood Factory.
It didn’t have a mattress or sheets, nothing to give it any kind of comfort, just the sterile shine of the metal and the leather straps to bind its victim.
Mel hesitated for only a moment, naked fear flashing across her face as she realized just what she’d signed up for. But she pushed past it, perching on the edge of the bed and looking up with those overly wide eyes. “What do you need of me?”
“Trust, my child,” he replied, “and faith. The restraints are to help you. The magic we are going to practice is not for the faint of heart, and we don’t want you to accidentally harm yourself.”
Or them—Shan knew he wouldn’t tell her that, tell her just how risky this transformation would be. Besides, he didn’t want her getting ideas. She had already proved ambitious enough.
Shan stepped forward, knowing that she had gone too long without participating.
Taking Mel’s hand, she gave it a comforting squeeze, and the girl shot her a grateful smile, one without any artifice.
She could feel the King’s gratitude as he watched, as she proved herself to be the partner who could handle this sort of work.
As Mel placed her trust in Shan, a mistake that she would come to regret, soon enough.
“All right,” Mel said, relaxing against the bed as best she could. It was a stiff and uncomfortable thing, but she didn’t fight as Shan went around, strapping her in. She was careful to let the restraints have a little give—if the King was right, the transformation would be brutal.
They did not know how many sessions it would take, how much blood they would need to bring Mel to the threshold Isaac had found and push her past it, but they would do it again and again, until they found the answers they sought or until the girl expired, whichever came first.
Shan perched on the stool to the side of the bed. “You already know what we need you to do. It’s the same theory as for the crime you were caught.”
Mel tilted her head to the side. “But that is—”
“Not illegal,” Shan reassured her. “Not here. What you did was theft, and for that you must be punished. But this… this is freely given.”
The King came to stand beside her as he rolled up his sleeve, tucking it up past the elbow, leaving the scarred skin of his forearm visible. “It will be slightly different, though. You need to not only absorb the vitality and power in my blood, but the magic itself.”
Mel could only stare at his skin, where he trailed the tip of his claw against his veins, not quite hard enough to split flesh. Not yet. “Your blood?” she echoed, and Shan recognized the hunger there.
She had seen it in herself, far too many times. In a different world, in one where she had been a little less circumspect and a little more greedy, she could have been the one in Mel’s place. And Isaac would have had hers, watching as she fell into the trap that would leave her destroyed.
She wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse that her life turned out the way it had, but she would take the seat of power that it offered. She wasn’t fool enough to deny it when it was offered on a silver platter.
“Yes,” Shan said, brushing the hair from Mel’s face, pulling it to the side and binding it with a ribbon that she pulled from her pocket.
There was something almost motherly about the way she was tending to the girl, and Mel leaned into the comfort.
“We need to study what happens when two sources of Blood Working mingle, and what it does to the human body.”
“It will be power unlike any that you have ever known,” the King said. “Are you ready?”
Mel’s tongue darted out, lapping at dry lips, and they had her right where they wanted her. “I am, Your Majesty.”
“Good.” He nodded at Shan, and she grabbed the fresh journal, pages blank to record the transformation. She stayed perched on the edge of the stool, pen in place, and he smiled. “Let us begin.”
He drew his claw against the skin of his wrist, digging into the veins without so much as a whimper.
The blood welled free, bright red and vibrant and so full of power that it made Shan’s mouth water.
But it wasn’t for her. He lowered his arm to Mel’s mouth, and she latched on eagerly, the sounds of her sucking and swallowing loud in the quiet of the laboratory.
Shan could already see it affecting her, her pen flying across the page as she chronicled it.
Mel’s very skin shone golden, her pale eyes grew brighter, turning a shade of blue so intense that it shouldn’t have been possible.
All the signs of her imprisonment faded away, the stress fading from her as she became absolutely radiant.
After what felt like hours, but couldn’t have been more than a minute, the King pulled back, Mel chasing after him like a dog after a bone. But he only placed one clawed finger to her lips as he licked the blood from his own skin.
Seconds later, it was gone, the wound vanished as if it had never been there.
“There, there,” he said, even as Mel whined for more. “How are you feeling?”
She bared her teeth, and Shan was startled to see the change—the way her eyeteeth had elongated, looking more like they belonged in the muzzle of some terrible beast. “Ravenous.”
Smiling, the King pressed her back against the bed. She went without a fight, but still tracked his movements like a predator. “Good. It has begun. Let’s see what kind of monster you’ll become, sweet Mel.”
Not even turning his head, he spoke to Shan. “Get the muzzle. Just to be on the safe side.”
Mel lurched forward, a hiss escaping from her lips. “I agreed to help you!”
The King just looked down at her with disdain. “You agreed to become our test subject, Melinda. And you will be treated as such. Now, stop resisting.”
Shan didn’t even argue—she just fetched the muzzle. Mel didn’t even fight as she slipped the bit between her teeth and wrapped the straps around her head.
There was no fight left in her.