Page 322 of The Curse Trilogy

“I’m sorry, but it also applies in this case, Ms. Crush.”

“Only when you’re on a witch hunt,” Hale snarks as I finally free him from the entanglement of chains.

His arms drape around me protectively, and I see Angelica moving over to stand behind us. I smell her blood, but I don’t know why. What is she doing?

“Here’s the vial,” he murmurs while proffering me the glass container.

Shit. They’ll find out I’m not just the offspring of an emergent, I’m also pregnant.

I feel Angelica’s hand on my back, and I feel her tracing letters in repetition. I study it as they all stare expectantly at me.

Mybloodisyourblood. Mybloodisyourblood. My… blood… is… your… blood.

It hits me what she’s trying to say, and my eyes glance to Clay’s to pass along the silent request he seems to have already thought of himself. I smirk as I unsheathe my blood bringers. They have my DNA code on file, but Angelica’s is almost an exact match because of our father. With Clay’s help, it’ll be close enough to fool them.

“When this is over, you’re going to be in so much trouble. Accusations from an unreliable source don’t justify the trapping of so many United officials - especially not your commander. You realize when these results come back negative, you’ll all be tried for treason. You bent the law to do as you wished, and in case you haven’t noticed, you bent it with the wrong people.” I say to stall.

The vial is covered completely by my hand, and I can feel it warming up as Clay uses his gift to send Angelica’s blood into it, manipulating it enough to match mine all the better. I smile when I feel the completed process, and then I pretend to draw my blood from my arm while going through the motions of filling the vial.

I smile as I hand it to the captain in store for a shocking bit of humbleness, and he seals it before walking toward the door. Clay sighs out as if in relief, and Hale seems to be aware of what just happened as well.

“As I said, this is just a precaution. We’ve taken extreme measures to keep this quiet. We’ve also taken extreme measures to keep this from escalating into a blood bath instead of a questioning process.”

“You could have just called us and requested this information without any measures at all,” Clay hisses.

“I’m sorry, Commander. I’m simply following protocol.”

“There’s no such thing as protocol for emergents since they weren’t supposed to exist. There’s no protocol for an emergent’s child since one has never lived past the point of puberty. Yes, captain. I know there have been children born from emergents. I’ve discovered quite a bit of information. I’d like to be present while you do the testing. That is protocol.”

The full blood captain’s eyes widen at the startling comment. Clay’s confession of emergent knowledge has surprised them all.

“Perhaps we should speak about the treason involved with hiding genocide from the United. I think we’ll save that for after we speak of this poorly handled situation at hand once we see Araya’s blood tested and found pure.”

Brazen grumbles lightly as he stirs on the table, and I walk over to remove the dart from his chest. He rises slowly as Captain Germaine unshackles Clay, and they walk out to head to the lab where my falsified blood will rattle their day as much as they’ve rattled mine.

“What the fuck is going on?” Brazen mumbles through his weakened state.

“It’s something that is about to end, and then I can go on with my damn wedding,” I huff.

“Why did they fucking shoot me with a tranquilizer?”

“Because they’re not exactly the brightest of officers,” Hale rolls out with a menacing tone toward the men cowering in front of their captain.

“We’re very sorry, Sir, but Captain Germaine outranks us.”

“So do I, in case you’ve forgotten. If we can’t try you for treason, consider yourselves decommissioned. I don’t want people I can’t trust working for me. You can all find homes outside of Seminole. You’re no longer welcome here. I would have bumped up your rank had you stood up to him. Men like Germaine only have power when they have followers. He’s here out of fear, not of lawful reasons.”

They lower their eyes to cast their shame on the floor. Brazen rubs the back of his neck while keeping his lips sealed. He doesn’t know we cheated the blood test. He doesn’t even know there’s a blood test going on. He’s smart enough not to antagonize the situation though.

“I can’t believe I got fucking shot at,” Brazen grumbles, and Hale narrows his eyes at the men who still refuse to meet his glower.

“I was chained up in my own holding cell. Many things were handled piss poor today.”

The door opens, and the men separate as several United officers follow Clay and a very disgraced Captain Germaine.

“Well?” Hale prompts.

“We’re holding a rather large committee meeting to discuss Jonathan Germaine’s actions based on the lack of evidence. Treating us like hostile suspects before presenting us with any information is very much against protocol. I’ll handle this. You’re all free to go. Araya’s blood checks out as we knew it would.”