Page 192 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Mister!” Niall shouted suddenly, over the relentless build of power the soulforge demanded of him. “Sir, please, I need to stop! It’s hurting me!” Niall cried, and I took a note.

‘Five minutes: Subject reports pain.’

“Keep going, son, you’re almost there.” I said absently, checking back to my notes from the first test with Amon. He had been much more difficult to observe, as he refused to give me any indication when he was in pain or feeling drained. I had truly begun to wonder if the daemon was as invincible as they claimed, until Ash Nevra had whipped him down like the dirty slave he was. It was satisfying to see that he finally seemed to be breaking.

Niall started screaming after another few minutes, and then, to my disappointment, the shining core in his chest sputtered out, and went dark. The power was cut off and Niall fell forward into the sand.

‘Fifteen Minutes: Subject terminated.’

“Hmm. Well, it was a good start.” I muttered out loud, turning to face the witch who stood behind me, her face unreadable. “Bring me another one.” I barked at her. Her dark gaze met mine and she nodded, turning without a word to head back into the underground cells where we kept our more disposable prisoners.

Perhaps this one was too weak, and he couldn’t handle the transfer… Whatever the reason, I would figure it out in time.

I always did.

Rycon

Kyro and Rykara were still standing straight while the rest of the K’aalpa-kah lined up, awaiting my orders. I had told Kyro he was free to join, but he had ground his teeth and refused, choosing to stand the extra day with his sister.

“I would kick their asses anyway.” He muttered, tossing his hair out of his angry golden eyes, as he watched my sorry excuse for a K’aalpa-kah shift uneasily before me.

My lip twitched at his cockiness, but I said nothing, instead turning my attention to the group of panthers who were gifted with superhuman speed and strength and still somehow managed to be a complete embarrassment.

The problem was, they had never needed to worry about coming against anyone stronger than they were. Their level of training was adequate if they were simply defending Olkuyrbe from an invading tribe of shifters, or better yet, humans.

But they would not make it in a war with beings that had access to unlimited power, or even against a well-trained squadron of magick folk.

I had learned that lesson very young, when my parents had been murdered, and I refused to allow history to repeat itself here.

They needed to be faster, tougher, and stronger, than anything we came up against. The first step was showing them that they were not apex predators, despite what they may have believed their whole lives.

When we crossed The Veil, we would no longer be at the top of the food chain, and we were going to need to fight dirty if we were going to survive.

“Alright you pieces of shit. Here’s what we’re going to do. I want you to organize yourselves in a line from strongest to weakest.”

They all exchanged a look, before glancing back at me in confusion.

“You want us to decide who’s strongest?” The panther who had spoken out of turn the day before asked incredulously. He was really starting to get on my nerves, and I pretended not to hear Kyro’s huff of laughter at his peer’s expense.

“What’s your name?” I asked, resigning myself to the fact that I was likely going to need to learn the names of all these shifters at some point. ‘Piece of Shit’ and ‘Fucker’ could really apply to any of them, and I had a feeling it was going to start to get confusing if I didn’t start to get a little more specific.

“Riko.” He said proudly, and I smirked.

“Great, Riko, back of the line you go for asking another stupid fucking question.”

He gaped at me, his lip curling into a snarl, and Kyro lost control of the laugh he had been holding back. Riko spun in his direction and growled, but Kyro just smirked at him.

“Back of the line where you belong, Riko.” Kyro purred from where he stood at attention, next to his sister.

“Fuck you, Kyro. You’re not even in the damn line. You’re standing on the sidelines like a little bitch.”

Kyro just shrugged. “For now,” he said.

“Enough.” I snapped. “This isn’t fucking social hour. Line up before I make you all stand with Kyro and Rykara.”

That got the results I wanted. Predictably, several fights broke out as shifters fought each other for a place at the front of the line. Instinct wouldn’t allow any of them to admit they didn’t belong at the front, but they quickly worked it out among themselves. I didn’t allow Riko to participate. He had tried to jump in to take out the panther who claimed first place, but I took him out with a well-placed fist to the gut and held him down with a boot to his neck until the scuffle was done.

Letting Riko up, I pointed firmly to the back of the line and he glared at me, before stomping to his spot in last place, crossing his arms over his chest. Kyro was barely able to bite back his smirk and as much as his cocky ass amused me, I was going to wipe that smile right off his face.