Desire Untamed (Feral Warriors #1)(73)

And suddenly it wasn't only pain attacking him, but fear. Terror in its purest form.

"Easy, sweetheart. You're safe."

"No. No. Oh, God," she moaned.

"She's remembering," the Shaman said behind him. "Reliving the things she's forgotten. You can talk to her. Ask questions. In fact you need to, before she gets lost in there."

Lyon squeezed her close, "Kara. Kara, I need to know what you see. What's happening?"

"Cut me." She gasped. "It hurts. She wants it to hurt. Wants me to hurt."

"Who cut you, Kara?"

"It hurts."

"Where? Where does it hurt?"

"My hip. So much blood. So much pain."

"Who did this to you, Kara?"

"Can't say. Can't make a sound."

"Try another question," the Shaman suggested.

"Why, Kara? Why do they want you to hurt?"

"To feed her pets."

Paenther stepped into his line of vision. "Did this happen recently, Kara? Or in the past?"

When she didn't respond, Lyon tried the question another way. "Kara, sweetheart, how old are you?"

"Twenty-seven."

"How old were you when they cut you?"

"Twenty-seven."

Lyon met Paenther's gaze. "Kara, where were you when you were cut?"

"My bedroom. The Radiant's bedroom."

"Shit," Jag said behind him.

"Who cut you, Kara? Who did this to you?"

"Vhyper. And Zaphene. She has strange eyes. Copper rings around her eyes."

"Zaphene's Therian," Tighe said. "Kara's not remembering correctly."

"Maybe she is," the Shaman said. "In the old days, there were Mage who could change small aspects of their appearance for short periods. Their typical trick was to hide the copper rings of their eyes in order to bewitch a Therian. It takes powerful magic. But there's no doubt we're dealing with that kind of magic here. The kind I haven't seen in centuries. Tens of centuries."

"Kara, was Vhyper helping Zaphene?"

"Yes."

A muscle leaped in Paenther's jaw. "Vhyper wouldn't help a Mage. I know him. He would never team up with a Mage, not for any reason."

"It's always the ones you don't expect," Jag muttered.

Lyon shook his head. "She's bewitched him."

"Kara, was it Zaphene who freed you and Vhyper from the prison cells?"

"Yes."

"Did she help Vhyper stab you?"

Kara moaned, jerking back as if reliving the pain. "Vhyper didn't stab me. Bleeding spell to bleed me quickly. They knew… they knew you'd come for me. Didn't have much time, but the pets needed feeding, and you'd taken the cantric." She began to gasp.

"Easy, Kara. Easy, little one." He pulled the terror and the pain from her as hard and fast as he could. "Who stabbed you?"

"The ones in the robes."

"Did you see their faces? Anything?"

"No. Only their knives."

"How many?" Paenther asked.

"I don't know. More than four."

Lyon stroked her hair. "Where were they? Where was Zaphene? We didn't see anyone but you and Vhyper when we got down there."

"Hiding. Zaphene was hiding with her pets."

"Were her pets the ones that stabbed you?"

"I don't know."

"They have to be somewhere in the dungeons," Paenther said. "I never searched them. I checked that door when I searched the house, Chief, I swear it. I thought it was sealed tight, like it always is. I missed it."

The Shaman lifted his hand and dropped it again. "Warding. Magic to hide the truth from you."

Lyon looked at Paenther. "Call the house. Warn Kougar and Foxx there may be Mage hiding in the dungeon. I want them out of the house until we get there."

"What about Wulfe? We can't just leave him to them."

"Leave him. If it turns to war, he could turn on us as easily as the Mage." Lyon turned back to Kara, his sense of urgency to return to Feral House growing by the second. But there was more he needed to know. "Why, Kara? Why did Vhyper and Zaphene do this to you?"

"She needed my blood."

"Her pets needed your blood?"

"The ritual needed my blood. She didn't have enough, but you were coming. Vhyper told her to hide. He'd get the rest later."

His grip tightened on her. "Like hell.. They're never coming near you again." He glanced up as Hawke joined them, then turned his attention back to Kara. "What ritual, sweetheart? Why did they need your blood?"

"To free the Daemons."

Lyon felt his men's shock as clearly as his own.

"They can't free the Daemons." Tighe's voice was hot. Indignant. "No one can do that but us."

"That may be, Stripes, but we've already blooded that blade," Jag drawled. "And if I remember correctly, doesn't the ritual to free the bastards require the blood of an unascended Radiant?"

Silence burst over the room, punctured by Tighe's groan.