Blood Lands (Savage Lands #5)(35)

“I will need to run a primary test on her blood first,” he spoke to the men. “Restrain her.”

I didn’t fight as the men banged into my cell, grabbing me by the arms and pinning me against the wall. I could feel the hum of Warwick jolting in the cage over, a breeze of him brushing over my skin.

“Kovacs?” he growled through the bars to me.

“I’m fine,” I replied to him, my voice steady. The guards were of no consequence to me. The only focus I had was on the doctor I had grown up with. He had been there for all my vaccinations, my wounds, and broken bones, giving me lollipops and smiles. At one time, I thought he was a kind man.

“What happened to you?” I sneered as he moved closer to me, a syringe in his hand. “I thought doctors wanted to help people?”

“That’s what I’m doing.” He wrapped a rubber band around my arm, popping out my veins. “I am helping people. Humans. How do you know fae essence isn’t the future of vaccinations for human diseases? The cure for cancer?”

“For erectile dysfunction?” I arched my brow at him.

He huffed like I was a silly girl. “Science is ever-evolving. Sacrifices have to be made along the way.”

I tried not to flinch when he jabbed my arm with the needle.

“You can make it sound as sensible and pretty as you want, but there is a fine line between true science and a quack. You sound exactly like Dr. Rapava. Whatever he started out to do, he went off the deep end, pushing his experiments further and further. Where is your line, doctor? Do you have one anymore? When does killing innocent children and sucking the essence out of beings, killing an entire species to enhance another, too far for science?”

“They aren’t innocent. They shouldn’t even exist. They go against science and nature.”

“Says who? You? Other humans? Weren’t they technically on the earth first? Who gives you the right to say they don’t deserve to exist?” I sneered. “They were here before us. Maybe it’s the humans who go against nature.” I thought of someone like Ash—he was nature, beauty, and kindness. One with the earth. He could never be against nature. Fae believed in harmony with other living things, to give back to the environment as much as they took.

Humans were the selfish, arrogant, greedy ones who robbed the earth of its resources and splendor for their own personal gain, believing it was owed to them.

“Of course, you would be on their side now. You are one of them.” Dr. Karl’s lip rose, yanking out the syringe from my arm, the barrel full of my blood. “I knew the moment you came back to HDF something was amiss with you. That you weren’t right. All the tests I did were correct from the beginning. You came back wrong.”

“It’s sad someone such as you, sworn to help and heal, is so closed-minded and unaccepting. You are a fraud, doctor.” I spat out the title with disgust, leaning in closer, my emotions getting the better of me. “And guess what? I didn’t come back wrong... I was always this way.” The moment the words came out, dread dropped in my stomach.

Slamming my mouth shut, I kept any emotion from my face. I hadn’t meant to let it slip. I didn’t want Istvan or Dr. Karl to know I had always been different, that the very thing they were hunting for was me. Let them believe it was the pills that changed me, because if they found out the truth and tapped into it, somehow used me... I couldn’t even contemplate it.

Karl’s lids narrowed, trying to work out my meaning. After a few beats, he shook his head and retreated from my cell, the sentries following, locking the door behind. They’d rather believe I was corrupted now than consider I had been fae all along. They watched me grow up, cared for me, and witnessed I was no different from human children. If they were wrong about me, that meant they were wrong about fae.

He turned and faced me. “General Markos thinks you are the key to what we’ve been looking for. The perfect formula resides in your veins.” He lifted the syringe, examining it as if it would give him the answers. “If he’s right, you will never leave this building again.” He paused. “And if he’s wrong, you will end up like your father.” He stepped away, leaving me staring at the empty spot.





Chapter 10





“Warwick?” I whispered hoarsely, standing in the corner closest to him. Dr. Karl and his little gang had just left his cage. By the speed they were in and out, Warwick gave them no fight. “Warwick?” I called again. He was pulling back. The link was coming back, but slowly. A hint of his shadow, a buzz of energy, but something I could still chalk up to my imagination if I didn’t know it was real.

“I’m here.” His deep voice was low and gravelly, climbing up my legs, throbbing at my core. I could tell he was sitting on the ground against the adjacent wall we shared.

“You okay?” I lowered myself, flattening my spine against the same concrete, wanting to feel him through it.

“You’re worried because they took some blood?” He snorted. “Princess, I’ve bled enough to fill oceans. Mosquitos have taken more from me.”

“I was talking about the other stuff.” The torture. The hole. The Games. We had yet to have a moment to connect since he was taken from me in the shower room.

He scoffed. “Been through worse.”