Page 55 of Caress of Fire
The doctor shook his head as he pushed the shoulder of the girl’s dress aside, revealing a gruesome burn mark. Dr. Ylco let the fabric fall and took a fast step backward, his face twisted in horror.
“Sordied sangui.”Fedryc shook his head against the horrible sight of the mark, the circle and the cross burned into the girl’s flesh with a hot iron. Like cattle, marked for slaughter.
“Sordied sangui, mors abomina.”The doctor echoed Fedryc’s words, and his entire body shivered. “This cannot be, my Lord. The order was eradicated.”
“You know as well as everyone else that the order came back,” Fedryc said. “They came back, and we will have to fight them, or perish under the circle and the cross.”
The doctor eyed the poor girl and his mouth curved with an outrage that echoed in Fedryc’s heart. He knew the man had sworn his life to science and the service of the sick and injured. The intentional infliction of pain was against Dr. Ylco’s entire existence. The man’s fingers traced the girl’s cheek and he bent his head.
“My own daughter married a human man three summers ago.” Dr. Ylco’s voice shook with anger, but also with fear. “Three grandchildren were born of the union. This could be my family’s fate.”
“All you can do now is save that girl.” Fedryc put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “She can tell us where the Knat-Kanassis are hiding, who leads them. I will wipe them clean out of existence.”
Dr. Ylco held Fedryc’s stare, then nodded. He knew his role in the fight against the Knat-Kanassis was to heal the girl enough so that she could give Fedryc and his army the information he needed to strike at the heart of the order and wipe them out.
Fedryc turned away, intent on finding Henron to send men to scour every inch of the capital to look for Devan, as Ignio Marula was now out of the picture. Wherever Ignio had stashed the boy, Devan was sure to be left for dead from now on.
Then the door of the medical room flew open and Henron walked inside, closely followed by Marielle, her flaming red hair flowing behind her. Her gray eyes, pale and wide, slid from Fedryc to the table where the girl, Rela, lay unconscious.
“You didn’t find Devan.” Marielle brought her gaze back to him, and he felt her pain and fear like a burn on his skin.
“When I arrived at the rendezvous point there was no one there.” Fedryc watched as intelligence battled worry in Marielle’s face, and intelligence triumphed. “I found Rela, but she’s barely alive. Dr. Ylco doesn’t even know if she’ll wake up.”
“And Ignio Marula?” Henron stepped to his side, calm and collected as always.
“Dead.”
Marielle snapped her face to him, her mouth hanging open, her breath caught. She blinked twice, then shook her head slowly.
“Dead?” Henron spoke again, his eyes confused and his tone just breathless enough for Fedryc to notice. “How?”
“His throat was slashed. I found him in the canyon where Marielle was supposed to meet with him.” Fedryc locked gazes with Henron and saw his friend frown. “I left him there.”
“It seems he outlived his usefulness. I’m not surprised. Ignio Marula was a common thug, and the leader of the Knat-Kanassis has no use for such a man.” Henron lifted a brow. “It’s a pity. I’d have loved to spend some quality conversation time with him.”
“And Rela was just a pawn,” Marielle whispered. She looked back at the examination table. She walked past Fedryc, then stopped just beside the girl.
“She looks like she’s sleeping.” Marielle’s voice was heavy with pain and memories. “She was always such a sweet, frightened little thing. Devan and I, we had so little, but whatever we had, we shared it with Rela. Devan especially. He loved to take care of her. She is a year younger than he is, and taking care of her gave him a purpose, a mission. They were like two halves of each other. It will kill him if she dies.”
Fedryc stood beside his Draekarra, looking at her as she stared at the girl, a torn, pained expression on her face. Marielle reached out, her fingertip barely brushing the bruise on Rela’s cheek, then she tucked the girl’s dirty hair behind her ear.
“What happened to her?” Marielle spoke like a ghost and it made Fedryc ache to touch her, to kiss her until she forgot all the pain she carried that was eating her from the inside.
“She was unconscious when I found her, but judging by her injuries, she was beaten.” Fedryc took care to speak softly but Marielle flinched nonetheless. “Dr. Ylco says her brain sustained a serious trauma. He doesn’t know if or when she will wake up. He will do the best he can, but there is no guarantee that she will ever wake up, or that the Rela who wakes up will be the girl you knew.”
“It won’t matter.” Marielle spoke in a decisive, final manner, and Fedryc knew she was speaking the truth. Marielle would never turn her back on Rela, just like she would never give up the fight for Devan. Her heart was fierce and steady, and he would give the world just to have her look at him the way she did the girl on the table.
Well, not exactly the same way. He wanted her love and affection but he also wanted so much more. Because she had taken a piece of his soul and wrapped her slender fingers around it until he couldn’t see a world that was not centered around her. It was more than the need to produce an heir for his bloodline; more than lust.
He needed her the way he needed the blood that ran hot in his veins.
“You know what this means, right?” Fedryc stood close enough that he could feel the heat of her body through his clothing.
“That the list of people who are suspects just got shorter.” Marielle’s voice was cold and merciless. “Who knew about Ignio Marula’s threat? Who knew I wouldn’t go?”
“You, me and Henron.”
Fedryc shot a quick glance at Henron as he raised his eyebrows at Marielle. His friend seemed surprised at the sharp turn of her reasoning, but he wasn’t. Marielle might be small and physically weaker, but she had the heart of a warrior.
