Page 149 of Decadence

“Are you sure you want that, Zharek?” Ikriss said mildly as he stepped around the monitoring equipment and into a soft halo of glowing blue light.

“C-commander,” Zharek blurted. He’d been studying something intensely on the holo, but he quickly ordered the image to disappear as Ikriss approached.

Ikriss wasn’t certain, but he thought it might have been a human female.

He didn’t bother to question it. He wasn’t even curious. Zharek had his oddities and obsessions. Didn’t they all?

“I heal almost as fast as a First Division warrior,” Ikriss growled as he loomed over Zharek. “And my cursed horns keep growing back, no matter how much suppressant I paint on them. Explain.”

“By the time I infused the nanites into your body, your horns had already grown back,” Zharek shrugged. “Why is it bothering you so much? Think of it as a favor.”

“Horns come with obvious tactical limitations.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure out a solution. Don’t the benefits outweigh the risks?”

Ikriss remembered the delicious pink flush that had spread through Sienna’s cheeks when she’d found out about his unique predicament.

He remembered her devious smile…

And just like that, he had a raging erection again.

“Well, I’ll leave you to make your own conclusions about that,” Zharek said lightly. “The simple explanation for it all is that the nanites will try and restore your body to the state in which they found it—in this case, with horns intact.”

Ikriss glared at the medic, not knowing whether to be irritated or overjoyed. “Why did you put the nanites inside my body? And why haven’t they eaten me alive?”

“Version 2. The first lot I made were bound to a vector called Draekus—a virus that has a ninety-seven percent fatality rate in ordinary Kordolians. With this version, I figured out how to neutralize the virus, and the viral load I infected you with is nowhere near as high as what I put into the First Division. You do not need to learn the forms as they did. It is not necessary for you to learn how to exert your subliminal ka’qui over the nanoparticles. They will not kill you or your mate. They will simply heal you, each and every time.”

Ikriss took a deep breath and forced himself to be calm. “You did this because it was necessary… the damage I sustained was more than what you could heal on your own.”

Zharek swiveled in his chair and looked Ikriss straight in the eye. His demeanor changed, becoming perfectly cold. “No. The truth is, you would have survived without the nanites.”

Ikriss fought very hard to stop himself from tearing Zharek’s throat out. “Then why did you put them in me?”

The medic’s amber gaze was clear and brilliant. It was as if a mask had slipped away. “I am no fool, Commander. Believe it or not, I see what happens outside this lab, and I know what is coming. Did you forget that I am also a son of House Sirian? I know my brethren, Ikriss Peturic. I know very well what they are capable of, and I will do everything in my power to help you and the General finish off what you started. You are just a little invincible now, and when war is upon us again, you will thank me.”

“Perhaps,” Ikriss conceded, studying Zharek intently. The facade of the eccentric-but-brilliant nobleman was down, revealing a calculating mind. “But the next time you intend to carry out any modifications on my body, you will seek my consent first. And you will never, ever experiment on any of our females. With them, you heal. That is all.”

“I-I would never dream of it,” Zharek stammered, his calculating expression evaporating.

“Good.” Ikriss turned to leave, glancing over his shoulder. “In that case, I owe you thanks. And a favor, should you ever need to call on one.”

“S-sir!” Zharek was so surprised he almost snapped to attention.

Ikriss gave him a curt but respectful nod and disappeared, lengthening his strides as he left the medical bay.

He had another visit to make, and this one would not be half as pleasant.

* * *

He went down into the lower decks, past the secret tech development labs and the weapons stores, past the powerful quasar reactors that provided Silence with its inexhaustible source of energy…

Down into the silent, dark cells where they held their enemies.

Where Sagarath Rexu sat in isolation and prayed for death.

Ikriss’s need for revenge deepened as he thought of the honorless bastard that had orchestrated Sienna’s capture and torture from afar. It wasn’t just Sienna Rexu had made suffer; it was at least a dozen other innocent human females.

But it was the thought of Sienna’s suffering that filled him with white-hot rage. He truly wanted to tear Rexu’s black heart out of his chest with his very own claws and devour it—in the way his ancestors would have done to their sworn enemies.

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