Page 92 of Decadence

Everything went dark again.

Swish, swish.

A muffled scream split the silence. It was his voice.

Fear and relief swirled in her chest. He was alive.

He was in pain.

She was overcome with the sudden urge to rush to the edge of the tank, but the General’s powerful hand clamped down on her shoulder. “Hold,” he ordered.

The screams grew louder.

Zharek whispered a rapid-fire curse.

Dread filled her. She’d never felt so helpless in her life, even when she’d been held captive by the Ephrenians.

Come on.

There was a distinct crack, followed by several more cracking sounds.

What the hell is that?

For some reason, she thought of breaking bones.

The red light flashed again, but the stasis tank had become too cloudy. She couldn’t see a thing.

Her heart sank.

But all of a sudden, Zharek let out a triumphant cry. He started to laugh. “I am a fucking genius,” he chuckled, switching back to Universal.

“It is done?” the General demanded.

“Mostly.”

“Put the lights back on.”

Cool blue light immediately flooded the room, allowing Sienna to see the tank clearly for the first time since the procedure had started.

Her eyes grew wide.

Ikriss was there, all right. The liquid in the tank had reverted to its original crystal clear state, allowing her to see him clearly. He was curled up in the fetal position, and from what she could see, his body was perfectly intact, his silver skin shimmering in the blue light. She saw the constellation of scars across his back. The black metal implant was gone, replaced with smooth silver skin.

He was intact.

But that wasn’t what made her gasp.

Something about him was different.

Very different.

Impossibly, his hair had grown longer. A lot longer. Pale tendrils swirled around his head, forming a ghostly crown. If gravity had its way, his hair would reach down to at least the middle of his back.

And he had horns.

Holy crap.

They weren’t just ordinary little bumps. These were proper Kordolian horns; long, curving, obsidian, making him look like some sort of devil caught in a centuries-long hibernation.

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