Page 328 of Halfblood Deceived

Isaiah shot an alarmed look at Aroth. He took a step closer, almost as if he wanted to put Evan behind him.

Zeydan couldn’t blame him.

Evan gulped. “Er. No, thank you.”

Aroth shrugged. “Your loss.”

Kerian grinned and let out an amused breath, but Zeydan didn’t think he was imagining the flash of jealousy in his topaz eyes.

Sebastian’s complicit eyebrow wiggle confirmed it.

“I found Doctor Hudson,” Aroth announced.

That sent Zeydan’s tiredness into another universe.

“I breached her mental shields and found out some troubling things,” Aroth continued. “But I thought perhaps you would like to read her blood memories, Duke Zeydan. Her blood is clean of any poison or silver.”

Bloodlust flooded Zeydan’s system. His lips curled up. “Yes, I think I’d like that.”

Aroth smiled. “You should come too, Kerian. You’ll want to hear what I discovered.”

“Alright.” Kerian met Isaiah’s dark gaze. The gargoyle was examining them all with clear conflict. “We’ll be back soon,” Kerian said. “And once Milla is done making lovely Aella comfortable, we’ll all have a little chat.”

Isaiah’s throat bobbed, but he kept his head high as he nodded. “Of course.”

Kerian then turned to Sebastian. “Would you make sure our guest is comfortable, cousin?”

Sebastian grinned. “Naturally.” He walked up to Isaiah and placed a hand on the male’s shoulder, casual as can be. “I’ll show you to your room.” He examined Isaiah thoughtfully from head to toe. “You’re my height, but I think you’re about Dyson’s size. We’ll find something comfortable for you to wear.” He grinned at Evan. “Definitely not something from Evan’s closet, he’s vertically challenged.”

“I’m six-foot-three, you tosser,” Evan protested, trailing after them. “That hardly counts as vertically challenged!”

“You are the shortest of us, mate,” Lex pointed out.

“Bugger off,” Evan grumbled. “You’re half an inch taller than me. Half.”

They disappeared down the hall, still bickering.

Zeydan shook his head.

Aroth offered one hand to Zeydan and one to Kerian. “Shall we?”

Zeydan couldn’t help but glance back at the door of the infirmary. His instincts screamed that he stay, but Aella couldn’t be safer than she was with Mari, Diana, Kamilla, and Aylana. So he accepted Aroth’s hand, and darkness enveloped them all.

* * *

They emerged inside a basement with concrete walls and floors. It was surprisingly well-lit by a long lamp on the ceiling. And completely empty of furniture, except for a metallic table with two chairs. One of those was occupied by a blonde, middle-aged woman with pure fury in her blue eyes.

The room was almost arctic, but she wasn’t shaking. Her hands were cuffed to the table. She was dressed in scrubs and smelled strangely like nothing but cool magic—Aroth’s magic.

Kerian also sniffed her.

“The good doctor here was covered in the blood of the vampire she was dismembering when I found her,” Aroth explained. “I got tired of the smell.”

“What?” Zeydan and Kerian demanded as one.

The human smiled at them. There was something hollow, twisted, and downright rotten in her eyes. Something that reminded Zeydan of a Nazi scientist he’d had for dinner long ago.

“He was her prisoner,” Aroth said, his expression severe. “She was conducting experiments on him. When she realized she’d been exposed as a kidnapper by lovely Nurse Jasmine, she hurried back home to get rid of the evidence. Of the male. His name is Felix.”

---