Chapter 3

Sleep never came. I dragged myself off the freezing floor and lay rigid on the sterile mattress, staring at the fluorescent ceiling panels. The severed Sire Bond pulsed in the center of my chest—a jagged, open wound bleeding out my magic.

Every throb brought a memory. I tasted the expired, metallic bagged plasma I drank for three years so Valerius could feed on fresh, premium supply. I felt the plastic of my maxed-out credit cards, swiped to buy his private lab centrifuge. I remembered the heavy mahogany table at the Council restaurant. I paid for that entire dinner to celebrate his first published medical paper.

He held my hand under that table. Elara, the second I make Council Physician, curing Leo is my first priority.

Bile burned my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, my nails digging into my palms. He never saw me as a partner. I was a long-term investment. A spare parts depot he kept fed just enough to harvest later.

At exactly six in the morning, the heavy steel door slammed open.

Harsh overhead lights snapped on, blinding me. Valerius strode into the room. He wore a crisp, tailored white coat. Silver-rimmed glasses rested perfectly on his nose, catching the light. He looked immaculate, professional, and entirely devoid of the monster who had backhanded me hours ago.

Six medical interns trailed behind him, clutching digital clipboards.

Valerius stopped at the foot of my bed. He didn't look at my face. He looked at my chest.

"Patient Elara," Valerius announced, his voice projecting the perfect baritone of an authoritative instructor. "Core destabilization following a severed Sire Bond. The patient possesses a highly compatible anatomy and has expressed a strong, voluntary desire to donate her Core."

A blonde intern in the back frowned, raising her stylus. "Dr. Valerius, council ethics protocol requires a psych-eval for a full Core extraction. The fatality rate—"

Valerius cut her off with a smooth, practiced smile. "The patient demands redemption. Excuse me, I mean dedication to the Council's purebloods. Her sacrifice will save a Highborn life."

Six pairs of eyes snapped to me. I saw clinical curiosity. I saw disgust. I saw pity. I was a lab rat pinned to a board.

I sat up violently. The IV line ripped out of my hand, spraying drops of blood across the white sheets.

"You're lying!" I screamed, my voice raw and cracking. "I didn't consent! You forced me! You threatened to kill my human brother if I didn't sign your goddamn papers!"

Dead silence hit the room. The interns froze, glancing nervously between me and the senior physician.

Valerius didn't even blink. He reached into his leather medical folder and pulled out a stamped psychiatric evaluation. He handed it to the blonde intern.

"Patient suffers from severe trauma-induced paranoia," Valerius said smoothly, tapping the paper. "Emotional instability. Aggressive delusions of persecution regarding her brother."

He let out a heavy, perfectly timed sigh. "Her brother is clinically brain-dead. My shelter keeps his body functioning on life support purely out of charity to her fragile mental state."

The intern scanned the forged document. Her pity morphed into outright contempt. "Dr. Valerius," she murmured, "you are far too patient. Managing a feral, delusional blood companion must be exhausting."

"We carry the burdens we must," Valerius replied, his tone dripping with fake martyrdom.

My vision went red. I threw off the sheets and lunged at him. "I will kill you! I will drag you to the Council!"

"The patient is agitated," Valerius commanded, stepping back out of reach. "Administer the heavy sedative."

Two massive male orderlies shoved past the interns. They grabbed my shoulders and slammed me back onto the mattress. I kicked. I thrashed. I bit one of the orderlies on the wrist, drawing a curse from him as he pinned my head down.

"Get off me!" I roared, thrashing against their crushing weight. "Valerius! You will burn for this! I swear to God you will burn!"

A cold needle punched deep into the side of my neck.

The plunger went down. Liquid ice flooded my carotid artery. Within three seconds, the fight drained out of my muscles. My arms hit the bed. My tongue thickened, heavy and useless in my mouth.

"Prep her for the eight o'clock extraction," Valerius ordered. He turned on his heel. The interns followed him out like obedient sheep. The orderlies released me and walked away.

The door clicked shut. The room emptied.

I lay paralyzed, my chest heaving, fighting to keep my eyes open as the sedative dragged me into the dark.

A shadow slipped out from the adjoining supply closet.

Seraphina.

She wore completely pristine five-inch Christian Louboutin heels. She stood perfectly straight. No wheelchair. No trembling hands. No ash on her skin.

She walked to the side of my bed, her hips swaying with deliberate grace. She looked down at my paralyzed body, her glossy red lips curling into a vicious smirk.

She leaned over and mouthed a single word: Fool.

Seraphina reached out and pinched the plastic tubing of my saline drip, cutting off the flow. She leaned her face inches from my ear. Her heavy, expensive perfume suffocated me.

"I never had the Blight, Elara," she whispered, her voice a melodic, venomous purr. "I just despise pain. The Blood Moon Bonding Ceremony hurts. Raw power makes me nauseous. Why suffer when I can use your Core to stabilize the bond?"

I glared at her, my vocal cords completely paralyzed. I couldn't even spit in her face.

She traced a sharp fingernail down my cheek. "Valerius planned this months ago. He told me your Core was cultivated perfectly for my pureblood anatomy. You did all the hard work for me."

She straightened up, checking her flawless reflection in the metal tray beside my bed.

"He hates the way you smell, Elara," she added casually. "Cheap blood and desperation. He told me last night you bore him to death. I am his true mate. You? You are just the packaging my new power comes in."

She gave me a sweet, mocking wave, turned around, and walked out the door. The stiletto heels clicked rhythmically against the linoleum.

The sedative finally pulled me under. Total, suffocating paralysis swallowed my body. But beneath the numbness, deep in the absolute center of my dying Core, something ancient and terrifying snapped awake.

I wasn't dead. I was completely, violently awake.