“Feck off.”
“Has anyone in your immediate family suffered heart or renal failure?”
“Feck right off and straight to hell.”
“It will be easier to have them pull her records,” he says to the woman taking my blood. She nods with a reproachful gaze at me, likeI’mthe problem here.
“One last thing, Miss Blair, and we’ll be done for now.”
For now?
The guards unstrap me and haul me toward the machine. I’m sweating and shaking, digging in my heels as they pull me closer.
The doctor makes a disgusted noise. “Her foot’s bleeding. Enough of this, just sedate her.”
“No!” I try to control my breath, my heart’s thundering in my chest. If they knock me out, they could do anything to me. Maybe they did something to me on the flight here. I canna let this happen. “I can do it. Just make these apes let go of me.”
The doctor’s even more annoyed when he realizes the chain I’m tethered to won’t reach the scanner. This gives me a moment as they search for the key to unlock it.
“A wee bit medieval for such a fancy place,” I stammer. “Are ye afraid of me, then? Thinking I’ll take ye all down?”
“Get on the scanning table and be quiet,” he snaps.
They strap me down again, my wrists, my chest and legs, and the worst, one around my head.
I can do this. This is nothing. I’ve done hard things before. I’m not gonna give them a single fecking whimper.
Sweat is pouring off me and I grit my teeth.
It’ll be over soon. Feck them. I’m not giving them shite.
It dinnae feel quick. It feels like forever, the rapping and knocking sounds inside the chamber are echoing through my poor ears with terrifying clarity. When the bed slides out with a jolt, a sob of relief escapes me.
“See? That wasn’t so bad, now was it?” The doctor’s fake smile and loud, condescending tone is back.
“Ye have a shite bedside manner and I’m questioning the medical college that ever gave ye a degree.” I’m a little proud of myself for getting that out in a calm tone and not the scream that wants to explode from me. Still. If I ever get a chance to punch this bastard in the throat, I’m taking it.
A guard holds my ankle and one of the women examines my heel. She’s facing me so I can read her lips. “She’s popped two stitches on this cut on her heel. I’ll steristrip the wound closed for now.”
Fornow?
Then, they take their torture chamber and get out, leaving me shaking and sweating on the fluffy, beige duvet.
Chapter Nine
In which we learn the worst host you could possibly have is a Nazi.
Arabella…
I’m watching as blood bloom on the white gauze they’d slapped on my foot when the door opens yet again.
The woman who walks in should be strolling her way through Paris Fashion Week, not my neutral-colored prison. Tall and regal, she has blonde hair in a perfect French twist and glacial blue eyes, which flicker up and down my disheveled self with well-bred distaste.
Aye, I’m wearing a long skirt and a comfortable green sweater, but I’m a school teacher, for feck’s sake. When I got dressed yesterday morning, I would have picked something moreformalhad I known I’d be kidnapped and taken for extensive blood work at some billionaire’s compound. Slipping my hands in my pockets, I raise a brow as haughtily as I can.
“Miss Blair, I’ve been sent to bring you dinner.” She looks physically pained to have to say the words.
My left hand closes over something sharp and I nearly yelp before remembering what it is, the obsidian arrowhead Meera gave me for protection. They must have missed it when they drugged me and brought me here. It’s small, but it’s sharp as hell, and right now, it’s all I’ve got.
