“You know the most about other species,” Zane reminded. “I only have to study Vitals.” His job was to keep the Imperial family safe, whereas Berga would deal with many types of people as the Butcher of the Brumal mafia. “How many are there?”
He thought it over. “Eight known species, but only three are still classified as active.”
“Which three?”
He glanced at Zane and then went back to work. “Why the sudden interest?”
“Humor me. What’s the problem? We ask each other random questions like this all the time.” They did not. Typically, the two of them went about their work separately and in relative silence.
“The D’vitar, Celeste, and Yurn,” Berga finally said. “The others are thought to be extinct.”
“Thought to be? As in they might not be?” Could Pavel be one of those? “Any that have glowing eyes and the animalistic drive to breed their partners?”
The classroom stirred, but Zane didn’t bother giving any of the other students’ attention. He’d spoken that loudly on purpose, after all. The corner of his mouth quirked upward when Berga sent them a dark look and then cleared his throat.
“All three of the species mentioned above have mating cycles,” Berga told him.
“Do you mean like heats and ruts?” There were planets that had alphas and omegas who experienced such things, though it hadn’t seemed like that’s what Pavel had been going through. Had he been slightly out of his mind? Yes. But he’d been sound enough to know exactly what he was doing, who he was doing it with, and why.
If only he’d been kind enough to give Zane the answer to those questions—one better than the simple,because he wanted him, one he’d been given.
“There’s the base instinct to impregnate their spouse,” Berga explained, “but it’s nothing as cumbersome as the person being forced into a heat or rut.” He hesitated, trying to cover it up by making it appear as though he was merely deep in thought. “There’s a type of imprinting for most of them, though the way of it varies. It’s sort of like they decide on a soul mate and their body agrees, then an attachment is formed. Of course, they’ll be driven to claim their mate then. Some need suppressants to help curb their…urges, however.”
“They need meds?” Zane pursed his lips.
“Yes, and not just to keep their sex drive under control. Some, like the Yurn, have the ability to completely alter their physical appearance right down to individual hair follicles and fingerprints. They can create a near identical replication ofanother living being, so long as they’ve studied that other person enough to memorize those details.”
“That so?” He set his elbow on the desk and turned to fully face Berga as he continued.
“Of course, tearing yourself apart down to a molecular level takes its toll. The brain is the most affected and can start to break down. This can lead to various mental health conditions, like schizophrenia, mania—”
“Is that why you get that psychotic, obsessive look in your eye sometimes?”
“Yes, that’s—” Berga clamped his mouth shut, too late.
Zane grinned. “Clearly you don’t have to pay attention to people’s actual mannerisms to mimic their physical appearance, though, I do suggest you start, if you want to try to trick someone else into buying this act.”
That explained why Pavel had been wearing a lab coat when he’d murdered Samuel. He’d needed props to help sell it. Like the ones scattered on the table.
Berga—or the man masquerading as him, as it were—sighed. “When did you figure it out?”
“Almost immediately.”
“Are you mad?”
“That depends on what you went through all this trouble for.”
“I don’t have a good reason.”
“Try me.”
“No,” Pavel, still looking like Berga, sighed, “I mean I don’t have any reason at all. I just wanted to get close to you.” He glanced at the drink. “You threw that away when I gave it to you last time.”
Zane stared at him, searching for the joke or the catch, a bit perturbed when he couldn’t find one.
“That’swhat’s made you uncomfortable?” Pavel seemed just as surprised as he felt. “The fact I like getting you your favorite drink? You know, for a future doctor, you’re not great at handling your body’s needs. There are days when you go hours without eating or drinking anything. That can’t be healthy.”
“How often do you change into other people to spy on me?” He wasn’t entirely serious. Or maybe he was. He wasn’t even sure anymore. Part of him felt like he would have known, in the same way he’d felt Pavel’s specific presence entering the room a few minutes ago. That was the only reason he’d accepted the offering from the female student, to piss the other Retinue member off. But then he’d turned and it’d been Berga…
