So much for feeling normal and healthy and—
PAIN.
The vitalsync core clicked, beeped, and drenched me with burning,burningagony.
My knees hit the grass as every muscle seized, every bone sizzled, every droplet of blood turned molten.
My spine arched, my skin blistered, even the roots of my teeth felt scorched.
Every breath was full of knives. Every blink set my skull throbbing.
Colours bled out of my vision.
Whisper’s howl turned to a whimper.
Consciousness abandoned me as the pain became too much.
I fell sideways.
I bit my tongue as I landed.
And choked on precious Ashfall blood as I passed out.
Chapter Forty
I STOOD OUTSIDE MY PAVILION, WATCHING the drones put on a show.
I didn’t know why they’d suddenly appeared over the wall or why so many of them clustered in one spot. Whatever the reason, I’d heard a soft popping sound while getting a midnight snack and came out to investigate.
Shivering in the cooler evening, I rubbed my arms as the twinkling lights on the drones danced like comets. I counted ten, weaving around each other, almost forming patterns.
If I let my eyes go hazy, I could almost imagine it was a lightshow like the one I’d witnessed in Hong Kong on New Year’s a few years ago. Back then, there’d been thousands of flying machines, all programmed to spiral and combine, transforming into a sinuous dragon in the sky.
Watching them had been calming. But tonight, these felt...oppressive.
Their lights were too bright, too...hunting. Their movements too fierce and threatening.
My floor-length white satin nightgown couldn’t protect me from an icy chill. Not because of the cutting breeze, but because the longer I watched them, the more I felt something was dreadfully wrong.
Were some of the girls in trouble?
Was Laura okay?
Lucien?
My feet moved to go. To dash across the grounds to see why those nasty drones hovered like murderous sentries but...my temples throbbed.
Even if I did race over there...what could I do?
What if something really bad had happened?
I barely stomached seeing the lumpy body bags being carried out of Lucien’s palace without passing out. Let alone seeing a girl bleeding and glassy-eyed—no matter how heartless she was.
“Best just to stay here,” I whispered. “Go back to bed. This isn’t your fight.”
Call me weak or useless, but I knew my limits.
My heart squeezed as I turned to leave, but I looked over my shoulder.
