“You were the power behind Bishop,” I concluded.
“If I couldn't get your immortality through your blood, I had to find another way to harvest it.” She grinned. “Bishop's research was promising. He just needed a little help.”
“But Bishop said it was a Fury who gave him the machine,” Jason said.
“I have allies of all races.” Ugela grinned. “Being a diplomat introduces me to the most interesting people.”
Talon growled low in his throat, and Ugela laughed at him. “You Furies think you're so honorable. You're worse than the Triari. Anyone can be bought, especially if you wave immortality in front of their faces.”
I wondered if that was what had swayed Braxis. Did he want to be immortal too? Was he after it for his tribe? Great garlands of holly! I really had believed him. I hadtrustedhim. I had... No, I couldn't think about that now.
For all Ugela's grand talk about alien allies, it was a group of four humans who entered the room next. All of them were fair-skinned, thickly muscled, and looked as if they could do bench presses with me as the bar. Hired muscle.
“Bring that one out.” Ugela pointed at me. “And strap her into the extractor.”
“Stay the fuck away from her!” Malik roared as the men stepped toward me.
“Make all the noise you want, Prince Malik,” Ugela said with a wry smile. “No one can hear you down here and the walls are lined with a magic negating net that also blocks any type of tracking signals.”
“The barrier at the prison,” Rain growled. “That was from you.”
Ugela waved a hand as if accepting praise.
One of the men opened my cell while two others approached me.
I held up my hands. “All right. There's no need to get nasty.”
The men grinned as if there was always a need for nastiness. They grabbed me roughly and dragged me out of the cell.
“You are fucking dead!” Malik shouted at them. “I will tear your throats open and disembowel you!”
My other kishanos just stared at the men who held me, making vows of vengeance with their eyes.
Ugela preceded her goons to the spherical machine—the extractor. That sounded like a cosmetic device to me, but whatever. She hit a button on the sphere and it opened just as its twin had. I was manhandled into the seat and strapped in. One of them gave my breast a rough squeeze as he tightened the strap around my waist and the other chuckled to see it. I spat in the man's face, but he only wiped it away with a grin. I could still hear Malik shouting threats as the panels closed.
The machine whirred to life, and I closed my eyes against the brightening lights. It spun and hummed as it sucked the magic from me. Again, it wasn't painful, but this time, I started to feel woozy. The weakness came in bursts that were quickly banished—my immortality kicking in. As it did, I came to a sudden realization. My healing was a separate magic. Actually, it wasn't magic at all, but science. It was the elixir my father had created, not a spell. And the Amaranthine Elixir was in my blood, not my asha. It was physical, not spiritual. The elixir may have healed my deficient Danutian magic and made me whole, but it wasn'tinsidethat magic. Even if Ugela took all of my magic, she wouldn't get the Amaranthine Elixir. She could possibly become Spectra—if she could find a way to make the process safe—but she wouldn't become immortal.
After a few minutes, the machine whirred down, and the panels slid open. The thugs unstrapped me and yanked me out. I wobbled as they half-carried me back to my cell.
“Amara!” Malik shouted.
“I'm fine, sweetheart,” I murmured as they shoved me into the cell, sending me stumbling to my knees. Ugela had taken more than Bishop—much more.
“You will die slowly for that,” Malik growled at the men.
They only grinned at him, obviously not smart enough to know that having a Bleiten gunning for you was a seriously bad thing, even if that Bleiten was currently restrained.
“Don't worry, I only took one vial.” Ugela smirked as she removed the vial of golden liquid from the machine. “I'll need it for my experiments. As you know, we haven't got the mixture right yet. But I believe it won't be long now that I have your magic to experiment with.” She tapped the glowing test tube pensively. “It must be something to do with compatibility. But you are Triari and so am I. I'll bet that I'll be a perfect host for your magic, Duchess Amaranthine.” She opened the refrigeration unit and set the capped vial in a holder inside. “I'll have to check a few things first; I don't want to waste a single drop.” She grinned at me, then shot a cunning look toward Kyrian. “And then I can conduct my first trial.”
Kyrian. My stomach clenched. As a Triari, he'd be the perfect lab rat for her experiments.
I didn't bother shouting threats like Malik. I just went calm and watched everything carefully. Ugela had taken my magic, but she hadn't used it yet. It was ten feet away from me—probably her way of taunting me. But it gave me hope. If I could get to it and find one of those injection guns, I could take it back. That being said, I'd have to find a way to escape first. So, I watched Ugela as she headed out of the room, searching for anything I could use. The minions had handed over the key to my cell to Ugela, but the room was full of possibilities. I just had to be smart and find the right one.
“Ta-ta!” Ugela called as she sauntered out.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“That bitch is a diplomat?” Rain snarled as soon as they were gone.
