Page 395 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘Go on and Vox me. I am ready.’

They’re conducting the test in the front examination room of Medical so that, if anything goes wrong, they’re already here. Noah supervises from beside the medical cart. He has already taken Vasily’s pulse, blood pressure and temperature twice. The monitor clipped to Vasily’s finger paints a steady green rhythm across the screen.

Vasily sits on the edge of a narrow bed with his boots planted wide and his hands resting loosely between his knees. Kade stands in front of him. Lachlan remains close enough to reach either of them, while Blaire watches from the foot of the bed, arms folded. Riley is elsewhere with Céliane, planning the team’s entry into the Estate later tonight.

Kade takes a slow, deep breath. He calls salt over his tongue, the sea to rise into his voice until he tastes it, and says, ‘Today will be a good day.’

Vasily goes perfectly still.

The green line on the monitor jumps.

Then his entire face brightens.

‘Oh,’ he says, looking around the examination room with sudden delight. ‘It is. Yes. A good day.’

‘It worked?’

‘Yes,’ Blaire confirms, green eyes locked onto Kade. ‘Your command of cellular water is masterful.’

‘Is that good?’

‘Every Sway has a Vox, but our affinity manifests in one of three ways. Mutable water disperses. Cardinal water drives. Fixed water holds.’

‘Which are you?’ he asks, casting back to the mist she created.

‘Mine is mutable. Rain, mist and diffusion.’

‘And me?’

‘Yours is fixed.’ Her attention returns to Vasily. ‘You saw the jump there in his monitor? That is because your Vox did not just speak to the water in his cells but gripped it. Despite the lack of use for the last seven years, your power has continued to grow.’

‘That is good for us,’ Vasily says, nodding sagely. ‘Very good.’

Blaire doesn’t seem to agree, her expression troubled.

‘You’re thinking if Penhalyx gets control of my body…’

She breaks into neutrality, looking back at all three of them.

‘No, I am thinking that you will be most useful, as Vasily said.’

‘Sorry, if I may?’ Noah asks, stepping forward. ‘Are there subtypes, then? Different phenotypic expressions within the same affinity?’

Blaire gives him a cold look. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Kinds within the kinds.’

‘Decans,’ she supplies somewhat unwillingly. ‘Yes.’

‘And this is true for all kinds?’

‘The term is anthrodivergents, and yes.’

Kade looks at Vasily. ‘How do I undo it?’

‘You cannot. After a day or so, it will naturally fade. I would not recommend trying to undo it verbally,’ she adds, as if reading his mind. ‘Your commands will only stack.’

‘All right. You feel OK?’ Kade asks Vasily, who beams.