Page 182 of Infernal Bonds

I sat up and wiped the sheen of sweat from my face with the threadbare blanket pooled in my lap, a shiver running through me as the fabric swept across my skin. Despite the perspiration, the persistent chills told me I had a fever.

“How am I expected to test anything when you’re like this?”

I looked up to find Rinlora’s mother leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest, her expression disapproving.

“If I can figure out what you are capable of, I can help you.”

Nothing the woman said made sense to me.

If she wanted to help me, then why did she take me prisoner? Why did she have to experiment with black market potions to get her answers?

She claimed the vallants Cornaith worked with were incompetent and wouldn’t do what was necessary to get answers.

I licked my dry lips. “Can I get some water?”

She stepped to the side and motioned through the door.

Sighing, I pushed up on shaky legs and trudged from the bedroom through the studio to the kitchen.

She’d told me I could eat or drink whatever I wanted and that I wasn’t bound to the bedroom. She never even tied me up. Though the numerous locks on the door made it clear that despite my freedom to move around, I wasn’t free to leave.

Gripping the counter for support, I gulped down a small glass of cold water, but drinking so quickly made me lightheaded.

“What’s wrong with you?”

I glared at her over my shoulder. “You took me away from my Nyriths.”

Her mouth turned down in disapproval.

“I’m sick. I think it’s called Bondrot?”

“You’re only bonded to one prince. I expected you to hold up better than this.”

I filled the glass again from the tap. “You’d know more than me. I can only say what I’m feeling.”

“I’ve never witnessed early Bondrot,” she admitted, moving to lean against the counter.

“Well, I went through it without a bond to any of them before moving to Elyrdin.”

“Is that so?”

“I said it, didn’t I?” I took another drink, slower this time to keep the water from coming back up and myself from passing out. My stomach gurgled in protest. “It’s just another thing to add to the list of evidence against me.”

“Against you?”

“You’re all convinced that I’m bad, dangerous, or whatever else. Depends on who you ask, really. Bondrot without a bond doesn’t help my case that I’m normal.”

“Well, you’re an amalgamation of human and Shyrlivi. Perhaps your human biology is interfering.”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” I shuffled across the room and sat at the dining table with a heavy exhale.

No one ever asked what I wanted.

No one asked if I’d cooperate.

No, wait.

She had asked me to cooperate with her, but on the condition that she could use ingredients from Feranzis to perform tests on me.