Once Regin had grown insensible, just before speech became impossible, she'd begged Chase to stop it.
And Fegley had told her, "Who do you think ordered this done to you? You didn't think that he'd retaliate against you?"
That lying son of a bitch! I will bash his skull!
With a roar of fury, Declan turned to Webb. "Why the f**k would you do this? Why? " he bel owed, not recognizing his own voice. She cried for me to save her. ...In a faltering tone, Webb answered, "Now, just calm yourself."
He fears me. He should.
"This is one of thousands of examinations. Why would you care about a detrus who sought to kil you?"
No, she stopped me before I could kiss her.
"She's got you bewitched. Tonight I'm moving her from the island, so you can throw off this spell. I'll fix it, just like I fixed the last one." Webb ran his hand over his face, looking much older than his years. "Then you can return to life as you knew it. To a life of purpose and service."
Declan felt a murderous rage, and confusion fol owing on the heels of it. Because he wanted to kil the man he'd looked upon as a father.
"You want to harm me right now, don't you, son? After all I've done for you? Can't you see that this is an enchantment?"
It wasn't. Unless Regin got to me when I was just a boy. He'd been waiting all his life ... "Answer me! Why would you do this to her?"
"We have to uncover their weaknesses. The Valkyrie could prove more dangerous to the Order than any other faction. Hel , that glowing one wants you dead even now. Play the feed where she talks to her witch friend."
Though he could imagine what she'd said, Declan did. As the guards dragged her past the witch's cell, Regin's skin had been ashen, her legs trailing limply. He could see the grisly staples climbing above the collar of her shirt and down her flat bel y.
Bile rose in his throat.
"Carrow ... is that y-you?" She'd coughed blood. "Can't s-see."
Carrow leapt to the glass. "I'm here!"
"Kil him, witch! Curse Chase. He ordered this. He is Aidan the Fierce. T-tel my sisters."
Declan shoved his fist against his mouth.
Regin had been right to trick him, had been smart to do everything in her power to escape. What should I have done? Calmly awaited my torture? She'd known this was in store for her.
And I didn't protect her.
"Son?" Webb began backing away-because, Declan dimly realized, he was stalking closer.
"I understand what you must be feeling." Webb stumbled up to the next level of Declan's room. "But this is manageable. Maybe it's time for you to know what you're battling, so you can comprehend why you feel this unnatural pul to her."
"What are you talking about?"
"Son, you're ... you're a berserker."
"You bloody knew. For how long?"
"We knew you were different from the beginning. You kil ed two Neoptera with a bat when you were just seventeen years old. Dixon only recently put it all together after she studied the immortal berserker. Though you're still mortal, you share key markers with him."
Might have been swinging, but I've still gone down. Declan was of their world. "But if you knew I was different ..." He trailed off, his eyes narrowing. "It was you who sent Dixon to help me camouflage my symptoms."
When Webb didn't deny it, Declan said, "Did you tell her to keep me high, so you could control me, so I'd continue to be a good little soldier?"
"It's not like that, son. She suggested an ... enhanced medical regimen, and I agreed. You seemed more satisfied."
"Even though you saw what I went through to get clean the first time! Why not tell me, and let me figure out how to deal with it?"
"I was protecting you. You already had more obstacles to overcome than any other man I've ever known. I thought this knowledge would break you."
It might have, before Regin. Declan's brows drew together. Their kind- He stopped himself. No, my kind have one mate.
All his life, he'd wondered what he yearned for, obsessing over it every minute of the day, sickened with the need to find it. He'd nearly lost his mind. Declan flexed the hand he'd used to punch the tile in his shower earlier.
At last, he could stop wondering. Regin was ... his. To possess, to protect. He swung a lowering glance at Webb. The man before him had hurt Declan's woman. Had removed her from his reach, possibly forever. "You had to suspect that the Valkyrie is mine. still you did this to her?"
"Now, wait just a minute! You told me that you'd beaten your obsession. I believe you cal ed her a detrus whore. How was I to read your mind?"
"Bul shite! Then why hide this from me? Why send me off the island? I wasn't supposed to be back for days!"
"The Valkyrie are a real threat. That subject is the key to developing a weapon to fight them-a device that disrupts a Valkyrie's energy supply. There's potential, but we need to test it on her again."
"That subject?" Declan lunged forward, his hand shooting out to wrap around Webb's throat. "That subject is my woman!" How Regin cried for me ...
Webb's eyes went wide with fear. He tried to talk, but Declan tightened his grip.
I loved this man like a father?
Suddenly the power surged, the lights wavering. My bloody installation doesn't have power surges.
Webb's radio sounded: "Commander, our security nets are picking up some strange interference. We thought it was more of the Valkyrie's lightning, but this is different. ..."
More of her lightning. The bolts that Regin had given off with each mutilation. And I slept through it all, high in my room while Dixon cut on her.
By this man's order. Punish him. He squeezed harder.
The radio blared again: "Commander Webb? Something is approaching."
Declan felt that ominous pressure strengthening, as if the air had grown leaden. But his mind was bent on slaughtering this man. "She's mine. You don't touch what's mine. You will not take her from here. I'll protect her with my life."
Regin hadn't been separating Declan from his purpose. She is my purpose.
"Commander, we need an authorization from you or Magister Chase to go to code red-"
"RIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!" some being shrieked, a sound as he'd never heard.
Lothaire's words about the gold band flashed in Declan's mind: "She's coming. She's going to want it back." He'd described an unimaginable evil descending upon them. ...
This new threat diverted some of Declan's rage. Webb might just make it out of this office alive.
With the last of his control, Declan eased his grip. The man staggered back, wheezing in breath and rubbing his neck.