Chapter 36

"I am all right. " seemed peculiar, as if he assumed Alicia was feeling ill after she had dinner with Martin.

Perplexed, she responded with a hint of suspicion, "What's going on?"

There was a brief pause before Tobias spoke. "The last time Martin and I had dinner, I drank the water handed by the maid and lost my ability to shift. It was the day after my eighteenth birthday. I was worried that you might have suffered the same accident, so I called to ask how you were doing."

Alicia's eyes widened in disbelief. "What happened? Why would that maid do such a vicious thing? Ellis only told me your ability to shift was gone because of some kind of medicine."

Tobias took a deep breath and began recounting the tragic events. "That Gamma told Martin that she heard about a new heating drop that stimulates shifters to heat. She put the drops in my drinking water, hoping this one would make me heat. Then she would get into my bed to help me release the effects of the