The Pretty Prince and the Beast King
The name tore out of me, jagged and raw.
My sister was suspended in a glass stasis pod in the center of the room. Tubes snaked into her arms, pulsing with a sickly, rhythmic glow. Her blood—the Vaelis blood—was being sucked out, filtered through a machine that hummed with a low, predatory vibration. She looked like a ghost. Pale. Transparent.
"Aradaa, watch out!" Kaelor roared.
I didn't turn. I didn't need to. I felt the surge of heat in my chest—the nanotech, the "Pure-Blood" legacy Malrec had tried to steal. It didn't just hum anymore. It screamed. My vision turned a blinding, electric white.