“This won’t hurt,” Helena said softly, though her eyes said she was lying.
Helena’s power touched the center of my chest like ice water poured directly into my veins. Her bond manipulation ability dove beneath my skin, searching for the threads of connection between Andie and me. It didn’t hurt exactly—not the way physical pain did—but there was a wrongness to it, an invasive quality that made my teeth clench.
“Steady,” Cassandra murmured, her healing fire flaring hotter to counteract the cold. “We need you to activate your aura now. Just a small amount.”
I called up the electrical influence that lived in my blood, the charisma that was as much a part of House Zeus as lightning itself. It rose easily, crackling beneath my skin.
The display of Hephaestus crystal Danae had set up near the table flickered to life. Waveforms and energy signatures pulsed in time with my heartbeat.
“More,” Helena said, pushing her power deeper.
Pain flared this time, sharp and sudden, like the shock of a live wire. My back arched slightly off the table. Cassandra’s hand pressed down firmly, her healing fire soothing the damage Helena’s probing caused.
“Good,” Danae said from somewhere to my left. “The bond structure is responding. Can you see how the curse is wrapped around it? Like a parasitic vine.”
Helena’s face had gone pale, a sheen of sweat visible on her forehead despite the cool evening air. She was putting in effort to be precise, to map the connection without destroying it entirely. Her hands trembled slightly, purple-gold energy wavering.
I knew it wasn’t for my sake.
Sometimes I wondered how Helena’s mind worked. She’d never seemed to blame me for what had happened to Andie. Even though I was the one who’d triggered the curse, she never looked at me with hatred. Helena’s focus was singular: protecting herdaughter, even if that meant working with the Alpha who’d poisoned her.
“Flex your aura again,” Cassandra instructed. “We need to see how it interacts with the bond at different intensities.”
I pushed more power into the electrical influence, feeling it strengthen and spread. The Hephaestus display reacted immediately, new patterns appearing in crystalline light.
Another spike of pain, deeper this time. I felt something inside my chest pull taut, like a string being stretched to its breaking point.
“Just a little further, Mr. Stormwright,” Cassandra said gently. “We have almost everything we need for today.”
For today.The words registered dimly through the haze of discomfort. There would be more exams. More sessions with Helena’s invasive power, more of Cassandra’s healing fire, more lying on this table while they dissected what should have been private and sacred.
It would be worth it if she were better.
“This has real promise,” Danae said suddenly, excitement creeping into her voice. She looked up from her tablet, eyes bright behind her glasses. “Yes, I think we’re headed in the right direction.”
The door slammed open with enough force to crack the ancient wood.
Andromeda stood in the doorway, her eyes blazing with a fury so intense it distorted the air around her. The temperature spiked. The atmosphere wavered and blurred, like the view through extreme heat rising off summer pavement.
“The right direction?” Her voice was raw, savage. “And what direction is that?”
The three women recoiled as one. Helena’s bond manipulation energy vanished instantly, and Cassandra’s healing fire guttered low as she pulled her hand back from my chest. Even Danae took a step backward, her tablet nearly slipping from suddenly nerveless fingers.
I pushed myself up from the examination table, shirtless and still crackling with residual electrical energy.
“It’s not what you think, Andie!” Danae cried.
The fury in Andie’s expression intensified, twisting into something uglier. “Oh, really?” She took a step into the room, her fists clenched tightly. “You know, I felt bad for what happened at the noodle restaurant. But I see how it is. All this time, you were working against me, too. Drooling over my Alpha like a bitch in heat.”
My Alpha.
A dark, primal part of me reveled in those words. I knew this was the curse speaking. Her possessive rage had been twisted by Hera’s touch into this toxic parody of natural Omega instincts. But some base, terrible part of my nature still reveled in hearing her claim me, even like this.
Helena moved forward, her hands raised in a placating gesture. “Keep your distance! Don’t look directly at her. The Gaze will harm you too.”
As if to prove her point, one of Cassandra’s healing crystals cracked with a sharp sound. The Hephaestus display flickered and died, its readings consumed by the corrupted energy pouring off Andie in waves.
The three women backed toward the far wall, putting distance between themselves and the curse’s epicenter.