The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 29

Iris tried to stay awake. She didn't want to be asleep and vulnerable when Micah returned. But she had to close her eyes to hear the whispers better, and the next thing she knew, she heard a scratching sound. The sound of someone writing.

Of him writing.

She lay still for a moment, steeling her nerves before she opened her eyes and sat upright. A flurry of soft golden lights lifted from the blanket and flitted around to prop up the pillows behind her, and she thanked them in a quiet, raspy voice. She could move again, but she was stiff and sore, the burning pain replaced by a dull, generalized ache.

And he was sitting on the other end of the sofa.

His frigid blue eyes met hers. He smirked.

She pulled her legs up toward herself, putting a little more distance between them. "I thought you had research to do."

"You are my research. How do you feel now?"

"Stiff and sore. The same as I did after I woke up the first time."

He returned his gaze to the study materials on his lap. The tip of his pencil left an open book and shifted to a loose sheet of paper, scratching out his muttered observation. "Twenty-four hours to recover functionality."

She watched him for a few minutes as he continued to work. He shuffled the papers around, found something he wanted, marked it out, and then resumed writing in the book, and after a while, he returned to the papers, repeating the process. She realized he took notes as they came to him and organized them when he transcribed them into the book.

There were several sheets of paper, and the book was rather thick, open to about the halfway point. She guessed the papers were about her, but she didn't think he could have enough material on her to make up an entire book. Not yet.

How many victims were documented in that book?

How many books were there?

She swallowed down bile. She needed to get him talking if she wanted to learn anything. "You're very thorough."

"Knowledge is power. Even more powerful than magic. And you are uncharted territory. I've never kept a subject alive after two sessions before. I may need to get a few more to do some tests—"

"No!"

He kept his head bowed over the book, but he turned his face toward her, a slow smirk crawling across his lips. "'No'?"

Her heart was hammering in her chest, but she forced herself to speak again. "No. Please don't do this to somebody else."

He sat up straight and shuffled the papers into an even stack, then closed the book over them. "You are too valuable for me to risk making a foolish mistake."

"B-but you said I'm healing myself, a-and—please, just... don't."

"Come here."

She swallowed again, but she swung her shaky legs to the floor and stood, taking the few tortuous steps closer to him. He watched her come, his smirk growing, and when she perched on the edge of the sofa beside him, his arm snaked out to grab her around the waist and jerk her back against him.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Sweet little Iris." He chuckled into her ear and kissed her cheek. "So concerned with the safety of others. Did your little dragon friend tell you how negotiations went?"

She shook her head.

"No? Of course he didn't. He wouldn't want to upset you, after all. But you should know the truth. They were going to give you up, Iris."