Sought(126)
“I understand,” Lock said grimly as he worked the controls. “The knife is made to cut bonds between people, but it only cuts the bonds the operator stipulates. When Deep set the controls, he didn’t program the machine to cut the soul bond between the two of us and you, my lady. Instead he—”
“Cut the bond between the two of us and himself,” Kat finished, understanding. “So now you and I are bonded but neither one of us has any connection to Deep.”
“That’s true.” Deep nodded. “I thought…I believed that the two of you would be better off together. Without my interference.”
Lock turned to give his brother a fierce look. “That’s not right or natural and you know it, Deep. The Goddess formed Twin Kindred to share a female—I never wanted the lady Kat all to myself. I wanted to share her with you. And now…” His throat worked convulsively and he shook his head. “And now I don’t know what will happen to us. Any of us. Because I cannot live without the two of you and both of you are wounded.”
“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this.” Kat tried to sound a lot more positive than she felt. “Once we get back to the Mother ship, Sylvan will patch us up physically. And as for the bonding and soul stuff, we can always go back to Mother L’rin, right? I mean, I know she was pretty pissed at us last time we saw her but surely she won’t turn us away when we explain what happened.”
“Maybe she can help.” Deep sounded hopeful. “Hasn’t she treated kusax wounds before?”
“I don’t remember.” Lock stared straight ahead at the viewscreen. “But I think it would be best for us to contact her as soon as possible to ask.”
“There, see—all better.” Kat tried to smile at them but neither brother returned her positive expression. She felt a steady wave of worry/fear/helplessness coming from Lock and from Deep she still felt…nothing. God, I never thought I would miss having his feelings in my head! Now I just wish I could tell what was going on behind those black eyes of his. But whatever it was, Deep wasn’t telling.
It will be all right, Kat told herself uneasily. We’ve been through a lot but surely we can fix this, like we fixed everything else. We’re all going to be okay…aren’t we?
She hoped so. Oh God, she certainly hoped so.
Chapter Thirty-seven
“I’m afraid you and Olivia need to prepare yourselves, Talana.” Sylvan’s face looked so grave that Sophie’s heart skipped a beat.
“Prepare ourselves? For what?” Liv demanded.
“I’ve examined Kat thoroughly and done everything I could for her. But…” Sylvan hesitated so long that Sophie couldn’t wait any more.
“But what? What’s wrong with her?”
She was afraid to hear the answer. The minute Deep and Lock’s ship had returned to the docking bay, they had requested immediate medical assistance. Deep had been badly wounded and was being examined by one of Sylvan’s colleagues. But Kat, well, she’d looked all right when they wheeled her into the med station strapped to one of the floating Kindred stretchers. She’d even smiled at them and given a big ‘thumbs up.’ She’d had some weird stuff matted in her hair and on the back of her clothes but Sophie hadn’t seen any blood or obvious wounds. Well, other than a tiny red scratch on her cheekbone, but that was nothing. So what could possibly be wrong?
Sylvan took a deep breath. “Kat has been wounded with a kusax.”
“A what?” Olivia gave him a blank look. “What’s that?”
“A weapon of the Scourge—it poisons the soul.”
“The soul?” Liv raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”
“Just because you can’t see it on any kind of scan or medical exam doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, Olivia,” Sylvan said quietly. “And that is precisely why this kind of poisoning is so…difficult to treat.”
“But there is a treatment—right? Right?” Sophie asked anxiously.
“There has to be,” Liv said. “Poison is curable if you catch it in time and they just came back an hour ago. So what’s the antidote?”
Sylvan shook his head reluctantly, his ice blue eyes sorrowful. “I’m sorry, Olivia, there is none.”
“No antidote?” Sophie fumbled for her sister’s hand and gripped it hard for support. “Sylvan, please don’t tell me what I think you’re going to tell me. Please don’t say that Kat is going to…to…”
“To die,” he finished for her softly. “I’m so sorry, Talana. But there’s no cure. Nothing I can do.”