The Consort's Will 《COMPLETE》

Chapter 10

A/N: I apologize for the lack of updates, folks.  My schedule has been pretty busy lately, and inevitably my time for writing has lessened.  But I will write and post when I can.  As always, I really appreciate those waiting for the updates and who take the time to comment/vote along the way.  Enjoy!

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Chapter 10 - Finn

Reyo's words stay with me long after I'm escorted from the war room and through the hidden tunnels of rock. My tears have finally dried, but the pressure of the new information weighs me down. It feels like it's sitting on my chest, heavy and unrelenting. I came here thinking the Secondary population could help us win this war.

And they will – but at a price.

How could I have been so stupid? How could I have thought this would be easy?

The guards form a square around Reyo and me as he leads us into some place called the Learning Center. He's still explaining the details, but at a certain point I stop listening. His voice hums against my eardrum, but the words are all dragging through an internal soup of despondency.

Reyo gently places his hand on the small of my back and urges me through the doors of what I can only assume to be the Learning Center. The warmth of his fingertips is so different than Bogdan's cold touch. You'd think after all this time being away from a human touch that I'd miss it – the warmth. The realness. Instead I flinch away from his kindness and internally wish for my vampire's touch instead.

"Thank you, gentleman," Reyo says to the guards huddling around us. "You may all wait here."

There's a unison of formal acknowledgments to their leader's request before they begin to disperse. One of the guards on the end gives Reyo a lingering look of warning as the door closes behind us. Once again I'm on the defense in a place where Reyo insists I'm a guest. If Bogdan was here, would he feel the same?

"And this is the Learning Center," Reyo says gently.

The room is bright and much smaller than the last. There are rows of tables and low hanging lights, most of which are turned off. The few that are on cast bright light across various bottles of liquid and scary-looking instruments. I shudder thinking of how much they resemble the cringe-worthy utensils I used to see going to the dentist's office. There's no pretense of decoration or color to lessen the coldness of the room. It's clear it's a place of work. No nonsense.

"Don't let it intimidate you," Reyo adds as if sensing my trepidation. "Most of what is in here is harmless. It's simply a place of research."

"It reminds me of a scientific dentist's office," I mutter mostly to myself.

Reyo grins and glances around the unwelcoming room. "I've never heard that comparison before."

That's probably because not many Secondaries have been to a human's dentist office. Or, if they have, it certainly wasn't any time recently. So much has changed in our society since the Secondaries were pushed out of it. Once again I'm swallowing down a mouthful of guilt for the wrong actions of my ancestors.

Reyo's heavy boots slap against the uneven rock beneath him. He tucks his hands behind his back and slowly walks to each table, studying their contents before moving on to the next. His light eyes bounce over the surface of every tablle. Every detail is being recorded in his mind.

"Do you spend a lot of time here?" I ask. "Researching?"

Reyo lifts one of the vials near the end of the table. A light purple liquid glows inside it. He tilts his head, studying its contents with a ghost of a grin spread across his lips.