Alchemised

by SenLinYu

“Drink this.” A vial of something was shoved into her hand. “Otherwise you may black out.” She placed it in her mouth, doubting that Ferron would poison her, but if he did, she wasn’t sure she’d mind. Her skull throbbed as though there were a drum inside it. Mouth-numbingly bitter pain relief washed across her tongue. She nearly spat it back into the vial as she realised that he’d given her laudanum for a headache. Did he have any idea how limited opium supplies were in the North? But it was already in her mouth, so she swallowed. When she reopened her eyes, the room had a soft luminous quality. She blinked at the way it softened the edges of everything, including Ferron. “Did this happen to you?” she asked, her tongue sluggish. He was Undying; she didn’t know if they got headaches. Or even slept. “More than once,” he said. “My training was rigorous.” She nodded. It was strange how untouched by the war he looked. Yet when she forced herself to look past his appearance, there was an eerie, dangerous stillness about him. “Why?” she asked. He stared down his nose at her, eyes growing hard. “To see if I’d be better than my father, or if I’d break under interrogation, too.” She had never thought about what had been done to Atreus Ferron after his arrest. Everyone knew that he’d confessed; she’d always assumed it had been voluntary. “Was that—before you killed Principate Apollo?” Ferron stared at her, his mouth twisting. “Are you wanting a confession? Shall I tell you everything...

The flashback for page 194 (Ch 13)