A/N: Warning for some brief graphic medical procedures (torture).
Chapter 3
Zoya stormed into the holding cell, practically crackling with wrath. "Who are you and where is the real Nikolai Lantsov?" she demanded of the prisoner.
He still refused to answer or even look at her.
Genya studied him for a moment, then moved closer and ran her hands over his face. He tried to recoil, but Tamar whipped her hands out and used her heartrending to hold him still. Genya toyed with his visage, taking what was already showing through the disguise and shifting it further. She didn't change his face completely, just enough to reveal distinctly Shu features. When she stepped back, Tamar released her heartrending.
"I don't understand," Tolya said. "We currently have a tentative truce with Shu Han."
"He could be a renegade," Nadia put in.
"Someone tailored him, and well," Genya replied.
"Where is Nikolai?" Zoya again demanded. And again, he didn't say a word. She turned to the others. "I want every inch of the Grand Palace and surrounding grounds searched, even the Little Palace. And send word to Queen Leyti Kir-Taban. Renegade or not, if anything's happened to Nikolai, there will be retribution."
She could feel her power flaring up inside her, and the prisoner finally shifted uneasily, no doubt in response to her eyes turning to silver slits. The dragon wanted to roar in outrage for their mate.
Genya put a hand on her arm, and Zoya took a breath to get herself under control.
"Stay here and stand guard," she told Tolya. "The rest of you begin the search."
They made it out into the hall before Zoya stopped short and put a hand over her abdomen.
"You need to rest," Genya said.
Zoya shook her head. The others went off to coordinate the search while she headed to the council chambers where she found the court's advisors and generals gathered, clearly gossiping amongst themselves.
"The man who tried to kill me was tailored to look like Nikolai Lantsov," she announced. "He is an imposter."
That gave them all pause.
"And the real Nikolai Lantsov?" someone asked.
"Missing. The Second Army is conducting a thorough search. I would appreciate any First Army soldiers that can be spared to assist."
"The Fjerdan delegation must be behind this," one of the generals declared.
"There is no proof or indication of that," Zoya said sharply. "And I will not accuse them without cause. There are plenty of other parties that could be responsible." She would not tell them yet her current suspicions were Shu Han. They could be in league with Fjerda for all she knew. "The assassin is in custody and right now the only action I want taken is Nikolai found. Dismissed."
They filed out, and only once they were gone did she allow herself to bow forward in pain, catching herself on the edge of the table.
"Sit down," Genya urged, taking her arm and trying to steer her toward a chair. "You may be the Dragon Queen, and I believe that's what saved you from dying on the spot from that stab wound, but it does not make you invincible."
Zoya winced as she sat, and Genya moved her hands over her, easing some of the pain currently pulsing in her sternum. She looked up at her friend, letting her guard slip just a fraction. "We have to find him," she said, more of a plea than decree.
"We will," Genya said. "But you will do him no good if you injure yourself further."
Zoya knew she was right, and while she wanted to transform into a dragon and tear everything apart until she found Nikolai, she knew that was neither the productive nor reasonable way to get out her frustration. So she consented to being led back to her room.
On the way, they came across one of the Fjerdan delegates being corralled by guards.
"I demand an explanation for this unacceptable treatment!" the man exclaimed when he saw Zoya.
She shot a glare at the guards. "As do I."
"We're acting on orders to secure the premises," one of them answered.
"And who told you that included treating our guests in this manner?"
The guards exchanged uncertain looks. "But, moi tsaritsa, the palace was breached…"
"Excuse me?" the Fjerdan interrupted.
Zoya turned to him. "An assassin targeting me breached the palace, but he is in custody now and we are searching for accomplices. It would be a great help if you and your party would consent to remaining in your rooms for now." She then sharpened her gaze at the guards. "Since my orders to the generals not thirty minutes ago clearly said the Fjerdans were not to be treated as suspects, I will not remind them again. Provide an escort if any of them want to move about the palace or grounds, but none of them are to be detained."
The Fjerdan delegate still looked mistrustful but stormed off, the guards following a few paces behind.
By the time Zoya made it back to her rooms, her abdomen was throbbing again. She eased herself into a chair and Genya fussed over her.
"You opened it further," she tsked. "I'm surprised it hasn't bled through your kefta."
Zoya was only half listening, instead thinking over the events of the evening. "Nikolai told me he didn't want to be with me anymore," she quietly said.
Genya frowned and pulled back. "When?"
"Tonight, before I went to his rooms to confront him over it. I was alone with him—the assassin—in Nikolai's workshop. Why didn't he strike then? Why play games with me?"
Genya looked troubled. "I don't know."
Zoya didn't either. Suppose she hadn't gone to his rooms tonight, then he wouldn't have made his move? Why not? The tailor job wouldn't have lasted forever; why risk drawing it out? Particularly in this manner?
The hour grew late, and Zoya was wound tighter than a spring coil. There had been no word on the search yet, and the longer it took, the more fearful she became that the assassin may have killed Nikolai and dumped his body somewhere before taking his place…
A knock at the door caused her to surge to her feet, wincing as her not yet healed wound tugged. Genya went to open the door. It was Nadia, and she looked perturbed. Zoya's heart dropped into her stomach.
"Did you find him?" she asked tautly.
"No," Nadia replied. "And we've called off the search."
Zoya stiffened and snapped, "Why?"
"You'd better come to the war room. We have information."
Dread curdled her stomach, but Zoya and Genya followed Nadia out. When they reached the war room, the twins, Adrik, and General Makarovich were already there.
"What is it?" Zoya asked, braced for devastating news.
"After interrogating the assassin, I learned he was sent by Makhi Kir-Taban," Makarovich said.
Zoya mentally reeled at that.
"The assassin claims she was acting on her own," the general went on. "Not on behalf of Shu Han, and that Nikolai Lantsov is no longer in Ravka."
Zoya blinked in bewilderment. "Then where is he?"
"Shu Han," Tolya spoke up. "According to the assassin, Makhi wanted him for the demon."
Zoya barely caught herself as she swayed. Knowing Makhi's history with the khergud program and experimentation on Grisha, Zoya could imagine just what that sadistic woman might want with a demon. She swallowed back bile. "Why did the assassin suddenly volunteer all this information?"
Tolya dropped his gaze.
"I was very persuasive," Makarovich replied.
Zoya could read between the lines, and she felt a churning of anger, though she wasn't sure whether it was because they had resorted to torture…or because she hadn't been there to enact it.
"Is he still alive?" she asked stiffly.
"Yes," Tolya quickly answered.
She turned back to the general. "See that a Healer treats any remnants of 'persuasion.' He is to be kept alive and in good condition, as we may need him to stand witness against Makhi in front of Queen Leyti before this is over."
Makarovich bowed and left.
With just her friends present now, Zoya's knees went weak. "They had a head start getting him out of the country," she said, dread worming its way through her heart. He's been in their hands for who knows how long.
"I'll reach out to every contact and source I have," Tamar said. "We'll find him."
Zoya just nodded numbly. She could not let herself break down. She needed to be strong and conduct herself like the queen she was.
But inside her, the dragon keened.
Nikolai trembled on the cold metal slab. He wanted to be sick over the side, but the Grisha Healer juiced up on parem and currently holding his entire body in stasis was preventing it. They hadn't knocked him out for this. Makhi was a sick, vindictive woman, and she'd insisted on Nikolai remaining conscious and aware the entire time her scientists performed a vivisection on him. He hadn't been able to even make a sound when they'd first made the Y cut down his chest and peeled back the folds of skin, then muscle. When they snapped his rib cage to open his chest cavity, he'd nearly choked on the excruciating agony. But it wasn't enough to make him pass out, not while under the Grisha Healer's amplified power. The young man was keeping Nikolai from bleeding out, keeping his heart beating steadily despite the immense strain on his body. Nikolai was completely immobilized and completely subjected to the squelching sensations as the scientists poked around in his internal organs.
"Fascinating," one of them commented. "There's no anatomical difference between him and the descriptions of the demon we've received."
"Yet somehow he sprouts wings," Makhi responded as though Nikolai wasn't there.
"Indeed. This must be what they call merzost. See how it fills the vessels of his heart."
"Very interesting," Makhi echoed and flashed Nikolai a mad grin. "Don't you want to take a look?"
He felt bile rise in the back of his throat, but the Grisha quickly pushed it back down before he could choke or aspirate on his own vomit.
The scientists continued to poke and prod at his innards. One of them picked up a syringe and inserted the needle into his heart, then pulled the plunger back. Nikolai felt the shock reverberate through his mind as the demon finally reacted to whatever they were doing. He wanted to scream, but even that was denied him, as the Grisha held his lungs and oxygen intake in his unyielding grip.
The scientist withdrew the needle and stepped back. "You can put him back together."
The "healing" was quick and violent. The Grisha snapped Nikolai's ribs back into place in one go, like a bear trap being sprung, then folded the muscle and flesh back over them. He'd released his vise-like hold on the rest of him, so Nikolai could finally scream as it felt like he was being fused back together with molten solder. He couldn't help but flit his eyes down as his skin melded back together over his sternum without even a scar, as though this whole thing had just been a nightmare and not real.
The Grisha stepped back, and Nikolai shuddered as his gorge surged up his throat, but with him unable to lift his head or turn, he began to choke on it. But then the Grisha power was back and stuffing it back down to where it couldn't come up again. Nikolai was left shivering and writhing on the table, drenched in a cold sweat. His body may have been in one piece again, but it radiated with the pain and trauma of what he'd just been through. He didn't know if the Grisha couldn't fix the side effects, or if it just wasn't required for his continued survival.
He lay there in utter misery, wondering if Zoya and the others had noticed he'd been replaced. But if they had, was it possible to even find him? How long had he been here? It couldn't have been too long…though time had lost all meaning at this point. He wasn't even sure how long he drifted in a haze of agony before he heard the scientists and Makhi talking.
"The blood and tissue samples weren't informative enough," someone was saying. "The merzost dissipated after we extracted the sample."
So that's how to get rid of the demon, Nikolai thought vaguely. Remove my heart.
Makhi came to stand over him. "Let the demon out," she demanded.
Nikolai managed to huff at her audacity and shook his head.
"It will go easier for you if you do."
He made a wheezy sounding laugh. "Should have- tried that- before the dissection," he croaked.
She pursed her mouth unhappily. "Fine. Commence phase two."
Nikolai knew phase two was meant to be a progression of phase one, but he couldn't imagine there was anything worse than what they'd just put him through.
One of the scientists came over with a syringe full of some amber colored liquid, which he injected into Nikolai's arm. Nikolai had no idea what it was, and he didn't want Makhi to see his fear by asking. A few minutes later, he was filled with a heady rush, and then he felt like he was floating.
"Let the demon out," Makhi repeated firmly.
He clenched his jaw and didn't respond, except in his head. No, he repeated over and over to himself, holding onto old mantras he used to cling to when the demon fought for control.
I am Nikolai Lantsov. I am Nikolai Lantsov.
He descended into a disorienting tide of new misery as whatever drug they gave him began to wreak havoc on his system.
Tamar hurried through the halls to the war room where the queen and her inner circle had spent the past couple of days, anxiously waiting for news. Queen Leyti's response to the unsanctioned attack on Ravka had been vague and neutral, promising to look into it and get back to them. Meanwhile, the Fjerdan delegation had suspended negotiations while they "reevaluated"; they sensed Ravka was vulnerable, and it didn't help that the queen was understandably distracted by other matters.
"I just received intel on a defunct khergud lab just over the border in Shu Han," Tamar announced to the room. "It was an annex to the main facility, and only used as a sort of way-station, so it wasn't dismantled. I've also confirmed with sources along the road that a covered wagon traveled that way a few days ago, and nothing else is out there. I believe that's where Nikolai was taken."
Zoya straightened at the news.
"Do you want to reach out to Queen Leyti?" Tamar asked. "She has been conducting a quiet search for Makhi."
Zoya shook her head. "Diplomatic channels will take too long. Shu Han had a chance to deal with Makhi when the khergud program was exposed, and they merely gave her a slap on the wrist. I'm not waiting for that mad woman to do something more to Nikolai while she has him."
"Then what do you want to do?" Tolya asked.
Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Go get him. I can reach Shu Han quickly by dragon flight."
"If you do that, everyone will know of it," Genya interjected. "A dragon is not covert, and while you may not want to go through Shu Han's channels, a blatant incursion into their territory will create a diplomatic incident."
"You also can't go alone," Tamar joined in. Zoya had fully healed from the attempt on her life, but even with her dragon power, she couldn't pull off a rescue mission single-handed.
Zoya exhaled loudly. "All right. Tamar and Tolya, ready horses."
"Just three?" Nadia interrupted. "We don't know how many you'll be up against."
"No, but we need to use stealth and speed in this," Zoya replied. "And I'll deal with the ramifications of crossing into Shu Han later. Which is why it's imperative the assassin be kept secure. I want you and Adrik to personally see to that," she told Nadia.
"You don't trust General Makarovich?" Nadia asked.
"I trust you." Zoya then turned to Genya, her expression pinching with regret. "I hate to put this on you, but the Fjerdan delegation is still here."
Genya paled.
"I wouldn't ask this otherwise," Zoya went on.
Genya faltered for a beat, then gave a stiff nod. "I know." A muscle in her jaw ticked. "I will try my best."
Tamar's heart went out to her. Negotiating peace with the people responsible for killing her husband was a heavy burden to be asked to carry.
"Good luck," Genya said as they prepared to depart.
Nadia snagged Tamar's wrist. "Be careful," she urged.
Tamar gave her a quick kiss goodbye. "The enemy are the ones who should worry," she replied, even as cautious fear tempered her bravado.
She prayed they wouldn't be too late.