Page 71 of Dark Princess Ascending

Rob closed his eyes as another wave of dizziness washed over him. "Can we table this discussion until after I'm done transitioning? My brain feels like it's trying to escape through my ears."

"Of course." Gertrude's cool hand pressed against his forehead. "You're running a fever again. Try to rest."

He nodded, already feeling consciousness slipping away again. The last thing he heard was Margo and Gertrude's quiet voices discussing the venom bite and whether it was dangerous for an older human, but he was too far gone to follow the conversation.

His dreams were strange, filled with medical diagrams and ravens wearing lab coats. At one point, he thought he heard Bridget's voice discussing something about artificial insemination, but that had to be his fevered brain playing tricks on him.

When he surfaced again, Margo was gone, but Gertrude was still beside him, reading something on her phone.

"Hey," he said softly.

Gertrude looked up and smiled. "How are you feeling?"

He felt worse than before, but he didn't want to worry her. Then again, she was not only his mate but also his nurse, and she needed to hear the truth.

"Like I've been hit by a truck. Everything hurts. Is this normal?"

"It is." She set her phone aside. "Your body is going through major changes, and the fact that you're conscious at all is actually a good sign. I should probably measure you to see if you've grown."

He'd heard about Jasmine, who had grown taller during her transition, but that had happened over many days. His transition started yesterday. "Isn't it too early for that? You took my original measurements, and it's not likely that they have changed in less than twenty-four hours."

"You'd be surprised. Besides, it will give me something to do."

"Where is Margo?" he asked.

"I told her to go home." Gertrude smiled sheepishly. "I told her that she needed to rest and I will call her if anything changes, but the truth is that I wanted you to myself for a bit."

He turned on his side, dragging a bunch of wires and tubes with him. "Does it bother you that you have to be friends with Margo? I mean, shestole your guy, and even though I'm your guy now, it must still be a little uncomfortable for you. Talk about awkward family dynamics."

"Oh, Rob honey, I'm fine." She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed the back of it. "Margo didn't steal Negal from me. The Fates had other plans, and I'm glad that they intervened. I'm still somewhat uncomfortable around Negal, but not around Margo. I like your sister."

The simple sincerity in her voice made his heart swell. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too." She leaned over to kiss his forehead. "Now rest. The sooner you get through this transition, the sooner you will grow your fangs and venom. All that talk about venom bites has made me wistful."

Chuckling, he let his eyelids drift closed. "I'm working on it, sweetheart. I'm working on it."

41

BRANDON

Brandon was filled with a mixture of pride and concern as he watched Morelle continue the experiments. She was getting better at controlling the flow of power, learning to modulate it so she didn't accidentally send anything crashing through walls, but she had a long way to go before she could use her ability with precision.

Amanda had placed several sensors around the room to collect data and transfer it to her tablet while Brandon and Jasmine cleared the living room of breakables.

Brandon had never paid attention to the decorative pieces the designer had picked out for his house and carefully placed in strategic locations to make the space look more welcoming, but now that they were no longer there, their absence was notable.

The room felt bare without them.

"I think I'm ready for another round," Kian said, rolling his shoulders. He'd spent the last hour recovering from Morelle's previous draw on his power. "I want to see if my recovery time affects the amount of energy you can pull and if your ability to channel it changes with repeated attempts."

Morelle looked around the room. "I need something hefty to channel the energy to, but it should be something that is not breakable. Any ideas?"

"I know what we can use." Brandon ducked into their bedroom and collected the overflowing laundry basket from the bathroom.

"This weighs about thirty pounds," he said, pulling the drawstring tight to keep everything contained. "Should be a good test object."

"Perfect." Amanda took a picture of the basket with her tablet. "Morelle, try to lift and throw it using only Kian's power while we are still in the room."