Cortin rose as the reporter entered. "Thank you for coming here first, Miss Blackfeather. While I'm sure you would have preferred to bathe and have a brief rest before meeting my team, we have a compelling reason to've asked you here. Captain Odeon assures me it will take only seconds, then Lieutenant Powell will show you to your room."
Despite her irritation, Blackfeather was intrigued. "What reason, Your Excellency?"
It was Odeon who answered. "Something your … patron … wanted me to do. You don't remember that you were there when he … made it possible for me, but you'll remember once it's done. It won't hurt at all, and it'll only take a few seconds, as Colonel Cortin said. It'd be easier on me if you make eye contact, but that isn't really necessary."
Although Blackfeather normally had no interest in making anything easy for an Enforcement killer, there was something in Odeon's expression that made her waver; she stared into his pale blue eyes.
The promised seconds later, she collapsed in shock, to be caught by strong arms. Larry was Shayan, and he'd had her under compulsions to do things she never would have dreamed of on her own, and he'd done things to her body that were horrible, and she'd enjoyed them and what he'd done with his changes, and oh dear God the horror he'd done to the man who'd helped her in spite of what had been done to him and— "Sis!" she heard Cortin snap.
"I am here, Colonel," a soft voice said. "Miss Blackfeather?" A pause. "Miss Blackfeather?"
"Go 'way."
"I am a medic. With your permission, I can give you something for shock. Otherwise, I can treat you only with warmth and quiet."
Drugs were bad … but the horror of these sudden disclosures was worse. "Do what you think best," she managed.
An immediate needleprick startled her; the quick blackness that followed came as a distinct relief.