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only a heated glow and the racing pulse of her heart in time with the music.
    She tried to draw breath, panic coming in a cold sweat and a convulsive jerk of her body. The floor smacked into her side and pain crashed into her skull. She lay on the carpet, her limbs twitching spasmodically and her throat closed tight. The rhythm of the music spiked into her mind, agony piercing her body.
    Drugged!
    But how? She fought to pull in air but nothing responded. She tried to move her arm and it jerked, not fully under her control. Her vision shifted in a sickening lurch that tossed and turned the features of the room in a miasmic swirl. Light and music continued to play over her skin, hypnotic in their intensity.
    No!
    The paralysis deepened, and yet her body juddered as she went into a spasm.
    The ring .
    She needed to squeeze the ring.
    Her hand twitched; the circle of silver a gleam of hope. She tried to crush it between her fingers, but they’d gone numb, all sensation a vague and distant thing.
    Suffocating, heart pounding, she couldn’t even manage a whimper as darkness swamped her mind and blackened her vision.

Chapter Three
    A million burning needles ripped through her flesh. A high-pitched sound filled her ears, pierced her skull. She moaned. Choked. Air scorched her lungs but she sucked in more in desperation.
    Can’t breathe.
    “Easy.” The voice, smooth as capprey, eased her panic. Someone held her, an arm under her shoulders. “I hadn’t expected you to need my gift so soon.”
    “Zha?” Her mouth wouldn’t form the words correctly. She still felt numbed, although not enough to stop the fiery agony cascading through her veins.
    “I’m here. You’re safe.”
    She pried her eyelids open. Several blurred images filled her sight, gradually resolving into an avian medic with a crest of bright blue feathers, Visaya, Pevanne, and two security officers, one of whom was in the process of yanking fiber-optic cables from a hole in her ceiling.
    “Mmmusiic?” she mumbled.
    “Tranquilizing sonics,” D’joren confirmed, his voice rumbling by her ear. It was his arms that held her, cradling her shuddering body close to his own. “The media system was accessed externally and sabotaged. We’ve closed down the Monitor system until we’re sure it’s safe.”
    Her body spasmed again, and she croaked in pain. The avian medic pressed a hypo to her neck. The faint sting bled a sudden heat into her body and some of the agony receded.
    “Callista?” Zander said.
    “The sonics were set to paralyze her nervous system. These are neuro-blockers. I’ve had to shock her system to stop its degeneration. A neural reboot, if you like.”
    Tyree convulsed and a whimper escaped her throat.
    “What is it?” Zander demanded.
    “It’s nothing,” Callista assured him, and Tyree gave a faint growl. The medic should try it from her point of view. “There’ll be some side effects as it wears off.”
    “Pins and needles,” Tyree squeezed out, her voice still slurred. “Bad ones—oh!” Her breath snagged as more stabbing pains ran riot through her body.
    “That’s the nano-therapeutics rebalancing your system.” Callista shrugged. “It may take some time to wear off. Su metabolism is slightly more sensitive than human.”
    “Wonderful.” Tyree shuddered again as another spasm gripped her.
    “You should rest up for the next few hours until the feeling passes completely.” Callista packed her gear into her belt and prepared to leave. “You shouldn’t need me again though.”
    Tyree felt Zander’s grip on her slacken, and regret clutched her. “Are you going too?”
    Zander hesitated. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be left alone. Do you want me to stay?”
    Now there was a loaded question. It grated on her to feel so helpless. She was Su, a fully trained assassin, and genetically perfect. It seemed weak to rely on a human, and yet she wanted him to stay. Damn him.
    “If that doesn’t cause you a problem.”
    “Not at