The moment Sean lowered the werewolf into the nearest med unit, it unfolded like one of those three-dimensional greeting cards. Scanners slipped out from under the bottom of the bed, sliding diagnostic lights over her body, and robotic arms sprung from the frame, stripping her clothes. The results of the scans flashed above the unit. Three broken ribs, shredded lung, internal bleeding… Oh wow. The corrupted ad-hal had sliced right through her hardsuit and her ribs like they were tissue paper.

Ironically, hardsuits were considered soft armor, soft being a relative term. There were many variations of it, but the essential requirements dictated that it was flexible, close fitting, and able to stop a typical blade. I could hack at the werewolf woman all day with an ordinary knife and not leave a mark. One look at her chest told me her suit was beyond repair.

Karat touched the House Krahr crest embedded in her breastplate. Her syn-armor came apart at the seams. She lowered it to the floor. Oh. It was worse than I thought.

Normally, getting a vampire out of their armor was an impossible task. They took it off only in the privacy of their quarters, for rest and intimacy. For them, the armor was a second skin that kept them safe, and sometimes they fought to keep it on even when severely injured. Karat dropped hers without any hesitation.

It was an unprecedented show of trust. Of course. She was Maud’s best friend and I was Maud’s sister. Karat trusted me to keep her safe.

The vampire woman winced as the last of her armor slid free. The dark gray suit Karat wore underneath was thankfully blood-free.

“If I fall asleep, wake me up,” she said. “I can’t miss the Sovereign’s dates.”

“We will,” I promised.

She climbed into the unit, and it sprang into action. The scan flashed on the holographic screen above the bed. She had a broken rib, and there were early signs of sepsis.

Sean stepped in front of me, his face harsh. “Dina. Decontamination shower.”

I touched the nasty goo drying on my skin, looked at my stained fingers for a second, and went to clean up.

Ten minutes later, I emerged with clean hair and skin and wearing another robe over my shorts and T-shirt. The runoff from the shower drained into a tank under the floor. The fetid slime I washed off my body felt inert, but I heated the tank until the dirty water evaporated and then flushed the reservoir with acid just to be on the safe side.

Karat was napping in her med unit with a dreamy smile on her face. Sean was staring at the werewolf woman, Gorvar sitting by his side.

I came to stand next to them. “How is she?”

“She’ll live.”

“Karat will be happy. She’d carried her most of the way.”

“Tell me,” he said. “All of it.”

I did.