Black Blood

by S. D. Grimm

  He touched her neck. “You’ve always been free, my friend.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll still be able to talk to you.”

  “Yes, but I’ll miss your presence in my thoughts.” The bond slipped from him.

  Rebekah turned to Aurora, her eyes wide. Aurora nuzzled into Rebekah like a pup. Rebekah buried her face in Aurora’s neck and whispered how much she’d missed the wolf.

  Then Melanie raced to her sister. Teary-eyed, the two of them hugged so tight for so long.

  Logan’s throat ached. How could he have left Bekah there? Believed the queen. He’d betrayed his wife, but he’d betrayed Melanie, too. Stolen so much time from all of them.

  Westwind sat beside him. “The pack is as it should be.” He looked up at Logan. “Don’t cry. I don’t want to feel your human emotion.” Westwind winked.

  “Aurora put up with it.”

  “Yes. I love that about her.”

  Logan chuckled sadly.

  Westwind narrowed his eyes and showed a few teeth in what resembled a grin. “Emotion looks good on you.”

  “You, too.”

  Westwind chuffed a laugh.

  Rebekah faced Logan again. Her eyes showed so much hope. Hope he’d stripped her of.

  She touched his cheek. Wiped away a tear he didn’t realize he’d let escape. “Don’t cry.”

  Logan cupped his wife’s neck in his hand and tugged her closer. She let him and he kissed her.

  She held him fiercely, as though she wanted this, had missed this, as much as he had. She kissed him as though she forgave him, and he hoped she could feel how sorry he was as he held her. Remembered how she felt, tasted. When the kiss ended, she backed away, and her eyes sparkled with the same adoration he’d seen the day he wed her. The taste of her kiss lingered on his lips. It was like he’d stepped back in time. But he hadn’t, and he didn’t deserve her devotion. “I left you in the palace. I should have gone after you. I—”

  Her finger touched his lips. “Logan, you’re forgiven. It’s over now. I’m here.” She pulled at the chain around her neck. On the end hung her marriage stone. “I never stopped loving you, either.”

  He closed his eyes. Her soft hands touched the sides of his face. “Logan Laugnahagn, it’s all over. We’re together again. Nothing short of death can tear us apart. Not this time.”

  “Not this time.” He echoed and pulled her close. “I’m so sor—”

  “Please.” She cuddled into him. “We all had our parts to play. Mine was in the palace.”

  Chapter 11

  A Link to Danger

  Serena watched as the dissenters started returning to camp. So many carried dead Feravolk. Her heart dropped. Morgan stopped in front of Ethan. He stood there, nodding and talking. Serena searched with her talent, but she didn’t feel pain from Logan. Still, he hadn’t returned. Neither had Melanie nor Gavin. What was happening?

  Jayden whirled around, as if she felt Serena’s sudden worry. “What’s wrong?”

  “Are they okay? What happened?”

  Ethan walked back over to where they stood. “Morgan says Logan and the others are talking to the woman who rescued Chloe. For now, the pack of whatever they were—”

  “Abysshounds,” Quinn whispered.

  Ethan touched Quinn’s shoulder, and she immediately leaned into him.

  “The trees are tracking everything. They cry out in pain. In fear. They know the Mistress will destroy everything. That’s what she does. She brings destruction.” She stood tall and shuddered. “Her powers are the opposite of mine—I create life; she destroys it. But her powers have been tainted by greed and evil. So there is no balance between us.”

  A scraping burn spread across Serena’s back as if something ripped her skin off. She cried out and fell forward, dizzy.

  Ethan caught her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  She leaned on his arms, shaking. Unable to form words. Unable to do anything but scream as it happened again. Ethan guided her to the ground. His eyes scanned her face, so intense.

  “Serena?” Jayden knelt next to her and grabbed her hands.

  Serena squeezed. “I think I’m feeling—” her words choked off. “Someone’s whipping him.”

  “Who?” Ethan’s voice carried a hint of panic. “Who do I need to rescue?”

  “Serena?” Dash raced to her side. He nudged her as a wave of the pain shot through her again.

  All at once she felt it. Heard his voice calling to her. For help. Serena.

  “Ryan,” she whispered. “It’s Ryan.”

  Ethan’s hold on her stiffened. “He’s close?”

  “No.”

  Jayden’s eyes glimmered. “Then how . . . ?”

  “I–I don’t know.” Her words were cut off by a strangled scream. Then all the pain ebbed away. “I’ve never felt anyone’s pain like that.” She looked at Ethan. “Except yours.”

  He picked her up, and Jayden led the way to the tent. Everything blurred as Ethan laid her on the bedroll. His and Jayden’s voices muffled. Only Dash’s rang clear in her head. “You must care about that boy for your heart to bond to his this way.”

  “Is that what makes me feel his pain? A bond I created?” Her thoughts sounded sleepy.

  Dash sighed, finally releasing his worry. “Yes.”

  If Quinn was right, she was supposed to be Ethan’s betrothed. That didn’t feel right. Ryan—he felt right. But that could just be her heart talking.

  He’d been quite a gentleman at the Winking Fox—they’d called him the Knight.

  The scent of warm bread and a bouquet of women’s perfumes swam back as her eyes drifted closed, and she recalled the second time they’d met. That uninhibited smile filled his face. How could someone so confident seem so vulnerable?

  He stared at the women who flirted with him, flashed his charming grin, swept them around in a dance, but as soon as his eyes met hers, the smile changed. It melted from his mouth until all that remained was the tiniest curve of his lips. That would have insulted her if not for the way his eyes seemed to capture the rest of his smile. Where they’d been a part of his charming grin in a playful, teasing way, as soon as he looked at her, his eyes expressed intensity that made her feel both desired and respected. Cherished. No one had ever looked at her that way.

  At once, he had carved through the crowd and stood in front of her. Instead of the deep, theatrical bow and a show of him sweeping her off her feet as she’d seen him display to the other women, he bowed so that his shoulders dipped slightly, and his eye-contact only broke for a moment.

  He held out his hand and took hers in a strong, firm grip. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again.”

  The way he stared made her blood heat. Like she stood in the center of a consuming fire. Like he stood with her and protected her from the danger of the flames.

  “I hoped to see you,” she inclined her head, embarrassed by the flush in her cheeks.

  “Did you?” His eyebrows rose to hide behind those carefree bangs. Then he grinned. He took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor and guided her through a dance. “It seems Destiny Path was kind then.”

  The music slowed to a stop, and she hardly noticed.

  He chuckled, and it seemed her pause had made him uncomfortable. “Finding everything fascinating again?”

  Of course he’d recall that first time they’d met when she couldn’t stop taking in the newness of all the city life around her—she’d called everything fascinating. Right now, all she wanted to do was study him. “When you dance with the other girls, it’s so effortless. You don’t seem to ­second-guess yourself. With me, you seem unsure. Have I done something?”

  Those gray eyes penetrated every thought and his lips parted. “Absolutely.”

  Truth.

  The music played a new song, and he swept his arm around her, drawing her closer. He held out his other hand for her to grasp. She touched it and he smiled. “You’ve changed everything, Serena.”

  Everything? He d
idn’t take his eyes off her. He spun her. Dipped her. Led her. And she let him. Unicorns would wear a bridle for no man. But this man could put one on her, and she would trust him completely.

  “Ryan?”

  “Yes?” The hidden smile in his eyes deepened.

  “You said you come here often.”

  He chuckled, and, for the first time, she lost his eye contact. It stripped her bare. As if she realized how much of herself she’d been putting out there. When he wasn’t the one staring, she felt exposed.

  “Dancing makes me a better swordfighter.”

  “Ah. That’s why your sister says you dance with all the women.”

  “She told you that?” He scrunched up one side of his face. “It—it’s part of my training. One Eye expects—”

  “Do you have to dance with the others tonight?” She wanted to spend every moment that she could with him.

  He stopped moving even though the others spun around them. “If you wished it of me, I would never dance with them again.”

  Truth. Her breath caught. She’d never desired to kiss a man before, and the thought terrified her. Tabitha’s voice interrupted the moment as welcome as a whiplash during a daydream: “Men will try to lure you close enough to trap you. They are like dragons in a lair. Once they lure you in, you become theirs. Their treasure. Their prisoners. Never get close enough to be trapped.”

  She blinked and stepped back.

  Ryan’s eyebrows pinched together behind his bangs. “Is something wrong?”

  “Many things, but it’s not your fault. I just need some air.”

  He released her. “Alone?”

  She grabbed his hand. “Would you come with me?”

  “Always.”

  Truth.

  Her heart stopped. No matter what Tabitha said, this man was not the dragon she spoke of. He was different.

  Serena opened her eyes and jolted from sleep. Her eyes focused on the tent walls, and she inhaled deeply as she sat up.

  Ethan scrambled to his feet and raced to her side. “How are you? How—how’s Ryan?” Ethan’s eyes were so wide. Yet a hint of rage sparked there.

  “How long was I out?”

  “A few minutes. Jayden and Quinn went to meet Logan.”

  “Ryan is alive. I think someone was torturing him.”

  “Belladonna.” Ethan practically growled her name.

  “Ethan, if we’re to save him—if I’m to heal him—I need to know the extent of my powers.” She sat up and glanced at the spot on his stomach where the old wound was. The one she’d felt. “I need you to answer some questions for me.”

  “Okay.”

  She sighed. “How did she bring you back from the dead?”

  Slowly, Ethan rocked back, pulling away from her as if she spoke insanity. She didn’t. She’d felt the wound. It had killed him.

  “I hear it’s difficult to come back,” she prompted.

  “It is.” His voice cracked. Those brown eyes met hers. “How did you know?”

  “I’ve read the books. Healers don’t like to talk about it, but some can bring back the dead. Only with their permission, though. And only one time.”

  “Per person?”

  “Per Healer. As in, Tessa can never do it again. In everything I’ve read, only one person has ever decided to return. Other Healers have logged many unsuccessful attempts.”

  Ethan met Serena’s stare with wide eyes. “Unsuccessful?”

  “Yes. People who die and return to the light rarely wish to come back. What held your heart here?”

  Ethan wrapped his fingers around the back of his neck and pulled his head down toward his bent knees.

  She gently touched his arm. “I felt your scar, remember?”

  His head sprung up. “You felt my—my death?”

  “Yes.”

  “When Tessa brought me back, I was still injured. She didn’t heal me.”

  “When a Healer brings someone back, it usually takes so much energy that they can’t fully heal the cause of death. She didn’t know she was a Healer. That’s why she tended to you the . . . conventional way.”

  “I suppose it would have been nicer if she’d known then.” He offered a strange smile. As if he was trying to make sense out of this. “And I suppose you told her what she is?”

  Serena smiled. “Yes, well, not directly. I sent her to be trained by Rochelle.”

  He chuckled. “So secretive.”

  “You’re one to talk.”

  “I’m telling you about this, aren’t I?”

  “Only because I knew enough to ask.” Serena rubbed his arm. “Tell me, Ethan. Please.”

  “It’s a risk, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” Serena’s eyes widened. “Healers have died trying and waiting too long to come back.”

  “Then why should I tell you? So you can die trying to bring someone back?”

  “Ethan, I will take that risk if you or Jayden die. There will be no stopping me. Your answer could help save me.”

  “It can’t.”

  Truth. Her heart wanted to stall. “Why not?”

  “Because Tessa brought me back against my will.”

  Serena stared at him for so long he buried his face behind his hands. “It’s because you’re a Deliverer. Your duty is not yet complete and the Creator wants you here.” She tapped her finger against her lip. “At least I know Jayden and you would be safe if I need to—”

  “Tessa had to tell me she’d die if I stayed. She used her own life to barter with me. She stretched out her hand and told me all I had to do was grab it. I didn’t. She grabbed my wrist. That’s how, Serena. Please, if I die again, let me stay. When I’m summoned home, I will not fear it.”

  “Thank you, Ethan, for answering my questions. I know it was hard for you.”

  “Please don’t share—”

  “I’ll keep the secret as long as I need to.”

  He frowned but nodded. “We should probably go talk to Logan.” He smiled and stood. She grabbed his hand, but as he pulled her up, he hunched over, pain spreading from his chest. She felt every bit of it. The wound Belladonna had left from the Sword of Black Malice.

  Serena touched his back. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” He straightened.

  Lie.

  A twinge of pain speared Serena’s chest again, but Ethan didn’t move except for clenching his jaw. “Nothing?” she asked.

  Dash nudged the tent flap and stuck his nose in. “I felt that.”

  “From Ethan?”

  Dash just stared at her. “Belladonna linked with him. Through that sword. Didn’t she?”

  Serena clutched her throat. “She’ll find him.”

  This time the pull was much harder. Ethan didn’t hide the wince, but neither did she. He stared at her. “You felt that.”

  She nodded.

  “Is it happening to all of us?”

  “No. It’s your pain.” She unlaced the top of his shirt and stared at the dark scar.

  She opened her talent. The tie was there. Belladonna was tugging. “She’s coming for you.”

  “How?”

  Serena swallowed. “The wound she healed—she left a way to trace you inside of it.”

  “The scar?” Ethan stared at her, eyes wide. “She’ll find us. I have to go.”

  “She has Ryan. You’re not going without me.”

  His mouth opened, and he stared at the hand she’d pressed against his chest as another wave of pain pulsed into it. He placed his hand on top of Serena’s. She looked into his wide eyes. Ethan scared? She rubbed his shoulder. “I’ll find a way to fix this.”

  She had to.

  “Ethan. Serena. Oh.”

  Both of them turned to see Jayden pop her head into the tent. She stood there with her mouth open.

  Serena dropped her hand from Ethan’s bare chest.

  Jayden motioned over her shoulder. “I was just . . . umm . . . Logan wants to talk to us. I think I’ll go.”

  “Jayd
en.” Ethan laced up his shirt and headed after her.

  Chapter 12

  Steadfast Feelings

  Ethan raced out of the tent after Jayden, but slowed his steps. Why muddy the water? What she thought she saw with Serena and him could be explained away because he didn’t feel anything for Serena—even though according to Quinn he was supposed to. He shook his head. But Jayden was his sister.

  So he didn’t have to explain a thing.

  He just felt like he should.

  This was all too confusing. And wrong. Just very wrong.

  Chloe ran down the hill toward him, her green eyes holding more rage than the time he and Ryan had sprung her gryphon trap with a skunk. “You need to do something about this!”

  He pointed to himself. “Me?”

  “Who else would I be talking to, Ethan Branor?”

  He cringed. Chloe, always reminding him that he wasn’t truly part of her family. He held up his hands to calm her, even though it never worked. “About what?”

  “About Ryan! Logan is up there with his wife, talking about how the child Rebekah took to the palace wasn’t her son and that you are. You of all people. Do you believe it? Now they aren’t going after Ryan.” The anger left her face in the form of tears, and he spread his arms to hug her.

  Wait. His heart seemed to slow a beat to help him catch up with what she’d just said. Instead of letting him hug her, Chloe pounded her fist into his chest.

  He caught her hand, still processing. Logan was his father?

  Serena raced by him in a blur.

  Logan.

  Serena was his sister.

  Air left his lungs in a strangled laugh.

  “How is this funny?” She slammed her fist into him again, and, at the same time, Belladonna tugged the link.

  He buckled over, groaning.

  “Oh, Ethan, I’m sorry.” Chloe steadied his shoulders. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Not really. I’m just—”

  “It’s all right, Chloe.”

  She looked right into his eyes. Tears dripped down her cheeks. Grandens weren’t supposed to cry. She wiped them away. “Logan said rescuing Ryan will start a war. It’s too dangerous.”

  Logan didn’t know they were torturing Ryan. Surely if he knew . . . .

  “You can’t make him go, can you?”