Chapter 7 Blood Memory 1
I felt everything. His relief. His hunger was finally satisfied. The way my blood sang through his veins and made him stronger.
And underneath that, something else. Something dangerous. Want that had nothing to do with hunger.
His eyes met mine over my wrist. Red and getting darker. He pulled his fangs out but kept my wrist at his mouth. His tongue swept over the wound, sealing it, and heat rushed through me that had nothing to do with blood loss.
"Kael," I breathed.
"Go to bed, Sera." His voice was rough. Strained. "Before I do something we will both regret."
He released my wrist and walked away. Into another room. Put distance between us that the bond hated.
I stood there with my heart racing and my blood on his mouth and the memory of his tongue on my skin.
This was dangerous.
This was so much worse than I thought.
I crawled into his bed because I had nowhere else to go and pulled the covers up to my chin.
The bond hummed. Content.
And in the darkness, I heard Kael's door lock.
Like he was protecting me from himself.
Or himself from me.
Morning came too fast.
I woke tangled in black silk sheets that smelled like him. Winter and blood and something darker I could not name. The bond told me he was already awake. Already somewhere else in the palace. Putting distance between us after last night.
After his mouth on my wrist. After the way he looked at me like he wanted to devour more than just blood.
I shoved the thought away and got up. Found training clothes already laid out. Someone had been in here while I slept. The idea made my skin crawl.
My throat still tingled where he bit me two nights ago. The mark was gone but I felt it anyway. Phantom pain. Or maybe phantom pleasure because the feeding last night had felt nothing like the first time.
Stop thinking about it.
I dressed quickly and found food waiting. Ate standing up, pacing the room like a caged animal. The bond pulled at me. Wanting me to go find him. I ignored it out of spite.
A knock interrupted my third lap around the room.
"Come in," I called.
Lyra entered looking perfect as always. Silver hair. Ice eyes. A smile that could cut.
"Good morning, pet. Sleep well?"
"Do not call me that."
"Touchy." She walked to the table and poured herself wine even though it was barely past dawn. "I heard about last night. Cassian is furious. You embarrassed him in front of the other houses."
"He murdered a girl."
"He killed his property. There is a difference." She sipped her wine, watching me over the rim. "But your reaction was interesting. Passionate. Foolish. Exactly what he wanted."
"What do you mean?"
"Cassian does not do anything without reason. That girl was bait. He wanted to see how you would react, what makes you break. Now he knows." She set down her glass. "You care about humans. That makes you weak. That makes you predictable."
Rage burned up my throat. "Caring about people is not weakness."
"In this world? It absolutely is." She moved closer, studying me like I was some puzzle she was trying to solve. "But perhaps that is what makes you interesting. Kael has forgotten how to care about anything except power. Maybe that is why the bond chose you."
"The bond did not choose anything. It just happened."
"Nothing just happens, little half-blood. Especially not fated bonds." Her eyes narrowed. "Tell me something. Do you dream?"
The question caught me off guard. "What?"
"At night. When you sleep. Do you have dreams that feel too real? Memories that are not yours?"
My blood went cold. Because yes. I did. Last night I dreamed of a woman with my eyes standing in a burning palace. Screaming at someone to run. To hide. To survive.
"How did you know that?"
"Because you are Shadowborn. Your mother's bloodline had gifts beyond normal vampires. Sight. Memory. The ability to walk through blood connections." Lyra's voice dropped. "If those abilities are waking up in you, Sera, you need to tell Kael. Before someone else figures it out and uses it against you."
"What kind of abilities?"
"The kind that got your family killed." She walked to the door. Paused. "Training starts in ten minutes. Do not be late. Theron hates tardiness almost as much as he hates weakness."
She left.
I stood there processing what she said. Gifts. Sight. Blood memories.
The way I knew Cassian was going to kill that girl before he did it.
What else could I do that I did not know about yet?
The bond yanked hard. Impatient. Demanding.
Fine. I would go to training. But only because I needed to get stronger, not because the bond wanted proximity.
I made it to the courtyard in eight minutes. Theron was already there. So was Kael, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching me with those red eyes that saw too much.
"You are late," Theron said.
"I am early."
"Early is on time. On time is late. Late is unacceptable." He tossed me a wooden practice sword. "Today we see if yesterday was luck or skill."
It was neither. It was desperation and vampire instincts I barely understood.
But I caught the sword anyway.
For the next hour Theron beat the arrogance out of me. Every time I thought I was getting better, he showed me fifty ways I was wrong. He was faster. Stronger. More experienced. A warrior who had fought for centuries against a girl who had scrubbed floors her entire life.
But I kept getting up.
"Block left!" Theron shouted.
I blocked. His sword cracked against mine hard enough to send vibrations up my arm.
"Dodge right!"
I dodged. Barely. His follow-up caught my shoulder and I went down.
"Again."
I got up. Sweat poured down my back. My arms shook. Bruises covered my ribs even though they were already fading.
Kael watched it all in silence. Not helping. Not interfering. Just watching.
I hated that I was aware of him. Hated that part of me was performing, trying to prove something. To who? Him? Myself?
"Break," Theron finally said.
I collapsed on the stones, breathing hard. Everything hurt. Everything.
Theron walked over to Kael. They spoke too quietly for me to hear. Both of them looking at me like I was some interesting problem to solve.
Then the world tilted.
One second I was sitting on the training yard stones. The next I was somewhere else entirely.
A palace room I did not recognize. A woman with dark hair and violet eyes like mine standing at a window. She was pregnant. Terrified. And someone was shouting outside the door.
"You have to run," a man said. Human. Young. Desperate. "They are coming. Draeven's soldiers. They are going to kill everyone."
"I cannot leave you." The woman's hand went to her belly. "We stay together or not at all."
"Think of our daughter! She deserves a chance. Please, Aria. Please."
The name hit me like a blow. Aria. My mother.