Hagne was ordering servants to draw more hot water for the children to have a bath, and to bring clothing. As soon as she saw Urian, she pulled him aside. “Their father was killed in front of them. Did you know that?”
He winced at the thought of the nightmares they’d have for the rest of eternity. “Nay. I didn’t really get a chance to ask about their father. Things were happening too fast when I found them.” Anger and grief choked him. “Did they see what happened to their mother?”
“I don’t think so. From what I gathered out of watching them and listening, the boy’s father tossed him out the window and had him run into the stable when the humans came into their home. The boy looked back to see his father die. The girl, too, then she was hidden in their cellar by her mother in time to keep her out of their hands.”
“Thank the gods.” Otherwise Nephele would have been raped, too.
Suddenly and without warning, Hagne slapped him.
His cheek stinging, Urian gaped at her. “What was that for?”
“What were you doing there, anyway? With my husband!”
Glaring at her, he rubbed at his abused jaw. Damn, she could hit almost as hard as a man.
Then again, she hit harder than a couple of his brothers. “Escorting Davyn to see his brother-in-law on his twenty-seventh birthday, which starts at dawn. He wanted to be with his sister when her husband died. He didn’t want her and their children to be alone for it.”
She slapped his arm where it was bare between his armored sleeve and vambrace. “You thoughtless ass! I could kill you and Paris! Damn you both for your stupidity!”
Grimacing, he sputtered as he moved out of her striking range. Damn her for her long arms and their reach. She was like a toddler who could manage to stretch three times the expected distance. “Why? Archie hates us.”
“Hades’s loincloth, he does. He can’t get along with you and your twin because you’re just like him, but he loves the two of you more than his own life. He’d die if anything happened to either of you, hence his stupidity in going along tonight, instead of staying home where he should have been.”
Still unable to believe a word of it, Urian gaped at her. “Archimedes Strykeros? Big asshole? You know? The brute who spends his days trying to pummel me into the ground? Who holds me down and farts in my face?”
“Aye. The same disgusting creature.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste of his vulgarity. “Believe it or not, he’s trying to toughen you up so that no one can hurt you.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that for a heartbeat.”
“Well, you should.” Hagne punched him in the arm one last time before she headed toward the children.
Grimacing at the pain, Urian let out a fierce sigh. Damn, if it wasn’t his brothers beating his ass, it was one of his sisters. He couldn’t win for losing.
“Uri?”
Great … now it would be Tannis’s turn to have a go at him.
He couldn’t wait to see what he’d done to piss her off and how she’d retaliate as he headed back down the hallway.
His stomach tightened with every step until he reached the room where he’d left her. He put his shoulder against the door to push it open.
Tannis was inside, next to the bed.
Urian drew up short, confused by the scene. “You needed me?”
“Aye.” She jerked her chin toward Xanthia. “Do you know where her husband is?”
He lowered his voice to a whisper. “The humans killed him.”
Tannis winced in sympathetic pain and sighed heavily. “She’s weak and needs to feed. Have you any of your blood to spare for her, then?”
He had to force himself not to curl his lip, but Tannis was right. Xanthia was in no shape to feed the way an Apollite normally did. “I’ll see if any’s still fresh. It tends to go rancid fast.” That was the worst part about his father’s forced donations. They were only good for a few hours. Maybe a day, if he was lucky.
Urian left them and went into his room. He headed to the small stone chest where he stored his blood bladders and unsealed the most recent one.
Gingerly, he sniffed it.
Oh yeah, that was some foul shit there … not that it was ever particularly appealing. Blood chilled quickly once it left a body. Began to decay almost instantly. Within minutes, the metallic taste worsened.
After an hour, it was nauseating.
But beggars couldn’t be choosers. So he carried it to his sister and handed it over.
“It’s not much. She can have it all, though.” He was used to starving.
“Thank you.”
Inclining his head, Urian had barely reached the door when Xanthia began retching over the taste.
“You have to drink it,” Tannis insisted in that frustrated tone she normally reserved for him. “If you don’t, you’ll die.”
“I … I can’t!” She sobbed as she pushed it away and retched again.
He knew the feeling. It was definitely an acquired taste, and she was used to fresh blood.
Urian hesitated as he debated what to do. His sister was right. Without blood, Xanthia’s body wouldn’t heal, and she had children to feed. While they could take the blood of others, Apollite children usually preferred to feed from those they knew and were comfortable with rather than take blood from a stranger. Blood exchanges were up close and personal. Not something a young one wanted to do with someone they’d just met. That type of recklessness didn’t come along until puberty and accelerated hormones that craved getting laid by whatever was “handy.”
Children normally only wanted their parents to hold them while they fed, especially since they tended to drift to sleep right after.
Nephele and Geras had lost one parent tonight. They couldn’t afford to lose another.
Before he could stop himself, he returned to the bed and began unlacing the vambrace Xyn had made for him. “Here.”
Even though Xanthia couldn’t see him, she looked up, startled.
As did his sister.
Tannis scowled. “What are you doing?”
“It’ll be fine,” he assured them both. “I can feed her from my arm.” He saw the terror on Xanthia’s face even though her sightless eyes had no idea if he was sincere or not. “My sister can stay to ensure your safety and well-being. I won’t touch you. Just take what you need so that you can feed your children.”
Tannis shook her head. “Urian … it’ll weaken you.” Her gaze dropped to the gashes in his arm where his armor hadn’t covered him and he’d taken a few cuts from swords. “And you’re wounded.”
“I’ll be fine, Tanny.” Those wounds needed a few stitches. He’d had worse injuries training with his brothers.
Xanthia pulled the covers up to her chin. “Your wife won’t mind?”
“I don’t have one.”
“You’re a Daimon?”
“Nay, I’m still an Apollite. You won’t be harmed.” He placed his arm just in front of her so that she could feel the heat of it. “It’s here when you’re ready. I promise I won’t come any closer. You’re as safe as if your solren were feeding you.”
“My brother is a man of honor. He won’t break his word.”
After a few more seconds of hesitation, Xanthia lowered the blanket and reached out to gingerly finger the flesh of his forearm. His skin tingled from the delicate sensation of her exploring the length of his limb.
Her breath stirred him even more and made him harder than he’d ever been before as she licked her lips and gently fingered his flesh for a tender spot to bite.
Urian closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain. He had no idea what to expect. It’d been so long since he last fed naturally that he couldn’t remember what it’d felt like. He knew that it was supposedly an entirely different sensation after puberty. But he’d always assumed that the hormonal surge was only felt by the one who fed.
He was wrong.
The moment she sank her fangs into his skin, his entire body came alive as if he’d been struck by lightning. Every single nerve ending he had drew taut. Worse, her feeding caused him to harden even more. Made him crave her with an unimaginable lust.
Dear gods …
He trembled from the force of it all.