What else was I going to say?
The smirk softened. “Hello,” he whispered.
My gaze trailed down his bare body, taking in the expanse of muscles and scarred skin—pausing, for just a moment, at his cock, partially hardened—before returning to the crisscross of wounds over his abdomen and sides. I questioned my sanity as I took them in. They seemed so much better than yesterday, when Raihn had barely been able to move.
Following my gaze, he said, “The blood helped. A lot.” His lips brushed over my forehead. “Thank you.”
I squirmed a little at the way he said that. So sincerely.
“Of course,” I muttered. Like it was what I’d planned all along. If I’d been thinking logically, it did make sense to let Raihn drink from me—I’d seen before how much it helped him heal, and he’d needed that desperately.
But I couldn’t even lie to myself. I hadn’t offered my blood to him out of a sense of practicality. I’d offered it to him out of blind, maddening desire—desire to have more of him inside me, and more of myself inside him.
And Goddess, it had been—it had been—
I cleared my throat to avoid getting lost in that particular cascade of distracting thoughts.
I twitched as his fingertips traced my abdomen, tickling over my belly button.
“Looks like it helped you, too,” he said.
I blinked down at myself, brow furrowed. The cuts were still there, yes, and still sore, but they no longer bled. They looked as if they’d been healing for several weeks, not for twelve hours. It rivaled the effects of a healing potion.
“Is that… normal?” I asked.
“Not sure if anything about either of us is normal,” he said.
Well. That was true.
“Heir blood, if I had to guess,” he went on. “Maybe combined with your half-human lineage. I don’t know. But I’m not about to question it.”
His touch ran over one of the shallower wounds, tracing a lightning-crack scar of pink flesh. For the briefest moment, his face darkened, before settling again as he turned back to me.
“Oraya,” he said softly, “I—”
I wasn’t prepared for this. For his heartfelt words. I had no regrets about last night, but I couldn’t open myself up for him again today. Touch was one thing. But words... words were complicated.
“We need to go back to the castle,” I said.
I was brisk and businesslike. Just as I had once been with him when we strategized together in the Kejari.
Raihn’s mouth closed. Understanding fell over his face quickly. He was a half-step behind me, but he slipped into the same role just as easily.
“I know,” he said.
That was it. No questions, no hesitation. Anyone might have laughed in my face for even saying it, but I felt a twinge of satisfaction that he had already been thinking the same thing.
Maybe it was a death sentence to go back there. Anyone else would have advised that we flee Sivrinaj, and not come back unless we had an army to bring with us.
I knew what Vincent would have said:
Don’t feed yourself to the wolves, little serpent. Know when your bite isn’t strong enough.
But of course Raihn already accepted it as simple truth that we needed to go back, and immediately. Because his inner circle was still in that castle—Mische was still in that castle. He would not leave her there, especially not in Simon’s clutches.
I wouldn’t, either. It was never even an option.
I knew, even without him saying anything, that Raihn was thinking about Mische, because I could see the pained expression fall over his face—one part fury, one part agony.
My hand fell to his arm, firm and comforting.
“We’ll get her out,” I said. “And in the meantime, you know she’s putting up a hell of a fight.”
A faint hint of a smile, which immediately dimmed.
“That,” he said, “is what I’m afraid of.”
Raihn hated Simon, but I’d come to realize he was also afraid of him. Genuinely afraid, the way I had been afraid my entire life. I wondered if my fear seemed as outlandish to Raihn as his fear did to me. As undeserving of his time.
My fingers tightened around his arm. “You are better than him,” I said, more viciously than I’d intended. “Fuck him. We are going to destroy him, Bloodborn army or no.”
So easily, that we rolled off my lips.
The corner of Raihn’s mouth twitched. “There she is.”
He sat up, face hardening into an expression I’d seen many times before—the same look that would come over him during one of the Kejari’s trials. A kind of bloodthirsty focus, like he’d been presented with a very entertaining puzzle.
“So, princess,” he said, “that leaves us to figure out how to get back into the castle we just barely escaped alive. Now that we’ve established that we’re fucking insane.”
Two of us. A castle full of Rishan and Bloodborn soldiers. Most of whom were probably frantically looking for us. Septimus, presumably, still would want me for my blood. Simon needed to kill Raihn, and quickly, if he wanted to get his own Heir Mark. The nobles would support him due to his history alone—if out of nothing more than distaste for Raihn—but that goodwill would only last so long if Simon never managed to get a Mark of his own.
“Bad odds,” I said. But I found myself suppressing a smile.
“Oh, you look dismayed,” he said wryly.
I shrugged. “Reminds me of old times. It’s been a while since I’ve been underestimated.”
“We know just how much you love that. Going up against impossible odds.”
Despite myself, I smiled. “You loved it too.”
“I’ll admit it.”
He flopped back on the bed, hands behind his head. “So. If I remember right, this is the part where we come up with some kind of brilliant, twisted plan.”
It was indeed. And my mind was blank.
I fell next to him, staring up at the crooked wooden planks above us. A spider swung from beam to beam, crafting a silver-silken web. It was a chaotic thing, near-invisible threads strung messily into the shadows, functional but far from beautiful. Like fate itself, I supposed.
For a few long moments, we thought.
“So what do we have?” Raihn said.
Then, to start answering his own question, he said, “We have us.”
“A human and a usurped king,” I said, flatly.
“No. Two Heirs who won the Mother-damned Kejari.”
Fair point. Raihn and I had individually managed to fight through incredibly unbalanced battles in the Kejari, and done even more together. What’s more, our power had grown exponentially since receiving our Heir Marks. Sure, mine was still difficult to control, but I’d used it to kill Goddess-knew how many soldiers to save Raihn.
Somehow it had seemed… easier then, lost in a frenzy for blood.
All my life, Vincent had admonished my emotional impulsivity, teaching me that stoicism and focus were the only paths to mastering my magic. Yet I’d never felt more powerful than I did in those moments, totally out of control of myself.
I couldn’t let myself think about that too much now. How easily Raihn being in danger had unlocked something primal in me.