Page 113 of Lake of Sorrow

“I did manage to spring free first. He was wise enough to run off before I changed fully. After that… it’s a blur in my memory. As it often is. I only knew I had to catch up, had to protect you. The Kar’ruk aren’t known for taking prisoners unless they want to torture and question them.”

“They wanted to drink my blood.” Kaylina glanced back, not surprised to find a concerned expression on Vlerion’s face, and she explained further. Her words did nothing to smooth the furrow in his brow. “I don’t understand it either.”

“They may sense the power within you. They could have believed that by imbibing a taste of your blood, some of it would convey to them. Or it may have been a superstitious ritual. They have a lot of quirks and believe bad luck will befall those who don’t make enough offerings and prayers to their One God.”

“Whatever it was, I’m sure my blood didn’t convey anything. I don’t have power; I have a brand.” Kaylina held up her hand. “It may have power.”

“The beast in me is drawn to you, not your hand.”

“Actually, he was drawn to my boobs.” Kaylina smiled to make it a joke.

Vlerion frowned and looked down at her chest. His eyes fixed on the rip in the fabric the beast’s claw had made.

Since it wasn’t a long rip, he might not have noticed it before—or, if he had, he might have thought she’d caught her shirt on a thorn while running. Now, the furrow appeared in his brow again. He wore the troubled expression of someone trying to remember something, something unpleasant.

“I did that,” he stated with certainty.

“The beast did.”

“We are not different beings. Unfortunately.”

“No. You are. I can tell when I look into your eyes. And into his. There’s nothing of you in there.”

Vlerion shook his head, refusing to distance himself from the beast—and what the beast did.

Wanting to take his mind from that, Kaylina dug in her pack. “After all the trouble with the Kar’ruk, I almost forgot about this.”

Wishing she could distract him with something more pleasant, she hesitated before handing him the journal. But when he saw it, he took it, his expression grim before he opened it. He released her to flip through the pages and read the last entry.

“It is… as I expected,” he said.

“We’ll keep them from printing that story.”

“There are other presses.”

“Once the Kar’ruk are dealt with, you can send the rangers on a press-bashing mission to destroy them all.” Hoping to ease his concerns, Kaylina smiled and made a punching motion.

“One way or another, the story will come out, and the people will believe it. After all, some of what this person wrote… is not wrong. Only the recent murders can be blamed on the Kar’ruk. In the past… I remember little of the times I’ve changed in the past, but I’ve woken up before with blood on my chest. Not mine.”

“I understand your concerns about that, and your guilt, but you wouldn’t be doing these things if you weren’t cursed. Magically cursed. It’s not your fault, and the Virts shouldn’t be targeting you. From some of the things you’ve said, I feel like you’d even defend them if they weren’t using violent methods. You seem to understand their grievances and why they want what they want.” Kaylina checked his face to see if her belief was correct.

“I believe they have a right to protest and argue for better working conditions and opportunities. Were they, as you say, not violent in their methods, I would not take action against them. I know you accuse me of being haughty—” his eyebrow twitched, as if he couldn’t believe it, “—but that’s only because I’m used to being in charge and accustomed to commanding men. It is sometimes difficult to set aside one’s upbringing and accept that a man born into the aristocracy isn’t any better than one born a commoner, but… I admit that’s likely true. It’s the actions that one takes after one’s birth that define a man—or woman. It has nothing to do with blood.” His expression turned pensive as he regarded her. “Except perhaps in your case.”

“My blood is the same as yours. Except less arrogant and uppity.”

“It is not. After all that has happened, you must believe that too.”

“I’m still struggling to accept that. The rest of my family is…” Kaylina almost said normal, but that wasn’t the right word. Other than her perfect older sister, there were quite a few quirky people in her family. “Nobody else has power,” she decided on.

“It’s true that I haven’t sensed anything in your brother. I am not drawn to him.” Vlerion lowered the journal so he could wrap an arm around her again and scoot closer.

“That might have more to do with his sex than blood.”

Vlerion shook his head. “I can sense the power in our other anrokk, Sergeant Jastadar. Because of his sex, his appeal doesn’t manifest in me desiring physical relations with him, but I have enjoyed his company more than that of other men. I feel comfortable with him.”

“Do you feel comfortable with me? I thought I mostly irritated you.”

“You do that less now that you’ve stopped calling me pirate and suborning my taybarri.”

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