Page 52 of Soul Forge

“You’d better not be preparing that in here,” the valkyrie complained.

The vampire frowned. “But the fire is in here.”

“You don’t need the fire until you’re cooking.”

“Falkryn has night patrols. I’m skinning the boar right here unless you’d rather explain to the shifters why we’re trespassing?’

Reiner let out a low growl but stopped complaining and pulled out Atlas’ mane brush. Elda looked away so she didn’t have to watch him prepare the boar, but the sound of it being cut into made her nauseous. The tang of blood reached her nostrils, and she shuddered when the wet slap of its skin being tossed outside echoed through the small stone space.

Thankfully, the smell of cooking meat was enough to dispel her revulsion when her stomach howled, eager for its only meal of the day. Nox lifted her nose and sniffed, equally interested in dinner.

“I hope you’re hungry, Princess,” Julian said eventually, holding out a clean cloth filled with steaming meat. She had to admit, it smelleddivine.

“Elda,” she corrected, accepting the offering and biting gratefully into the tender meat. “Thank you.” Reiner turned her nose up at the meat he stripped for her, opting to eat the cold cuts Edward had given her instead.

Julian arched an eyebrow and shook his head. “It’s the least I could do after frightening you like that.”

“And killing my husband,” Elda reminded him, forcing brightness into her tone.

He waved a hand. “He had it coming.”

“Say that again when I can stand, asshole,” Sypher groaned. Elda dropped her food in her haste to stop him from sitting up too quickly, and Nox wasted no time in snatching the strips of meat off the ground.

“That wasn’t for you!” Julian chastised, scowling at the tulpar demon. She nickered back at him like she understood him.

“You should stay lying down for a while,” Elda insisted, putting out a hand to push Sypher back down.

“The vampire thought you’d be asleep until morning,” Reiner added, fingers inching towards her mace now there were two demons awake and close to her charge.

Sypher scowled at the palm Elda laid against his chest, but he didn’t argue. “I might have taken longer if he’d used the thrall.”

“Even feral, I know not to try that,” Julian muttered. “The last thing I remember was flying down here on Nox’s back.”

“What’s the thrall?” Elda asked.

“Nope, you can take that one,” Sypher said immediately, closing his eyes again and pulling up his hood to hide his face. Reiner stuffed her mouth full of meat and busied herself with brushing the knots from Atlas’ mane.

“Oh gee, thanks,” Julian muttered, scowling at them. He sighed and turned to Elda. “Do you know anything about vampires?”

“Only that Malakai was supposed to have killed you all a long time ago.”

“Something like that,” he nodded, casting an odd look at Sypher. “Before any of that happened, we had a city. Nova was a desert oasis sustained by our technology. We welcomed anyone to live tax-free in our city if they agreed to be a donor to the vampire population. All they had to do was donate a smallamount of blood every so often. If they changed their mind, they could leave whenever they wanted or pay taxes.”

“People willingly let you tear into their necks?” Elda asked, wrinkling her nose.

“They used to. And we didn’ttearinto their necks,” he explained defensively. “We had a few options for donating. They could have their blood drawn at a clinic, or they could choose to donate the old-fashioned way.”

“Why would anyone choose to be bitten?”

“Spirits, you’re taking way too long to explain this,” Sypher muttered. “The thrall makes the bite feel good for the donor. That’s why people chose to get bitten.”

“Way to ease her into it, moron,” Julian sighed. “Now look what you did.”

Sypher’s head swivelled slowly to find Elda’s face beetroot red, right to the tips of her ears. Reiner’s lips pressed into a thin line, brows rising towards her hairline.

“It’s fine,” the princess mumbled. “Is that why you were okay with feeding him?”

Sypher propped himself up on his elbows with a groan, shifting slowly to a sitting position. He took the hood down so she could see his face, revealing the ragged bite mark at his throat. The heat in her cheeks crept down across her neck, making it almost impossible to look him in the eye.

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