Page 22 of A Dawn Of Blood

They both frown. “Who’s in Nasgard?”

“I have no idea, but it’s important, I just know it in my bones.”

Raven shakes her head. “I don’t think you should be concerning yourself with that right now. You’ve just unlocked your third bloodline power. Who knows what that’s doing to your brain.”

I let out a laugh. “Actually, I think that’s the least of my problems. I know it’s going to sound strange, especially since I can’t feel either my shifter or fae sides at the moment… But it’s like all my life, I’ve been feeling unbalanced without even knowing it, and now that I’m all three, there’s this calm inside me.”

Raven raises her eyebrows. “Really? Well, that’s both odd and strangely logical.”

“But what’s the problem then?” Alaric asks with a frown. “It’s not just Nasgard, is it?”

I press my lips tight. “Drydenis the problem.”

“Dryden?” they both ask at the same moment.

“Yes. I think he’s my mate.”

“Your mate? Seriously? Why would you thinkthat?”

“Two reasons. Number one, Lorcan told me my next mate should be a fae. And Dryden does seem to fit the bill. He seems to be powerful, driven, interested in Divine Magic, all the things Orpheus was.”

Alaric frowns. “I don’t think he’s the only fae like that out there.”

And now we’re coming to the thing that’s bothering me most. I have to force myself to talk about it because it somehow feels intimate. “And that would be a very good point, were it not for what happened on the mission today.”

I watch them both impatiently nudging me to speak.

“I, um,” I start with hesitation, “when he transported us back to the Academy and I smelled his blood,thatis when my vampire side unlocked.”

“Could it be a coincidence?” Raven asks.

“So far, I’ve had two mates. It was meeting Jericho that unlocked my shifter side and meeting Orpheus that unlocked my fae side. But, well, there’s one more thing.”

There’s a moment of silence during which I turn my focus onto Alaric. Then I decide to just push through it. But I know how touchy vampires can be about these things.

“Alaric,” I start cautiously, “we’ve been through quite a lot of shit together. You’d say we’re pretty close, right?”

He squints at me. “Alright,” he drawls, “what insensitive thing are you about to ask me, Anna?”

A joyless smile tugs at my lip. “When you like someone, you like their blood as well, right?”

There’s a flash of surprise in his eyes. Then, to my relief, he laughs. “I do, yes.”

“Well, smelling Dryden’s blood… It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Ever since it happened, he’s all I can think about.”

They exchange a glance and then turn to pensively nod at me.

“That sounds like a mate bond for sure,” Alaric finally says. “But if it’s so straightforward… What’s the problem?”

I frown. “What do I do about it?” I ask.

To my surprise, Alaric just shrugs and says, “Ask him out, dummy.”

Chapter 16

It’s first thing the following morning that I have my first session with de Groot. My attention is still wholly on Dryden, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Now that I’m a vampire, the Mind Magic defense training should be switched out for regular vampire training. And the first thing we’ll be doing is teaching me how to perform my rituals.

When I enter the classroom, de Groot is already there, leaned against the professors’ table. She doesn’t greet me, she goes straight to the point, sounding coerced into asking, “Do I have your consent for this?”

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