Page 17 of Blood of Ancients

It quickly vanished when I noticed how serious Dagny looked. Clearly, she wasn’t going to be giving me more gift suggestions.

My brow furrowed deeply. “Yeah?”

“You mentioning patients reminded me. I nearly forgot, an interesting one showed up late last night, collapsed in front of the wing. Alone. No one has visited him since he arrived, and he told me not to tell anyone he was here.”

Confusion was plain on my face.

Dagny shrugged. “Since you’re here, and since I don’t particularly like him or care about his wounded pride and ego, I figure you can spread the word to whoever needs to know. That he’s, uh, here. Recovering.”

I tilted my head. It wasn’t like Dagny Largul to get tongue-tied or speak in such a confusing way—as if she thought she was doing something wrong.

“What are you getting at, Dagny?Who?”

She curled her fingers. “Follow me.”

We trekked through the halls, until we came to a room where she pulled aside a white drape that separated the dwelling from the next.

I let out a gasp when the darkness dimmed in the small recovery room, a wall-torch revealing the man in the gurney.

Sven Torfen. Eyes closed, body bruised and bandaged.

Chapter 7

Ravinica

ADMITTEDLY, THERE WASN’Tmuch to do underground other than fuck, sleep, and eat my way through the blizzard, and try to stay as warm as possible. Luckily, I had plenty of bodies to keep me warm, any time I needed. Life could certainly be worse beneath Vikingrune Academy.

The torrid sex with my partners helped me stay fit during downtime with no classes, and kept the pounds off—for the most part—during bouts of overeating. It also kept away boredom; I never knew what my mates would do next.

I often found myself giddily thinking over the past few weeks,What interesting position or earth-shattering move will they pull on me this time?

I felt bad for my neighbors, on the left and right of my dwelling. With the sounds they heard coming from my room, they probably imagined I was getting frequently strangled.

They wouldn’t be far off. The intense romp with Sven was the newest tally to add to the scoreboard.

Deep down, I knew why I was doing this—why mindless fucking had become such a prominent part of my life.

Firstly, the aforementioned boredom of not having classes or anywhere to go, and the need to keep my mind off nuisances like my brother Damon.

Secondly, a little deeper, it helped me get closer to my men. The pillow-talk and aftercare was often second to none.

And thirdly, deeper still, I was trying to fight off the constant worry of being on the cusp oflosing them. There was no logic behind it, only that I knew once classes began, field duty separated us from each other, and life became a whirlwind, this special tether I’d bonded around my mates would slowly diminish, if not fade completely.

Put plainly, I wanted to stamp the memory of my body and warmth on Sven, Grim, Magnus, Arne, and Corym so they would never forget me and would think about me all day and night.

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