Page 232 of On Wings of Blood

“You’re a bold man,” Viktor said, his voice smooth. “I always knew you had it in you.”

“Thank you,” I said stiffly, trying to accept the praise I knew to be a lie. “She was a rich gift, as you said. I owe you for it.”

“You do. Just as she still owes me her life. Neither of you should forget that.” Viktor's hand shot out, gripping my shoulder painfully. “Be careful, Blake. A bonded blightborn mate is a valuable thing. You cannot feed from another now.” He smiled slightly. “But then, that’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said carefully.

He pushed me backwards and I staggered, nearly falling from the force.

“You've never been quite like us, have you, Blake? Not like your brother, Marcus, with his endless appetites.”

“If you mean I don’t enjoy murdering blightborns for sport, then no, I’m nothing like Marcus,” I said coldly. “I take pride in that.”

“The shadow of your father,” my uncle mused. I knew it wasn’t meant as a compliment. “But don’t forget that everything you have, everything you are, is because of me. I made you, Blake. You know it. Your mother knows it. I can unmake you just as easily.”

I thought of Aenia, of Pendragon. Of my mother’s retreat into the Sanctum. I said nothing.

I couldn’t afford to play this game fully. Not yet.

“You’re only as strong as I allow you to be,” Viktor said, still watching me closely. “Don’t forget that.”

I nodded stiffly. “I won’t let you down.”

I started to turn away, then decided to risk a change of subject. “Before I go, I wondered if you received the list of selected First Years I had sent over. Selection Day is tomorrow.”

“Another school year, over so soon,” my uncle said. “What happy, carefree times you all must have in these old halls. And what a year it has been. Yes, I received it. The list was acceptable. You know I trust your judgment.” He smiled thinly.

“Thank you, Uncle.”

I hoped Pendragon would be happy with my choices. I’d made some of them with her in mind.

“There will need to be a formal celebration, of course,” my uncle said, as I turned to go. “We must welcome your bride into our family.”

“I’d thought, perhaps over the summer...”

He nodded, waving a hand dismissively. “We’ll arrange it. I look forward to spending more time with Miss Pendragon. A fascinating woman, I’m sure. Well, she must be, to have made you so infatuated to the exclusion of all others.”

“She is,” I said stiffly. And my uncle wouldn’t be getting near her if I could help it. I’d done all of this to protect her. But suddenly I wondered if I’d simply dragged her further into the dragon’s den.

Would she have been safer with Kage?

I shook the thought away. Never.

I left the room, my mind in tumult as I strode through the academy corridors towards the House Drakharrow tower.

The weight of the lie I’d told my uncle clung to me. The consequences of what I’d done only began to hit me as the cool spring air hit my skin, blowing in off the sea.

I’d told Viktor that I’d already fed from Pendragon.

Feeding from a blightborn mate was not something to be undertaken lightly. Once I’d done so, I would only be able to feed from her. My bond with her would be exclusive.

I’d ended our triad. We were now a pair. Regan was gone, expelled. There would be no returning to that arrangement, no forging of a new triad.

There was only one inevitable next step if I wanted to protect Pendragon from my uncle.

I had to feed from her and soon.

The lie wouldn’t hold unless it became truth.

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