Page 82 of On Wings of Blood

Regan Pansera moved towards us with the grace of a cat. She wore a slinky dress of some half-sheer red material that hugged her slender form. Her hair was up in a high, sleek ponytail. She lifted one hand gracefully to tuck back a wayward silver strand, never taking her eyes off us.

She was smiling. Like a cat that’d found a mouse.

“I had no idea you’d be here tonight,” Regan preened. “Oh, look, you’ve brought another little blightborn girl with you. Who is your friend?”

“Regan, meet Florence Shen,” I said stiffly. “Florence, this is Regan Pansera.”

“I know who you are,” Florence said softly. “Pleased to meet you, Regan.”

I could feel Florence’s anxiety, her discomfort, and was racked with guilt for having brought her here. Why had I thought this might be fun? I’d been bored and restless, so I’d thought, why not?

But Regan Pansera was the “why not?”

The only consolation I had was that I hadn’t seen Blake anywhere in the crowd.

“Who are you talking to, Regan?”

Three more highblood girls lurched towards us, rather unsteady on their feet. Clearly they’d had a lot to drink already.

One of the girls had blood rimming her mouth. She looked at me drunkenly. “Are these your new thralls, Regan?”

“My thralls?” Regan laughed sharply. “I should think not. You know House Drakharrow keeps its own thralls. The cleanest, most refined blood we can find. I have no need to keep my own.”

The implication was that our blood was polluted somehow. Not pure enough for Regan to drink. I gritted my teeth but said nothing. Debating whether my blood would taste good to a highblood was not an argument I had any intention of getting into.

“But a thrall can bring other conveniences,” one of the other girls purred. “Other pleasures. It’s so easy when you have one bound to you. Waiting for you in your room at the end of each day.”

Regan tossed her head. “Yes, well, I have Blake, don’t I? I don’t need some commoner to keep me warm.”

I felt an unexpected wave of distaste at the idea that Blake was the one keeping her warm. Did he wait for her in her room after school, waiting to peel her slinky dress off?

I shifted on my feet, curling my toes into the sand.

One of the girls suddenly clapped her hands over her mouth. “By the Bloodmaiden. That girl’s hair is red.”

“Yes, her hair is red,” Regan said testily. “Don’t be such a dimwit, Larissa.”

“I’m not,” the girl called Larissa protested. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “I just meant that if her hair is red then this must be your co-consort. I’ve seen her around of course.” Larissa continued to address Regan, not me. Apparently I didn’t even warrant a direct interaction. She grinned slyly at Regan. “What a blessing it must be to have her by your side. A real dragon rider.”

“Oh, yes, it’s a blessing all right,” Regan agreed, her voice dripping with contempt. “She’s everything I could have wanted in a fellow consort.”

The other girls were looking me up and down. I felt like a cow at an auction house. But at least they weren’t bothering Florence.

“She’s pretty, Regan. I didn’t realize how pretty she was,” said one of the other two girls slowly. There was a glint in her eye. I got the impression none of these highblood girls actually liked Regan, even if they were part of her social circle. “Stunning, really. No wonder Lord Drakharrow paired her with Blake.”

The girl reached out a hand as if to touch my hair.

I slapped it away.

She laughed as if this was hilarious. “Oooh, prickly little bitch, isn’t she? Well, you’ll put her in her place, won’t you?”

“She has a lot to learn about her place in the world, that’s certainly true.” Regan narrowed her eyes at me.

“I can’t believe they actually paired you and Blake with a blightborn. I mean, really, what was Lord Drakharrow thinking? To mate his own nephew to...” The girl looked around furtively and dropped her voice. “A fucking barbarian. I mean, is her blood even clean? Have you tasted it?”

“Of course, I haven’t fucking tasted her, Gretchen,” Regan snapped. “I already told you that. Neither has Blake. She’s off-limits. For now.”

I felt anger rising inside. There was no way in hell either of them were ever tasting me. Ever. I’d die first.

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