Page 54 of The Bond That Burns

I swallowed hard. “I don’t?”

“Of course, that all depends.”

“On what?”

“On trust. We both have our secrets, don’t we, Medra? Truth is earned.”

For a moment, neither of us moved. The space between us seemed to fill with an invisible charge. This wasn’t the raw, tumultuous heat I’d sometimes felt around Blake. Dangerous and explosive. This was different. More controlled, but no less intense. There was a push-and-pull between Kage and I, a question that always seemed to hang in the air between us. Waiting for an answer neither of us seemed ready to give.

Finally, Kage stepped back, breaking the spell. “You should go and get your kava before the refectory runs out for the day. You need your strength.”

“Kage,” I called after him as he turned to leave.

He paused, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

“What if your grandmother is right? What if the compliance magic keeps weakening?”

His expression darkened. “Then I guess we’ll all have to decide who we want to be in that new world. And who we want to stand with us.”

Before I could reply to that, he was gone, his long strides carrying him away down the hall.

I stared after him, my thoughts in a tangled knot. It took me a moment to realize he’d known where I was going. Knew I wanted kava. He’d been watching me. For how long? And why? What other details about me had he figured out?

Kage wasn’t like Blake. He was even more of an enigma. He didn’t demand my obedience. He offered something else. Something more tantalizing, more dangerous. Choice.

And the thing that both thrilled and unsettled me was that I suddenly wasn’t sure what choice I wanted to make.

CHAPTER 12 - BLAKE

The Drakharrow common room was full and humming with life. Just the way I liked it these days.

But this evening, I sat brooding in my usual chair by the fire. The laughter of the others was grating on my nerves.

Around me, students sprawled lazily on the floor, some of them feeding from thralls, their fangs pressed into willing necks. I watched the thralls, taking note of how blissed out they looked, lost in their euphoric haze. All brought on from their enjoyment of the bite.

I clenched my jaw and forced myself to look away. I hated watching them feed.

Not because I disapproved—this was the way it should be after all, though I’d never been one for thralls —but because it reminded me of my own predicament.

“Something weighing on your mind, House Leader?” Laurent asked, with a cocky smirk. The skinny highblood traced the neck of the thrall seated beside him with his fingers and the girl shuddered with pleasure.

“No,” I snapped. I crossed my arms over my chest and shifted in my chair, letting the sharp edge of my tone warn Laurent not to press the matter.

But Laurent was an idiot. He didn’t scare easily, even when he should. He leaned back, his smirk widening. Did he think he was ingratiating himself to me? What a fool. “You’re hungry.”

I shot him a warning glare. “Mind your fucking business.”

Laurent shrugged, clearly enjoying teasing me in front of his fellow students. “You could always join us. You don’t have to hold back. Or is the House Leader above such indulgences?”

I growled, not holding anything back as I shot forward towards him and grabbed him by the neck.

The look on his face was priceless. I tossed him on the ground and he scrambled to his feet, his face white as a sheet.

I pointed to the door and he raced towards it, not bothering to say good-bye to the girl he’d been feeding from.

I sat back down, my hands tightening on the chair’s armrests. Tossing Laurent had felt good. But I could still feel my tension building, hunger clawing at the edges of my control. It wasn’t like I’d ever been reckless with my feeding. I’d always prided myself on my restraint. I’d only used sellbloods. The way my father had taught me. No one who might be unwilling. It was a matter of honor. Drakharrow honor. Honor my uncle knew nothing about.

What would my father say if he could see me now? Or Viktor for that matter?

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