Page 81 of The Bond That Burns

“He’s a wonderful teacher and I admire his intellect greatly,” she said primly.

“And his nice ass,” I quipped.

“Medra!” Florence gasped. She looked around as if worried Professor Rodriguez would suddenly be standing behind her.

Hypocrite, my mother’s voice teased.

Shush, I warned her.Or I won’t take you along next time.

She sniffed but fell silent.

I was bluffing, of course. But still, having her in my head was a distraction I could never seem to get used to. She couldn’tstay in that dagger. Her earlier reminiscences about missing her physical form had filled me with guilt. There had to be a better solution than this.

I laughed at the look on Florence’s face. “No one heard me, don’t worry.”

“Yes, well,” Florence said. She pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “So, I take it Blake agreed to an earlier feeding?” She eyed me cautiously.

“Um, yes,” I said quickly. “He did. He was... very accommodating. Surprisingly.”

“Oh, I’m so relieved. After this morning, I was worried he’d make things hard for you,” Florence said.

Orcades snickered inside my head.

I tried to school my expression. “He was very civil about it.”

“You aren’t wearing your scarf,” Florence said, looking at my wrist worriedly. “Did he bite you somewhere else? That bastard.”

“No,” I said quickly. I touched a hand to my neck then yanked it away. “I mean, I didn’t need it. It didn’t hurt as much this time.”

This was terrible. I hated lying to Florence. I was going to have to tell her the truth sometime. Why not get it over with now?

Was it because it was Blake? Or was it because of the subject matter? I realized I really did see Florence as rather innocent. I didn’t want to, well, shock her.

“That’s wonderful,” she exclaimed. Her eyes widened as she looked at my arm and I resisted the urge to tug at my sleeve. “How fascinating that you’re gaining some resistance to thepain. Or is it that you were more relaxed this evening? Did Blake put you at ease?”

I won’t dignify that with a remark because this is simply too easy,Orcades complained.It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Please admire my restraint.

I suppressed a groan.You’re exceedingly restrained, Mother. To Florence, I said, “You might say that, yes.”

“Well, the bite isn’t supposed to be painful for most people,” Florence said thoughtfully. “In fact, many blightborn seem to crave it after a while, which can be an entirely different problem all in itself.”

I stared at her. “Crave it? I don’t want to crave it.”

“I know. But I suppose it makes sense. It’s a symbiotic relationship after all.”

I took a deep breath and changed the subject. “Going back to your crush on Professor Rodriguez...”

Florence shrieked and picked up a book as if she were tempted to throw it at me.

“Girls, must I remind you that this is a library?”

Florence’s blush deepened as a woman, slender and petite, appeared from behind a nearby stack. Jia Shen had dark eyes like her daughter, framed by wire-rimmed spectacles. She wore a dark blue cardigan with little white flowers embroidered along the hem, buttoned neatly over a crisp white blouse. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, stray wisps escaping around her face as if she’d had a tiring day.

Jia set down the books she was holding on the table with a soft thud and arched a brow at us. “I trust you weren’t about to start throwing things at your friend, Florence. Library books, in particular.”

“Of course not,” Florence said, with a groan.

I laughed, enjoying her embarrassment. “Florence was just telling me about her enthusiasm for her classes this term. You know how excited she gets when she’s speaking about academic pursuits.”

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