Page 16 of From Frost to Flame

“Right, but you need to consume exponentially more blood the longer the compass is on you.” Silas started wrapping. “This curse can’t be taken lightly.”

“So, I’ll pick off couples. Easy enough.” Lex examined his wrist, now wrapped in crisp, white bandages. His palm, somehow free of glass, was also expertly covered. The dreadful compass rested on the back of his hand, settled on top of the new wrap.

“Couples won’t work either. I’m suspecting we’ll be isolated most of the journey. As you said, the souls are probably in unsettled landscapes. Even if you had access to people, if you leave a trail of bitten bodies, Arden will use them to track us down.”

“Compass or not, I have to feed from a vein to get nourishment eventually. It’s unavoidable.” Panic rose in his voice. “Even if this thing wasn’t attached to me, I would go feral and attack someone without fresh blood from a vein in a matter of days or worse. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Your family has proposed as an alternative solution: you feed on me throughout this journey.”

Lex stared at him as the words sank in.

I may actually kill Jules and Mora for this.

“I want you to be comfortable, of course. So, what do you think?” Silas sat back on his heels and waited for an answer.

“I feel like your comfort is more important here. You’d be the one getting bitten, and you know what my venom does to those I feed on. Are you really open to this idea?”

“I see the necessity and efficiency.”

“Always such a fucking diplomat.” He rolled his eyes and looked off at the fireplace. “I see you’re still giving royal-nothing answers to everything.”

Silas gripped his cheeks with one hand and turned his face so he was forced to look at him again. “And I see you’re still a brat with a smart mouth. I’ll be more direct, if that’s what you want. Yes. It’s fine with me. Now, I need you to focus and answer the question.”

Lex swallowed. “Can you let go so I can think?”

Silas gave him an amused smirk, and Lex knew he was being held until he complied. He rolled his eyes and thought over his limited options. Vampires couldn’t feed on each other, and he would rather starve than feed on Silas's brother.

With shoulders slumped in defeat, he nodded. “I suppose it’s the best option. Can we get it over with soon?”

Silas opened his mouth to say something, but heavy boots stomping down the stairs interrupted them.

Castor came down holding a folded-up toga in his hands. Multiple puncture wounds on his neck and chest suggested Julian and Mora had had their way with him.

“Oh, Lex is up! Excellent.” Castor paused at the bottom of the stairs and scanned Silas, who was still on his knees holding Lex’s face. “Am I interrupting a private moment?”

“I was tending to his wounds.” Silas pulled away and busied himself with repacking the supplies.

Have we ever not had sex while feeding before? What would feeding now even mean? Would it be different?

Lex’s mind wandered to the times he’d fed on Silas—the way Silas's eyes filled with lust, the way he gripped Lex’s hips so hard he left delicious bruises, and the way he kissed him like he was the last pair of lips in the world.

“Sure you were. Everything down here looks oh so platonic,” Castor said as he sauntered past Lex with a knowing smile. He tossed Silas his toga, hitting his face. “Get dressed. You should look put together for whoever shows up,” he called as he made his way to the kitchen through an arched doorway in the back corner of the room.

“Who else is coming?” Lex asked. “I thought we were leaving soon. Do we have time to wait for others?”

“I have royal business to attend to first,” Silas continued, glaring at his brother. “I’m going out to the yard to pass on a message. When I finish, I can meet you upstairs in one of the rooms.”

“It can’t wait?” Lex’s heart clenched at the thought of The Ravenous One showing up in a cloud of smoke while Silas wasn’t there. No matter how he felt toward him, facts were facts. Silas was the safest person to be with in any situation. “I can bite you, then you can go deliver your message. I can even go with you since I’ll be at least partially healed.”

“I appreciate that you want to help, but we vanished in a lot of chaos. If I don’t send word soon, they’ll assume I’m dead or locked away by centaurs.” He stood and draped his toga over his body. “Unfortunately, this has to take priority.”

“Right. That makes sense.” Lex looked down, feeling uneasy. “Just hurry back. Please.”

“If you’re scared of anything, anything at all,” Silas said, lifting his chin with a finger, “call for me and I’ll be back before you can even blink.”

Lex was embarrassed by his obvious anxiety, but the words were comforting. “I know you will.”

“Here, I’ll call your family down to help you to your room to wait,” Castor offered as he came back into the room. His presence made Silas pull away again. “Julian! Mora!”

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