Page 36 of Heir of Blood and Moonlight

My eyebrows rose. “You mean Javier?” I frowned. “But we never—” I shook my head for what felt like the hundredth time. “It wasn’t like this with him. I was just a kid. There were nocommunions, not like with you two.”

The corner of Gavin’s mouth tensed. “Communionsare far more innocent when a queen is young, for obvious reasons,” Gavin explained. “They begin when a queen’s powers first awaken at the onset of puberty, but the sexual component is not introduced until a queen is of age and her mature powers burn through her dopamine stores at a faster rate. With an immature queen, a simple blood exchange is all that’s required.” He crouched, resting his elbows on his knees, and angled his head tothe side, exposing his neck and the bonding sigil glowing silver on his olive skin. “Do you remember seeing anything like this on Javier?”

I stared at the sigil, studying the glowing phases of the moon and thinking back to the few times Javier’s sigils had been visible. “I don’t think so, but I rarely saw his sigils, and when I did, he was fully clothed, so it could have been hidden.”

Gavin narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, you rarely saw his sigils?”

I shrugged. “He tried to keep my powers suppressed,” I explained. “He believed the only way to hide me from the House of the Sun was to make me appear human. That’s why he created the blood tincture. It kept me alive, but it also suppressed my powers.”

“He must have removed the dopamine,” Gavin mused aloud, his gaze losing focus. “And possibly added a dopamine reuptake inhibitor.” He refocused on me. “We’ll analyze the tincture when we get to the Moon Sanctuary. That should give ussomeanswers.”

Gavin stood and pulled the small, black travel case holding six vials of Javier’s blood tincture that I always carried in my purse out of his pants pocket. “Take a dose,” he said. “If it helps to stabilize you, then we’ll know you do—didshare a blood bond with Javier.”

I accepted the case and unzipped it with shaking hands. Javier and all his damn secrets. I freed a vial and unscrewed the cap, bringing it up to my lips. Gaze lingering on the intricate design of the crescent sigil curving along the side of Gavin’s face, I tilted the vial back, pouring the tasteless contents into my mouth. I closed my eyes and swallowed, and when I opened my eyes again, the silvery glow of Gavin’s sigils was already fading, and his eyes dimmed to gray instead of silver.

I watched his sigils slowly disappear until they were no longer visible, then raised one hand to trace my fingertips over the unmarked side of his face. “It’s gone,” I murmured, letting my hand fall away.

Gavin pressed his lips together. “Then we have another answer. He did include a DRI in the formula.” He took the empty vial from between my fingers and narrowed his eyes as he studied it. “If Javier could add the inhibitor, we should be able to remove it.” Gavin’s eyes met mine. “This should be the last time your powers are suppressed. Then we can use the remaining tincture to gradually wean you off Javier’s blood.”

I looked at the vial, all I had left of Javier. “Do you think—” I hesitated, afraid to voice the question. I had refused to believe he was dead for so long; the hope that he was out there somewhere was all that kept me going at times. “Could he still be alive?”

Gavin stared at Bastian. I looked at the shifter as well. If anyone in this loft knew Javier’s fate, he would.

Bastian shrugged one shoulder. “I wish I could tell you, Soph.” He shook his head. “I just don’t know.”

Gavin took a backward step and angled his body away from me. He inhaled and exhaled, slow and controlled. “He could be alive,” he finally admitted. “But if he is, he’s a prisoner of the House of the Sun, and extracting him would be extremely dangerous.”

I nodded slowly, having come to that same conclusion long ago. I looked at Gavin’s neck, where the bonding sigilshouldhave been visible, then at Bastian’s wrist. “You both have your sigils. Do I get any marks like that?” I had never noticed anything like that on my body, but then, Javier had always been quick to suppress my powers whenever they became active.

“There is, but it’s inside you,” Gavin said, pressing his palm flat against his chest. Did he mean that their sigils were brandedonto my heart? “When your powers are active, you can do acastingto project your consorts’ sigils around you.”

“Acasting?” I asked, standing. Bastian’s hand trailed down my hip, then fell away. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s what we call it when a queen focuses her powers to achieve a specific end,” he said. “You’ll learn.”

“How?” I asked with a despondent laugh. “How will I learn when there are no more queens to teach me?”

“There are no morelivingqueens,” Gavin said, glancing at me sidelong. “But you have already admitted that when your powers are active, you can see the dead.”

“But I haven’t seen any ghosts here,” I told him.

The corners of his mouth tensed with the hint of a smile. “Ah, but you’re surrounded by protective wards here. The spirits cannot enter this floor.” He scanned the walls, seeing things that were currently invisible to me. “All the High Queens have been laid to rest at the Moon Sanctuary. Their spirits will surely be able to assist you.”

“My mom?” I asked, taking a step toward him, hope rising within me. “Is she there?”

Gavin’s features tensed. “All High Queens, save for the last one,” he amended, sympathy shadowing his expression. “Veris had your mother’s body burned, her ashes scattered to the winds.” Gavin glanced past me to Bastian. “Veris lit the pyre himself. By the time he and his people departed, there was nothing left of her to move. There’s nothing to anchor her to that place.”

“Oh,” I said, my shoulders slumping and my gaze drifting down to his shoes. “Okay.” But then Gavin’s words registered, and my focus snapped back up to his face. “You were there—after.” My chin trembled.

I didn’t remember much frombefore, just spotty memories, but that night was as vivid as if it had happened only yesterday.Some people’s minds blocked their childhood trauma. I wasn’t so lucky.

With perfect clarity, I recalled hiding on the short ledge of the roof outside my bedroom window while Amaya, Javier, and a few other vampires attempted to fight off seven shifters. I remembered Amaya’s screams. I remembered the sound her body made when it hit the floor. I remembered the light reflecting off the merged pools of blood beneath her and the vampire and shifter bodies scattered around her when Javier retrieved me. I remembered her serene face. Her empty eyes.

“Did you see Amaya?” I asked, my voice small, like I had reverted to the little girl I was during that terrifying night.

Gavin was quiet for so long, I thought he might not answer. “I did,” he finally said.

“She was in my room,” I said, then added, “when she died.” I hugged my middle and closed my eyes, setting free a string of tears. “I hid while they killed her,” I said, admitting my greatest shame.

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