Page 89 of Of Scale and Blood

“She makes a point,” the Prioress said crossly. “Get a move on, Damon—I have no desire to be in this wretched place longer than absolutely necessary.”

Damon cast an amused look her way, then moved closer to the side wall and emptied out his pack, placing the various jars of herbs, knives, jewel-like stones, a metal cup, and a pouring jug in a neat row. Then he picked up the herbs and returned, briefly pausing a few yards away. “We begin. You both ready?”

I nodded. He turned to the side and began to circle us, murmuring in that gorgeous old language again and slowly pouring the herbs onto the sand. As the moon rose higher in the night sky, the jewels joined the herbs on the ground, and his voice grew stronger. His magic pulsed around us now, a curtain of power that rose in harmony with the spells being cast around Kele and Yara, Hannity and Rua.

I hoped,reallyhoped, that Túxn was in a generous mood and we all made it through this successfully.

Once Damon had finished the jewel circle, he picked up the first of his knives and a cup, then approached us, carefully stepping over the jewels and the herbs. “I now need blood from you both. Kaia, I’ll take it from your claw pad, but the blade is blessed to ensure it does not hurt.”

Trust,came Kaia’s comment.

I repeated that, my gaze on the rather large-looking cup. “It’s going to take a lot of my blood to fill that thing.”

“It won’t drain you to the point of danger.” His gaze held mine. “I made a promise. I intend to keep it.”

My heart did an odd sort of twist. One that suggested I’d fallen faster, and deeper, than I’d feared when it came to this man. I continued to hold his gaze and, just for a second, felt the unsteady beating of my heart echoing through his.

Or was that merely wishful thinking?

Because despite everything he’d said last night, for all the promises he’d made, never once had love been mentioned.

He didn’t say anything, though the faintest flicker in his eyes suggested he was well enough aware of my thoughtsandmy fears.

“We need to talk, Damon.”

He didn’t ask what about. He didn’t need to. “We will. When there’s time.”

Time, I suspected, was the one thing we didn’t have. I held out my right hand, wrist up. “Best drain me first then, just in case the sight of Kaia losing all that blood makes me faint.”

“Though I suspect fainting isn’t in your nature atall, if there’s one thing thatcouldcause it, it would be the sight of your drakkon losing blood.”

“You misjudge me,” I replied lightly. “The sight of you losing a lot of blood is no good for my equilibrium, either.”

Before he could reply, the Prioress snapped, “Will you two stop flirting and just get on with it?”

He smiled, gently caught my hand, then placed the blade against my skin and glanced at me, eyebrow raised in question. I nodded and, with a quick sharp motion, he cut my wrist. As blood welled from the wound, he turned my hand sideways so that the rich red liquid flowed steadily into the cup. When it was close to full, he righted my wrist, then placed the knife’s blade on the wound. It instantly began to heal.

“Feel okay?” he asked softly, his gaze searching mine.

“Of course—though it’s not in my nature to say otherwise.”

Amusement briefly twisted his lips, and just as quickly fell away. He stepped over the herbs and the jewels, placed my blood carefully beside a large metal jug, then picked up the second cup and returned.

“Kaia, can you please move your foot so I can reach the pad.”

She immediately did so. Drakkons, like many much—much—smaller reptiles, had four claws and a dew claw, with a pad of tissue between the two to cushion and protect their feet when walking. Damon placed the bloody knife on the pad’s thick edge, then drove the point in. It went deeper than I expected, but Kaia didn’t flinch, and no pain washed through her thoughts. Damon withdrew the knife, and dark blood followed, flowing easily into the cup. As it neared fullness, he once again placed the flat of the blade against the wound, this time murmuring in old Angolan. Her wound, like mine, sealed almost instantly.

His magic heal faster than mine, she commented.

But yours is part of your being and instinctive, which is far better.

I returned my attention to Damon. He was murmuring again, waving a hand over each of the cups before picking them both up and pouring them into the jug. At the point where the two flows combined, a luminous, bloody mist arose.

It was the same sort of mist that now surrounded the moon.

I shivered and rubbed my arms again, but it didn’t help. The sheer amount of power now filling this cavern was a heated river that flowed across my senses and danced through my veins, a fire so intense it made my whole body vibrate.

And the most dangerous part of the spell hadn’t even started yet.

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