Page 49 of Tempting the Fae Lord
“You’re not. Not wholly anyway. You maintain your free will. I’d never take that from you.” I value it far too much to do that.
“But what does it mean? Thrall?”
“It’s a vampire term for a human who’s so addicted to their blood they’ll do anything to maintain access. Not you, though. I never meant to come this close.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ve never made a thrall, and I never will. I only know what I’ve seen from others. But…” I look him in the eyes. In his beautiful, stormy-green eyes. “I have given you my blood.”
“You have? When?”
Nothing about this is funny, and yet I chuckle. “When you almost froze to death as a small child, when you nearly managed to get yourself eaten by wolves, when you broke your arm falling from a tree, when you caught fever and I was afraid, well, you were so weak. When you, when you, when you… But the first time, the very first time, you stole it from me yourself, you rotten criminal.”
“What?”
“Only little drinks, a tiny bit here, a drop or two there. My blood, along with bringing euphoria, speeds healing.”
“But I don’t remember.”
“You wouldn’t. I made sure you weren’t aware.”
“That explains a few things. Gaps in my memory. But I stole it?”
“Yes, as a small, angry babe on the night we met. You clawed your way out of the swaddle, into my shirt, and dug at my chest. So fierce you were. So furious at being stolen. Your tiny nails, sharp as razors, clawed at my skin until you drew blood. Then you licked it from your fingers. Not your fault. The scent would have been difficult to resist.”
He stares forward. “Smoldering ashes.”
“Indeed.”
“Sonja said I’m protected. She said you chained me. What did she mean?”
“She detected my scent on you. I didn’t realize it had gone that far, so much that you’d still carry my scent after all this time. But I would never chain you. Not in any way. Surely you know that.”
“Yes, but you thralled me by accident, right? How do we know?—”
“We know because I’ve never drunk from you. And I never will. I cannot.”
He turns his gaze on me, burning a hole in my heart. “But what if I want you to?”
His offer stirs heat low in my body and makes my mouth water, but I cannot afford to let it sink in. “No, Mooncalf. You’ve had too much of my blood for too long a time frame. If I drink from you, we’ll be tied by the blood.”
Gale lays his hand on top of mine, warm palm covering the back of my cold hand. “Would that be so bad?”
“Yes,” I say.
He deflates and moves to draw his hand away, but I catch it mine.
“It’s not what you’re thinking. I’m not so terribly reluctant to bond with you. This is no rejection you’re hearing, but you must understand. There are no equal relationships between vampire and human. For our…friendship to continue, you must remain free of my influence. As you are. If we were to swap blood, you’d be compelled to do as I wish. Anything I wish.”
The meaning sinks in. He frowns. “So we can never?—”
“Never.”
“But you can drink from Chester?”
“Because Chester has never partaken from me, though at his age, I’ve offered.”
“I see.”
