Page 81 of Blackthorn

“Drink,” a rough voice said.

Draven sat up straight, his abdomen on fire and his back screaming in protest.

Yes, it was Hal. Fury etched on his big green face, standing behind Charlotte.

“Charlotte, be careful,” Draven warned. “Has he hurt you?”

“Hurt me? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Drink,” Hal repeated, his voice taking on a short and snippy tone that indicated he was moments away from raging destruction.

“Hal’s correct. You need to drink,” Charlotte said as if she didn’t hear the threat in Hal’s voice. Perhaps she didn’t. Perhaps that rage was only directed toward Draven.

“Hal? You’re friendly with it?” On a first-name basis, even.

“Hal is a person, not an it. And considering that Hal carried you out of that dungeon, you should be more grateful,” she said, her voice reproachful. Little mystery why Hal barely tolerated Draven. He was a bastard. Again, his existence in four words.

“I’m not going to argue. You need to drink to heal, and I’m a willing donor,” Charlotte said.

She pressed the dagger to her wrist, ready to slice across.

“You don’t understand. I don’t drink from the people I love,” he said.

She paused, a red drop forming where the tip of the blade pressed in.

“I love you,” he said, feeling lighter for having said the words. Or that could be the blood loss. “It’s unconscionable how much you made me love you.”

“I made you?”

She didn’t return his sentiments. It was foolish to expect her to but a part of him hoped. He couldn’t explain just how much he’d come to anticipate their evenings together and her questions, all her questions. He dreaded the day when her questions would cease.

“Please don’t do this. I’ll sew myself up. I’ll find another donor,” he said. The new donor would taste foul. They had all tasted foul recently. It didn’t matter.

“Well, as it happens, there are no other donors. I don’t think orc blood will suffice. I believe you said something about beast blood being poisonous, so logically Hal is out.”

“I’m too injured. I won’t be able to stop myself. I’ll drain you dry. Then no one will ask me all those questions,” he said.

That gave her pause. “I trust you not to take too much.”

“You really shouldn’t.”

“Ethan is always stubborn,” Hal said.

Draven flinched at the name.

“Ethan?” Charlotte asked.

“I was not always Lord Draven. I chose this name after my transformation. Ethan is the name my parents gave me.” It wasn’t what she wanted to know but Draven found himself reluctant to answer. She would turn from him in horror. There was a reason he changed his name and assumed a new identity.

“Ethan what?”

“You see, I was born human, but I’ve always been a monster. I’m Ethan Radcliffe.” Then, since she was determined to have all his secrets, he added, “Hal is my brother.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Charlotte

The Aerie

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