Page 93 of Their Blood Rite

‘She healed the fawn we left for her?’ Shaw continues. ‘You certain?’

‘Yes,’ Archie replies. ‘She was tempted by the blood. I saw her rest her hand over it for a minute, so she felt its power, butshe channelled the earth magic instead and healed it. See?’ he accuses. ‘What blood witch have youevermet that has been able to resist the blood of a fawn? There hasn’t been one.Sheresisted, Dorian.Shechose to heal it. Chose to drain her own energy to help it. I have never seen a blood witch do that, nor have you. But she did. And she used my blood.Mine. She could have killed me and taken that power, but she didn’t. She saved me and freed herself from the blood link as soon as possible. She is not your average blood bitch. She’s earth witch too. Sheisdifferent, so quit trying to distance yourself from her because we all know that we’re drawn to blood witches like moths to a flame, and if we can actually have one that’s not evil incarnate, I’d like to give it a go and see what happens.’

‘You want to date the blood witch?’ Dorian scoffs.

‘I want to fucking feel again, Dorian. And I do. I do with her, and so will you.’

‘I will never trust another blood witch. We may be mated to the bitches, but I don’t have to be a slave to primal needs placed on me by fate.’

‘Then carry on being a dick to her. You’re the one missing out.’

I groan. Compared to the rage inside me at their tricks and words, a groan is a pathetic response. But it’s all I’m capable of.

‘You awake, Pixie?’ Shaw asks, sweeping my hair from my face.

I reach up and take his hand.

Bringing his wrist to my mouth, I bite. I don’t bother to ask or allow myself to feel shame or disgust. I need to heal as quickly as possible.

Shaw doesn’t pull away as I start to drink from him. I swallow mouthful after mouthful, pulling my knees up as I get a hit of that euphoric connection.

Heal. I need to heal.

Then, I’ll be able to think and form actual words. I hate being even more defenceless than usual around them. I know Icouldn’t fight them off if I really had to. But anything is better than lying here in agony, unable even to sit as they talk about me.

‘There it is. She’s a blood bitch like any other.’ Dorian sounds as if he’s proven his point. As if he’s won the argument.

I don’t give a shit. I need strength, and this is how I get it.

I look up at Shaw, his blurred image becoming solid and defined the more I drink. There’s a snap as a broken bone in my nose pops back into place. I let go to let out a cry of pain, and he pulls his hand away.

‘Better?’ he asks, scanning my face. ‘Cuts are healing. Bruises are fading.’ He lifts my shirt. ‘And the wound is closing from the arrow.’

‘You saved Archie. Why?’ Dorian demands, stepping towards the bed and glaring at me accusingly. ‘You could have left him for dead. Why didn’t you? Doesn’t make sense.’

I sit myself up, wiping the blood from my mouth, and look up at him.

‘I’ll be sure not to repeat the mistake if I ever find myself in the same position with you,’ I reply. ‘Blood bastard.’ His eye twitches at my insult. Fuck him. He keeps calling me a blood bitch. See how he likes it.

Archie is standing at the corner of the bed with his arm heavily bandaged.

‘You slashed that fawn?’ I accuse. ‘And left it there for me to find?’

Archie picks at the bandage and shrugs. ‘Needed to see if you would be tempted. Don’t worry. You passed.’

‘You tortured a baby animal as a test?’ I look between them, utterly disgusted. ‘Did you even go to the village, or were you all watching me walk through the woods?’

‘We went to your village.’ Shaw lifts my face, inspecting it closely. ‘How’s your pain?’

‘Eyes…’

‘What?’

‘The earth witch that attacked. He said I took my coven leader’s eyes. That I dug him up and carved them out yesterday, is that true? Did someone do that?’

No one says a word, and the tension is thick in the room.

‘Taking body parts. That’s blood magic.’ Even uneducated, I know that.

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