Page 132 of Their Blood Rite

My body erupts in goosebumps.

‘I don’twantto trust you,’ he says. ‘But I do. I don’twantto need you. And yet, I am compelled to.’

He lifts his head. I search his eyes, trying to see the joke. The cruelty. All I see is him, clearer than I have ever seen. Clearer than I have seen anyone. Shaw and Archie included.

‘I made the link between us because I want to feel you. Know you. Have you. Protect you from the shadows and the ghosts. From being afraid,’ he says.

‘And that made Shaw mad?’

‘Shaw is mad because it’s a connection he will never have with you. With anyone. No one except those who see death as we docan link like this. And my linking tells him that I will never let you leave. That I own a piece of you which no one can ever touch. I can feel you. Feel your fear and pain. Your joy. I have just told Shaw that I am never letting you go.’

‘But…’ I stare at him. ‘The way you’ve been. The way you’ve-’

‘I’m darkness incarnate, Poppet. Death. Do you think I ever want to have someone I care about get pulled into what I am? I tried to hate you. It was like endlessly pulling myself out of quicksand.’

‘You care about me?’ I whisper, my voice breaking. ‘Actually, care? Not just want me because of my blood?'

‘I care. More than I should. More than you deserve.’

‘Because I’m a blood witch?’

‘No. Because when I care about others… nothing good befalls them. And for that, I’m sorry.’

A heartfelt tear slides past my cheek. He cares about me. Me! He wipes the tear away and leans in. His lips meet mine. Not hungry. Not desperate, but with a longing shared between us both. His tongue glides with mine. His breath feels warm. He nips my lip and laps up the small bead of blood he spills.

‘Dorian?’

‘Yes, poppet?’

‘After I got shot with the arrow when you and the others were waiting to fix me…’ I feel his body stiffen as I speak. ‘You guys said it was your nature to be drawn to witches like me. Like moths to a flame.’

‘I didn’t know you were listening when we were talking.’

‘You said,“We may be mated to the bitches, but I don’t have to be a slave to primal needs placed on me by fate.”.’ He holds my gaze. It’s utterly unreadable. ‘What does that mean? Mated?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Please, Dorian? I feel like I’m surrounded by secrets and half-truths. What does Mated mean?’

He takes in a long breath and lets it out slowly.

‘We’re not mortals, Ashe. We’re not men, witches, or any of the creatures you may find in the swamps or mountains of this land. We’re creatures born from blood. Called into this world by Gods and Goddesses. My mistress was Hel. Goddess of the damned. Blood magic called me to the mortal world thousands of years ago, stealing me from her service. I swept across the land as a shadow. As death in the dark. A monster none could name. I could not even name myself. I was blind to rage and destruction, devoid of any consciousness beyond that. Until those same blood witches, generations apart, sealed me in the dead body of a murderous witch who slaughtered for pleasure. I had a vessel. But I was compelled to obey and adore those witches who freed me and made me flesh.’ He swallows uncomfortably. ‘I was trapped in the body of the murderous witch by a blood witch named Dhalia a little over forty years ago. She was-’

‘The blood Queen’s sister,’ I finish, almost too afraid to speak the words.

Again, he nods.

‘The way she trapped me meant I needed her blood to have access to my powers. To control the shadows. To make them do as I wanted or to keep them at bay. She commanded I kill. The more I killed, the more shadows I had. The more shadows, the more I needed her blood. It was as if she had a spell on me. I craved her. Her attention. Her approval. Her body. To be mated to something is to be stuck in their gravity. To need them. To have them fill your every waking moment.’

‘You felt like that with Dhalia?’ I ask.

I hate that he nods.

‘You killed her, though.’

‘I did,’ he replies. ‘I crushed her under stones enchanted with anti-magic. Beneath them, she was just a female. And her body broke just the same. It took a long time to get the strength toturn my back on her. To join the humans and to lead the armies against her. But I did.’ He shifts, pulling me deeper into him. ‘She was peace.’

‘Peace?’ I would use many words to describe the blood coven queen and her sisters. Peace would never be one of them.

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