Page 47 of Taste of Death

“Um, sure.” I stared at Tavia, who shrugged. Her face gave no hints as to what her mate would want to talk tomeabout.

Was it over Novak? His texts sounded like he was starting to flirt with me and I was really eager to get back to my conversation with him. Blood ‘til Dawn couldn’t track my phone activity, could they?

I followed Cyan nervously to two armchairs at the farthest end of the room. He sat in one and gestured for me to take the other.

“So, what’s up?” I did my best to sound unbothered as I sat down across from him.

He said nothing for a few moments, which didn’t help my nerves at all. He just watched me with those sharp, red eyes. Brighter and a little eerier than Novak’s.

“How are you holding up?” Cyan asked finally.

“With what?”

He let out a soft chuckle. “Must be good, then. I just mean everything in general. The attack, coming to live here, all the adjustments afterward.”

“Oh, well… ”

My arms instinctively crossed over my stomach. Aside from seeing the Marrower after the ceremony, I only thought of the attack on Sapien when I saw my scars in the mirror.

Since meeting Novak, I felt like I had emerged from a fog. My first two weeks as a brusang were awful, but that almost felt like a different existence. I had been drowning in the grief of my human life, and Novak was my first real breath of fresh air. He made me feel like I could be okay as a brusang.

Now, how to explain it to Cyan without hearing another lecture like the one I got from Thorne?

“I’ve been holding up okay,” I said, giving him an earnest nod. “It was rough at first, but I think it’s sunk in now. And I’m just doing my best.”

“That’s good.” Cyan leaned back with a smile. “I’m glad to see you talking with Tavi again.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I wanted to pull you aside because we’re releasing the Marrowers who attacked Sapien.”

A bolt of panic hit me, and a clear memory of that day surfaced. Roaring monsters with yellow eyes and large lower fangs.

“You are?”

“Yes.” Cyan’s gaze weighed heavily on me. “They’ve detoxed from the draitrium, and we’ve confirmed that none were in their right minds at the time of the attack. Someone set them upon the settlement—none of them chose to do it. If you recognize any of them around the Heart, we’re confident that they would never intentionally hurt you.”

“Oh my God. Thorne mentioned they were drugged.”

“That’s correct.” Cyan sighed. “Now we’re tasked with helping on repairs and finding out who drugged them.” He lifted a hand. “That’s not something for you to worry about, though. I just wanted to make you aware those Marrowers are actually innocent.”

“You’re helping to repair Sapien?” I asked, an idea striking me like lightning.

“Yeah, the property damage was substantial. And we feel responsible, since our part of the Half-Century Agreement includes protecting the settlement from attacks.”

“Do you think… I could come?”

Cyan’s eyebrows lifted. “You want to come with us?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, that was my home. Plus, I’ve been wanting something to fill my time. I can mend fences, help clean up any debris, whatever you need.”

A sense of homesickness filled me. I hadn’t seen Sapien in over a month. I missed Robin, who was like a mother figure to me and Tavia. I missed the woods where we’d go foraging, the sounds of roosters crowing in the morning, the community kitchen and the smell of food cooking. I even missed the people, despite knowing few of them cared for me.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Amy,” Cyan said. “Tavia and I snuck you out of there, making them believe you’d heal better if you lived with your best friend. Have any of those humans even seen a brusang before?”

“I don’t know, probably not.” I shrugged. “But I am still human in a sense, right?”

“Yes.” The word was hesitant and drawn-out. “But also no. You’re not the same as you once were. And Sapien’s humans pride themselves onnotintegrating with vampires. Forgive me for saying this, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a brusang, but,” he looked uncomfortable, fangs digging into his lower lip, “you might be a littletoovampiric for them.”

---