Page 5 of A Bloodline Redeemed

I wanted to go to him, even now.Wrap my arms around the necromancer and try to ease some of his pain.Or ask him to ease my own, maybe.I wasn’t sure.All I knew was that the pull between us continued, despite his telling me I was nothing more than a puppet to him, another responsibility that just so happened to have unwanted feelings for him.

Niamh set a tumbler of whiskey on the end table near the couch for me.Then she tossed back the entire contents of her own tumbler and set it aside.Taking a glass to Dyre, she stared up at him impatiently until he copied her, downing the drink in one go.

“Thanks,” he rumbled out, his deep voice roughened from the combination of grief and alcohol.

Niamh took his tumbler and set it aside, then lifted an eyebrow at him.“If you need a hug, you should ask one of your boyfriends,” she said flatly.

Dyre snorted at her and gave her a haughty look.“What kind of nonsense are you spouting now, fae?Do Ilooklike I need a hug to you?”

She shook her head.“Idiot,” she muttered.My eyes widened when she stepped forward and pulled the lanky necromancer down into a fierce embrace.I was even more shocked when Dyre wrapped his arms around her without more than a second’s hesitation.

I was completely at a loss.If Dyre and Niamh were hugging, the world must be ending.Maybe this was all just a bizarre dream and nothing that had happened in the last few hours was real.

Ambrose strolled into the room with a tray of tea things balanced effortlessly on one hand.“Pardon,” he said lightly as he stepped around Niamh and Dyre, as if seeing them embrace was an everyday thing.

The two of them released each other and stepped away, like they were both as shocked by their affection for each other as I was.“That was fast,” Niamh said to Ambrose as she went to take a seat in an overstuffed chair to my right.

Ambrose smiled, revealing his gray shark teeth.“Magic,” he intoned, wiggling his fingers like a human playing magician at a child’s birthday party.

Dyre snorted, crossing his arms over his lean chest and staring down his long nose at his lover.“What sort of drugs are in it?”

Ambrose straightened from where he had been pouring tea like a professional butler, the image reinforced by his graceful movements and the black suit he always wore.Pressing a hand over his heart, he looked at Dyre in mock offense.“Are you accusing me of trying topoisonyou?Have you no trust in me?I’m wounded.”

Dyre just arched one red brow and didn’t speak.

“Oh, fine,” Ambrose huffed.“Just a mild sedative blend.The one Zhong uses on us whenever something awful happens around here.Other than that, it’s simply green tea.”

Dyre reluctantly accepted his cup of tea and went to hitch a hip against the minibar while Ambrose doled out cups to the rest of us.“In all seriousness,” the boogeyman said, glancing around the room at each of us.“It won’t take away the pain.But it might help us survive it for now.”

With that, he took a deep drink from his own cup and let out a tired sigh, taking the chair opposite Niamh, so the three of us sat around the coffee table with the tea tray between us.

I dutifully sipped my tea, craving the effects of the sedative, but not entirely sure it would even work on me.This new body of mine came with different rules than the old one.I was resistant to some things and overly reactive to others.One more reminder that I wasn’t truly alive.Or at least, not in the way the others were.

My gaze traveled to Dyre again, drawn back to him like always.My creator.My unwillingmaster,I supposed.He still looked completely unconcerned, his arresting face smooth and empty of expression while the others wore expressions of deep weariness.I rubbed at the ache in my chest that would not go away, and noticed that Dyre was rubbing the exact same spot as he sipped his tea and stared off into space.

Oh.

I dropped my hand and tore my eyes away from him as I silently felt along the tether between us.I tried to leave it alone.To ignore the connection, ever since he told me what he thought of my feelings for him.But this time, I couldn’t help myself.I touched on the thread that tied my life—and my energy—to his.The pain and sadness that washed over me was overwhelming.And it was flavored with something else… regret, maybe?Was he blaming himself for Hasumi’s death?

I pulled away from the forbidden glimpse into Dyre’s feelings and flicked a glance his way once more.Of course he would blame himself.Healwaysblamed himself for anything bad that happened.I shook my head and drank some more of my tea.

“Hasumi was a beautiful soul,” I found myself saying into the quiet room.

Ambrose nodded, a sad smile flitting across his face.“They were.Better than any of us deserved.”

Niamh was staring into her teacup, but she nodded slightly.Dyre closed his eyes and stayed that way, as if fighting to contain whatever he was feeling.

It only occurred to me then… that all of them had been romantically involved with the water weaver.I had seen Ambrose and Hasumi kiss or share a touch now and then, after a certain night when they disappeared with Andy.And I had walked in on Niamh, Dyre, Andy, and Hasumi in the library.Gods… had it been only yesterday?It felt like a year had passed since then.

I suddenly felt out of place, as if their grief was something intimate that I shouldn’t be witnessing.I tossed back the rest of my tea and set the cup aside, next to my untouched whiskey.I needed to leave.

“Elijah,” Ambrose murmured, and I felt his dark power caressing the edges of my aura.“It’s okay.”

I shook my head.Nothing was okay.Was he insane?

He sighed.“Well, it’s not okay.But I can feel the sudden spike of ugly emotions you’re putting off, angel dear.Take a deep breath.”

I felt like a cornered animal all of the sudden.A prey animal, surrounded by the sharp gazes of stronger predators, as Niamh and Dyre looked at me like I had lost my mind.I looked away, sliding forward on the couch to rest my elbows on my knees and gaze at the floor.I wanted to deny that anything was wrong.But I knew Ambrose wasn’t lying.He could sense all the dark, twisted up feelings inside me.It was embarrassing.We hadalllost someone we cared for.The three of them had lost alover.And yet it was me who was drawing attention to myself with my spiraling thoughts.

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