Page 115 of Night's Reckoning
Zhang lifted his chin, and Ben felt immediately humbled.
He looked down, but he didn’t regret asking the question. “I need to know.”
“No, youwantto know. You will learn the difference between need and want when you train with me.”
Ben forced his eyes up to Zhang’s. “Fine. I want to know.”
Zhang’s eyes softened a fraction. “You have a strong spirit. And someday I may tell you, but not tonight. Right now everything in your mind and body has been pushed to the limit. You need to feed.”
As if on command, the quiet vampire who had been waiting on them appeared at the door with a large goblet of fresh blood.
“You will learn to drink from the vein in time,” Zhang said. “For now, a cup will do.”
He felt like a child with a sippy cup, and yet he didn’t care. As soon as the vampire entered the room, all Ben could think about was the blood he carried.
Ben tipped the goblet back and drank the blood down as if he’d just found an oasis in the desert. He drank every drop and had to restrain himself from licking the goblet.
“Tai will get you more blood.” Zhang waved for Tai to leave the room. “He will also be accompanying us to Khentii.”
“But he’s not your son?”
“No. Tai is the son of an old rival.”
“What happened to his sire?”
“I killed him.”
Ben wasn’t shocked. “So now Tai works for you?”
“Trust me, he is quite grateful.”
Zhang could have been telling the truth. Some sires were horrible to their children, though Zhang didn’t appear to be with Ben. Was it because he was Giovanni’s nephew? Or was it because Zhang, like the rest of the vampire world, somehow thought Ben belonged to Tenzin?
Zhang poured more tea in his cup and Ben’s. “You may not realize it, but you are showing admirable restraint for a newborn.”
“Thank you.”
Zhang angled his head to the side and examined Ben’s neck. “Ah.”
“Ah?”
Zhang looked at Ben but said nothing else.
Ben realized what Zhang was seeing. He hadn’t really looked in the mirror after seeing his eyes because he was avoiding his own face, but his new sire likely saw the marks Tenzin had left in his neck.
Awkward.
Ben pulled the collar of his zhiduo up. “When do we leave for Khentii?” Ben had the crazy wish that maybe he and Zhang could sneak away before Tenzin thought about finding him again. Maybe he could be the one to disappear this time. He could feel her at a distance—he didn’t know how—and he sensed she was impatient.
That might have been her blood, or it could have just been that he knew her. Tenzin was always impatient.
Zhang said, “I am glad to know you are eager for this journey, but we will not leave Penglai until the matter of the Laylat al Hisab is finished.”
That fucking sword.
Ben sipped his tea. “I saw it. It was on the ship.”
Zhang’s eyes gleamed. “So my daughter told me. What did it look like?”
