Page 50 of The Midnight Order
His laugh is loud and moves through the room like thunder. “He’s dark and prickly, but he wouldn’t hurt a hair on your head. Your ass, maybe.”
I can’t help the smirk that tugs my lips up. “How will you test me?”
“The same way Asher did, just without taking your vein.”
My entire body heats in a flash at the idea of what happened in the dungeon, and Jasper shifts.
Lifting my wrist, I ask, “You could just take a little.”
“My venom would dose you and drive this entire manor wild. We’ve been tormented enough tonight.”
I look at my wrist longingly, wondering momentarily who the hell I am that I even offered myself up.
“Or do you want me to test you that way?” His husky tone makes another shiver move up the highway of my spine, and I let it pass.
“I—”
“Before you try to backtrack or lie, let me tell you something. We know when you’re not being honest. We can hear your heartbeat and sense your untruths like we told the lie ourselves.”
“Good to know,” I reply shakily.
His hands are massive as they reach for one of mine, grasping it inside of them and turning it over. It’s as if he’s considering my offer silently as I let the implication of it sink into my brain deeper.
“I haven’t had human blood from the vein in a very long time.”
“How old are you?”
“I was in my thirties when the bubonic plague ravaged England and Scotland before I traveled here. Well, my vessel wasn’t meant for here.”
Just like Corvin, his eyes seem far away as he remembers a time long past.
“When was that?”
“1605.”
His answer nearly shocks the hell out of me.
“You’re… what age does that make you?”
“Four hundred and twenty, give or take a few years.”
I swallow. “Wow.”
“Does that mean you’re impressed, or does thatwowmean you think I’m old?”
“Both?!” I squeak.
His low chuckle draws me back to the reality where he’s still holding my hand in his.
“You all have seen so much.”
“We’ve lived nearly a century here in Thorngray, cursed.”
The weight of his admission saddens me. They’ve been looking for a way out of this place for a hundred years. I can’t imagine the desperation of that hanging over them.
Hence, how they’d turned the townsfolk into their own personal detectors.
“To help you, I have to lose my entire life,” I realize out loud, taking my hand back from Jasper.
