Page 35 of Blood Lord

I hold her firmly against my body, rocking her softly. "There are enough supplies here in the cave until then. You have to know by now that there is nothing that can come between us. Nothing will keep me from you."

"So, you're just going to leave me here while you…what? What's your big plan?"

I almost don't tell her the truth. It's not the best laid plan, and I can see a lot of flaws in it. But I know how that has gone for us so far, so I decide that it's best to just explain it all to her and hope she doesn't worry.

"I have to appear before the Council. I'm hoping that when I tell them about the humans on the surface, it will cause such great excitement that I will be able to slip back out of our cavernous wildspont. There is a portal near our underground tunnels that will lead me back here."

"But the other guy said that he already told them of the humans."

I shake my head. "That scout knows nothing. His mission was to find me, and I doubt he would openly admit to the Council that he veered from that. Even if he had, he hasn't seen the sprawling city of Liiandor like I have. Trust me, they will be far more interested in what I have to say."

"And then what?" She prompts, always being too smart for me to slip anything by her. I was stupid for ever trying. "What happens after you come back here? Won't they come looking for you?"

"I'm going to take you, and we will fly somewhere so far from Liiandor it will take them ages to locate us. They'll be too wrapped up in what we've discovered, and even if they wanted to hunt us, they'd have to risk the dark elves discovering them."

"But you wouldn't?"

"No, I'd glamour us until we found a safe spot. It's a lot easier to find a safe spot than to discover the one in a million place that someone is hiding."

She quietly thinks about that, and I pull back to peer down at her face. Her eyes are staring straight ahead, and I can tell that she is turning over so many possibilities in her head. No wonder this girl ended up with a pretty sweet gig in a place that seems to undervalue humans.

"You said 'if all goes according to plan.' Why risk it? Leaving me here means that someone or something else could find me." Her eyes turn to me, sparkling with bright fierceness that makes me melt. "Why can't I just go underground with you?"

My whole body goes rigid at the thought of exposing her to so many vrakken who would want a taste. I immediately shake my head no. "Selene, you can't do that. Only vrakken go down there, and it would be so dangerous–"

She presses a palm to my chest, catching my attention as she interrupts. "You've had humans down there before. I know that the environment is safe for me. And if you are worried about the other vrakken, then why not tell them I'm one of you?"

My eyes trace down her form, and I bark out a laugh. "They'll know."

She arches an eyebrow. "All vrakken were once human, correct?"

"Well, yeah."

Selene gives me a smug smile. "So, there has to be a point after the Change where your body still has some human qualities, right? It's not like one bite and then suddenly, every molecule is changed. That can't be how it works."

I purse my lips. She's right. It takes a few years for the Change to really solidify. I can tell when someone has been Changed in the last few decades even. It's much like a human, watching a child age. The time that's elapsed is evident.

"I can tell I'm right," she teases. "So, if you had turned me only a few days before, it's reasonable that my blood, my scent, everything about me is still fairly human."

I don't love where this is going, but I nod.

"Then." She pushes up on her knees so we are nearly eye to eye. "Instead of leaving me here to get attacked or starve to death when you don't return, take me with me. Say I am newly Changed."

I grin because Selene makes a good point. Knowing so little, she still came up with a better plan than I. I shake my head as I smile, amazed at just how smart this girl is.

I just have to hope she can outsmart a cavern full of vrakken.

If not, it might just be the death of her.

20

Selene

Raziel just stares at me with a disbelieving grin, and the silence stretches between us. I can't tell if he thinks I'm brilliant or stupid, but I think it is our best option. I decide to continue to plead my case, desperately not wanting to be left alone in this cave to hope that he comes back.

"If you explain to me how to act when you are first Made, I can do it. I'm a performer." I give him my best show smile and bat my eyes. "Besides, I'm already so pale and have been spending next to no time in the sunlight." I grab his arm to show him our skin tones compared, and they are nearly identical. "Not much will need to be done to my appearance."

He runs his fingers through my pale hair. "This would give it away."

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