Page 105 of Ravenous

More…evolved.

Thane’s gaze searched Lowell’s face, waiting for his reply.

Lowell swallowed the protest and forced a nod. “Of course. If that’s your will.”

He could make it a week.

Hecould.

Outside, the castle’s battlements blazed with dying light and sea spray. Lowell crossed the courtyard, boots echoing on wet stone, the scent of the Witchwood drifting faintly on the wind—moss, smoke, a whisper of her skin. His pulse thudded harder with every breath.

He told himself to turn toward his office. Toward duty.

Instead, he prowled the castle, mentally charting the path to her through the dark.

A week, he thought grimly.I’ll never last one night.

Chapter 41Lia

Twenty-three days till the Hunter’s Moon

“I have something to tell you,” Arctos said over dinner.

They were cozy at their table as the hearth fire burned, a cocoon against the cold and snow. Firelight shifted over his scarred face, making it difficult to read him—too many shadows, too many ways he hid behind them.

Lia kept her tone light. “Oh?” In Ravinelun, this could mean anything from good news to imminent death. Ravinelun loved its range.

She’d been sitting on her own confession of fangache. But she hovered at the edge of friendship with Arctos—something precious and precarious—and wanted nothing to get in the way.

Her thirst had vanished as quickly as it came, and that night she’d been out of her head from a bear attack and near drowning. And from the vodka!

Of course things had gone awry inside her.

Since then, she hadn’t felt it again—not even a little—until she began to wonder if she’d imagined it.

If she wanted friendship, she had to prove she deserved it. A tiny lapse, a drunken fever dream…why drag it into the light?

Now she smiled faintly across the table. “What is it?”

“First, an update about your friend Nadje,” he said. “You’ll be pleased to know she’s safe and thriving. In fact, she has partnered with Inkletter. They smuggle now and do general mercenary duties.”

Lia’s jaw dropped. “Those two? Partners?” Truly, the Skein never lacked forirony. After everything between them? Betrayal, lies, manipulation.

“So I’m told. They sold information to a friend of mine that proved useful, so I’ve decided to give Inkletter a chance to redeem himself. He and Nadje will use their connections to comb the Skein for any vampires who don’t drink blood.”

Lia’s chest loosened. A little breath of hope. “That’s wonderful!” Maybe abstaining just took practice and willpower. Maybe she wasn’t innately a monster.

“Also,” he continued, “the clan is hosting a banquet on the night of the Hunter’s Moon. You’ll accompany me.”

Her fork clattered. “Can I?”

“You must.” A ghost of a smile. “It’s in your honor. To welcome you officially into the clan.”

“A banquet…for me?” The words trembled from her lips. Warmth surged through her—followed instantly by guilt, sharp and throbbing as a fangache.

He’d asked little of her. Only honesty. And she had given him almost enough.

“Dagny suggested it,” he added. “The queen approved.”