Page 39 of Ravenous

Arctos—ice-cold, growl-voiced, bearlike—regarded her in silence, earning his name. But beneath layers of frost, she sensed something steadier. Decent even. He might hate her, but he hadn’t harmed her when she was vulnerable.

And if he was decent, then that meant she’d brought unwanted strife to someone who didn’t deserve it. “I don’t hate you,” she said.

He blinked. “Pardon?”

“You said ‘an unconscious woman who hates me.’ But I don’t. I feel sorry for you.”

With a glower, he turned to go.

“Wait!” She took a step.Wrong words to a proud male!She was out of her element, had rarely interacted with people whoshouldbe proud. “I mean I feel awful that this has happened to you.” She’d never been good at apologies. Or timing.

After a beat, he turned back to face her.

“Think about it. We’ve both suffered the same injustice: our rulers decreed fates neither of us wanted. I know how galling this must be for you, and I’m sorry for my part in it.”I’m the creepy, wrong one.

“If my ruler wants something, then I do too,” he said, steel in his words. “It’s that simple.”

“One day you’ll have to tell me why you’re so loyal to Yrsa.”

He quietly said, “One day?”

She blew out a breath. “You’re still hinting I won’t be around? Just when I’d decided you might be decent…”

“You almost died from soup. I despair of your odds, leechling. In any case, I was talking about your leaving.”

“Am I leaving?”

“It’s inevitable. If you’re not working for your kind, you’ll still want to be among them. Or at least among others who don’t hate vampires as we do.”

“I do want to find the ones who’ve struck out from Bloodreach.” Books had hinted at outlier vampires, the last of the warriors and scholars. Maybe she could make a life with them. “If you help me learn how to defend myself, I’ll go the minute I can regenerate. You’ll be free to be with your mate or anyone else who wants you.” And Lia would be free to survive.

Her mind snagged on Nadje and on the castle Lia had left burning behind her. Was Nadje safe? Or had the price of help already come due?

“To where would you go?” Arctos asked.

“Umber. Land of outcasts.”If the shoe fits…She would cross into Craigdúr and keep south until witchly woods gave way to shifter farms.

He shook his head. “It’s just as dangerous there for a lone vampire as any other territory. Smiles and festivals during the day, slaughter by night. Some of the shifter breeds would eat you. Many demonkin would hunt you for sport. You must have read about these things in your research.”

She had, but she’d hoped things hadevolvedsince those books had been written so long ago. “I’d stay disguised. If I don’t drink blood or fear sunlight, no one will suspect what I am.”

“You dream, girl. Besides, none of those concerns matter. Your new queen ordered you to remain and to train. Crossing her is treason. Mind your tongue.”

Lia drew herself up, meeting his frostbitten stare as she swallowed a dozen arguments. The fire popped, sparks leaping like the defiance she buried. For now. Forcing a wry smile, she said, “If treason’s off the menu, then why am I not running?”

Chapter 17Meera

“Have you lost your mind?” she hissed as she dragged the hooded male into her home before any of her neighbors could see. The door thudded shut, muting the whispering forest beyond.

A male. In her home.

In the Witchwood.

Outside of the mating season.

Unthinkable. The Riders had only just slipped out her back door, and now this?

If any neighbor glimpsed his silhouette and ran to Ditch, Meera would be made an example of before midnight tolled.