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“What does that even mean? Whose blood?”
“It’s an outdated practice. Most mages find blood magic to be barbaric. It requires a sacrifice—blood, which I’m sure you could’ve guessed. Not only that, but typically when magic is bound in blood, the spell or enchantment wears off in death. Whoever sealed these doors must’ve had a lot of expertise to keep them intact after death.”
“Or they’re still alive?”
She shook her head. “I doubt it. You said you read about the tunnels somewhere?”
“Yes, in an old war strategy book from Renoa. Our soldiers came across them during the Battle of Endless Night.”
She frowned. “That was over a hundred years ago. There’s no way this mage is still living.”
“So then how would we open it?”
“Blood of an heir would be the next best thing.”
Emilie closed the journal again and flipped it over. On the back, a name was engraved. “Remi Lemaire.”
I groaned as soon as she spoke the name.
“What is it?”
“Lemaire…that’s Reyna’s surname.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m afraid I am.”
Emilie stared into space for a few moments, weighing our options. “Well, I guess we’ll need to get a sample of her blood.”
I huffed a laugh. “You’ve actually lost your mind. How do you propose we do that? Walk up to her and give her a bloody nose? That’ll go over well.”
Emilie fidgeted. “Maybe…during one of your encounters.”
My jaw dropped open before she continued.
“If you could…I don’t know…bite her or something. Make it appear as if it were in the moment.” She froze when she saw the look of indignation on my face. “Never mind. Forget I said anything. There’s got to be another way to open them.”
It took a moment to regain my motor skills. To absorb what she’d said…what she’d suggested. As much as the idea horrified me, she was on to something. It was likely the best way to take a small amount of blood from Reyna without her giving it much thought.
I didn’t even want to think about how Emilie came up with the idea. Had someone done that to her in the past? Suddenly, my head was filled with images of me biting Emilie’s shoulder while she pleaded in my ear.
I sighed.
“You’re right. How much blood do we need?”
Her face brightened. “Just a few drops. Enough to spread over the runes.”
“And where will I be putting these drops?”
She looked around the room and then navigated to the cabinets. She opened the top drawer, rummaged around for a few seconds, and then opened the middle one. After digging through the junk, she excitedly pulled out a small ink vial.
She opened it and tipped it upside down, not bothering where its contents landed.
“Emilie,” I gasped.
She shrugged, but only a few drops emptied from the vial. “It was almost empty.”
“If we’re forced to scrub that stain in a few days, I’m blaming you.”
