“You don’t know what ‘mate’ means?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, of course I do, but the way you’re using it and Valen was using it—it clearly means something else to you.”
“You’re his Blood.” He shrugs a shoulder, his wing scraping against the wall.
I swallow hard. The only reference I have for that statement is what I know about Gregor’s bond with Theo. Given what’s happening to Gregor, I can’t chalk it up as a metaphor or a flowery way to describe love. It means something more, something that I’ve seen in the books in the library but have failed at translating. What Valen’s been calling me—kedves verem; it’s some sort of a blood blond.
“I’m a human. I can’t?—”
“Valen is half human. That doesn’t matter. What matters is you’re his mate. You two are bound. Your Blood is one.”
He says it so matter-of-factly, as if this is something vampires are taught from birth. Common knowledge.
“What does that even mean?”
He raises his brows and points at my chest. “You feel it. You can feel it right now. In there. In your heart, your blood.”
“Feel what?”
He peers at me. “Close your eyes.”
“Huh?”
“Close your eyes.” He has the nerve to sound exasperated.
“If this is a trick …” I glare at him, then slowly close my eyes.
“Now listen.”
I sit for a moment, but all I hear is nothing. Just my breathing. Druin is silent. “To what?”
“To your blood.”
“My blood doesn’t make a sou?—”
“Shh,” he hisses. “Justlisten.”
I shake my head but keep my mouth shut. And I sit. Slowly, I relax a little. My lower back against the higher step, one of my knees bent, the other leg straight. I think about a million things all at once, my thoughts never landing on any idea for too long. It’s like a chaotic slideshow in there, always has been.
“You’re not listening,” Druin chides.
“Shh!” I snipe back at him.
Then I settle even more. And I think about blood. About cells. About random bits of minutiae dealing with blood—the varieties, the rhesus, the types. Slowly, my thoughts quiet and I think about Valen. Not pulsing blood or white blood cells. I picture him, his eyes when they’re kind. When they see me. His touch. The sharp wit that cuts, the gentle touch that heals. My skin warms.
I sense something else.Someoneelse. I sense—determination. Not just a drive, but a force that can’t be stopped. A relentlessness that leaves me breathless. It’s Valen. He’s searching for Coal. I focus on that feeling, on the sensation that doesn’t spring from me. It’s alien. But it’s also familiar.
Awareness tingles along my skin. And then the feeling changes. To … interest. Something soft grazes along my cheek, a warm exhale, and I know—somehow Iknow—Valen can feel me.
“Valen?” I call out.
No one answers. No one is there. Still, I feel something. A reassurance. A warmth that permeates every cell until it’s like he’s with me. Wrapping me in his arms, nothing between us.Kedves verem.
I gasp and open my eyes. The sensation dims and fades.
“Now do you understand?” Druin asks.
I blink a few times. It’s as if I’d been under a veil. Or even underwater. “What was that?” I press a palm to my cheek. “What?—”
