“After Severin fed from me,” I say, and my words immediately catch Poppy’s attention, causing her to turn and meet my eyes, “something... changed.”
She tucks a wispy strand of hair behind her ear. “Between you and him?”
I shake my head. “No. Well, yes, but in a good way. But that’s not what I mean.”
Her eyes narrow. I’m obviously not making any sense.
“I mean something changedinsideme. The shift in energy you’re talking about. Did it happen after he drank from me?”
Poppy seems to consider it. “I think it started before, but yeah, now that you mention it, the biggest shift I felt was afterward. What does it feel like? The change in you?”
I hold my mittened hand up to my chest, pressing it to the spot where I feel the warmth stirring. “It’s like there’s this thread between me and Severin now. Not in a bad way, but it’s there.” I think back to the evening I snuck into the staff wing, the ease with which I was able to find Severin’s apartment,even without ever having been there before. “I think I’m connected to him in some way.”
“Like Alina and Raelan’s mate bond?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I’m not sure how theirs works, but I canfeelhim. Even now, if I were to focus, I’m pretty sure I could find exactly where he is on campus.”
Poppy’s eyebrows arch in surprise. “That sounds like more than just a thread. That sounds like a bond.”
“Have you ever heard of something like this before? With vampires, I mean?”
Poppy nibbles her lip again, then shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. Vampires don’t have magic the way shifters do, so they don’t create mate bonds. And even though a vampire might feel a connection after a feed, since they have another’s blood inside them, I’ve never heard of it happening the other way around.”
I try not to let the disappointment show on my face, but I’m pretty sure Poppy picks up on it anyway.
“Sorry, Maeve. I could help you research it though. We might be able to find something.”
“Thanks, Pops. That would be—”
My chest squeezes uncomfortably, the thread inside me going taut. Without warning, a feeling of unease comes over me, tinged with an undercurrent of fear. My magic leaps in response, and a current of electricity zaps across my skin.
For a moment, I look around, as if my body has become aware of something that I’ve not. But all I see is blue sky and frost-covered hedges and Poppy beside me.
Then I realize something: It’s notmyfear and unease that I’m feeling; it’s Severin’s. The certainty is immediate.
Something’s wrong.The thought hits me hard.
I stand abruptly, and Poppy blinks up at me, looking startled. “Wh-what is it?”
“I need to go find him. Now.” I look left and right, at the two pathways back into the maze. “I think something’s wrong. Can you show me how to get out of here?”
“Of course.” Poppy quickly packs the thermos into her bag, and then we set back off through the maze, this time with my heart beating a little faster in my chest as I follow behind her.
The thread pulls at me, steady and insistent, urging me along.
I’m coming, I think, trying to send my thought out to Severin, though I know that’s not how this works—whateverthisis.
The fear pulsing through the bond doesn’t waver; if anything, it feels like it’s settling in, digging its claws deeper.
And as soon as Poppy leads me out of the Whim, I break into a run, letting the pull guide me.
Tohim.
Chapter 43
Severin
SINCE MY LAST FEEDING WITH Maeve the night she snuck into my staff apartment, nothing has been the same. I sleep when she sleeps and wake when she wakes, as if she’s now the clock with which I keep time. I feel her inside of me like she’s always just a breath away. And though there is comfort in it, I know something’s wrong.
