Dax looked into the mist.
“Yes.”
Veya waited.
“He never acted upon it,” Dax continued. “He would never have betrayed Sule or asked Leena for anything she had not freely given. His loyalty to both of them was absolute.”
“Did she know?”
“She knew he loved her. The clan knew. It was never discussed because there was nothing to discuss.”
Veya’s expression shifted.
“Then why did he save me?”
Dax shook his head.
“None of us knows. Rhen may not understand the decision himself.”
“He said I was dying.”
“You were.”
“That explains when he did it, not why.”
“No,” Dax said. “It does not.”
Veya looked across the tangled garden.
“Could the tether have been deliberate?”
“Rhen hates any connection he cannot control. As far as we know, the tether was a consequence of giving you his blood, not the purpose.”
Her arms tightened around herself.
“What exactly did his blood do?”
Dax leaned back against the bench.
“There are vampires born through bloodlines and vampires made from humans. A made vampire is created when vampire blood takes hold inside a dying human body. The transformation rebuilds what it can, but not every body survives the process.”
Veya looked down at her pale hands.
“And I did.”
“Yes.”
“Did Rhen know I would?”
“He knew there was a chance. I doubt he knew anything with certainty on that road.”
She remained quiet for a moment.
“What are you?”
“Rhen, Cole, Malakai, and I belong to Sule’s original sired line. His blood created us directly.”
“So you were human once?”
