Rhen held his wrist near her mouth without forcing it against her.
“Drink.”
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“No.”
“You can refuse me when your body stops destroying itself.”
“I don’t want—”
“I know.”
The answer was quiet and entirely without comfort.
Rhen’s blood touched her lower lip when another tremor forced her forward.
Her body reacted before her mind could intervene.
Both hands closed around his wrist, and she drank with a desperation that humiliated her even as relief began moving through her. The fire inside her veins changed shape, gradually losing its violent edge as Rhen’s blood steadied whatever the tether had torn open.
Dax remained close, watching Veya rather than Rhen.
He saw the pain recede from her face and the convulsions diminish, but he also saw the fury in her tears.
She was surviving again because her body had made another choice without her permission.
That knowledge would matter when the immediate danger passed.
Chapter 23
Firelight moved behind them, lengthening shadows across the shelves and balconies until the library resembled a cathedral built for monsters.
Rhen’s expression remained unchanged as Veya drank from him. His jaw stayed clenched, and his attention fixed somewhere beyond her, as though looking directly at her need would demand something he refused to give.
Dax watched both of them.
He wondered what kind of damage allowed a male to appear so cold while using his own blood to keep someone alive, although he already knew part of the answer. Rhen had buried everything beneath duty because duty did not ask him to feel.
The sounds of Veya swallowing, her rough habitual breathing, and the fire moving through the hearth filled the library.
Her shaking gradually eased.
The desperate pressure of her hands weakened around Rhen’s wrist, and her shoulders sagged as the violent pull inside her diminished. She remained attached for a moment longer than she intended, her body clinging to relief even while her mind recoiled from its source.
Then she released him.
Veya rested her head against the chaise. Her chest continued to rise and fall from habit, while exhaustion and humiliation settled over the relief in her expression.
Rhen drew back his wrist. The wound had already begun to close.
He placed a folded cloth in her hand.
“Clean your mouth.”
Veya’s fingers tightened around the fabric.
Rhen lowered his sleeve.
