Page 59 of Vervain

I sigh.

His hands tighten on my flesh. “Remember I spoke of my fears when we were in the feeding ground?”

I grunt.

“When I heard your heartbeat sputter tonight, I was fucking afraid.”

Pinching my brows together, I rest my head against his chest, any words I might have spoken becoming inky streams instead.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

PENUMBRA

Saya Claymore

I wake with a heavy smog thick in my mind. Sitting up in bed, I blink slowly to take in the room. A familiar harp sits in the centre, and the faint glow of lanterns moving through the city streams in through the window, lighting the hardwood flooring. Everything else is in shadow.

After another slow blink, I snap my focus to the darkest corner of the room. The light should reach it, but the blackness there is thick, dripping with shadows. Inside, two red eyes observe me. “Evening,” Serun says.

The shadows thin, clinging to his body until he is more than a creature born from twilight. He holds an empty blood bag in one hand, and the canned fruit in the other. Setting the fruit on the dresser, he raises the drained blood bag in offering. “I assume you want answers?”

My hands tighten on the luxurious bedsheets. With a simple nod, I say, “I have a few.”

A hint of a smile emerges for a moment before he becomes serious and inclines his head. “Your blood has been entering the Undercity for a while. Most of the blood from the feeding grounds do.” Serun pushes off from the wall and enters the light. “However, I found out about you four months ago—your blood, that is.” Pearly red eyes narrow as he says, “Tasted it. Or, I suppose, I tasted something similar.”

“And that’s why you entered Darkovish Feeding Ground, because you wanted to learn why I tasted different?”

“It was vegodian blood. So, yes.”

“Keep going.”

Serun sits on the edge of the bed, and I tuck my legs up as he places the blood bag between us. “To keep others from learning of you, Maeve ensured all of your blood was sent to my manor.”

“And do you…drink it?”

“Not since I left the Undercity to learn more about you.” Crimson eyes settle on the blood bag before lifting to connect with mine. “I haven’t touched it since returning. I will throw it out, so you know I’m not taking anything you don’t freely offer.”

My fingers curl around the hem of the dress. “You aren’t bothered that I took one and gave it to Olivia?”

Serun tilts his head and smirks. “I didn’t know…”

Fuck.

“But indulge me a little. Why would I be mad?”

“Because I took from you.”

He leans in, a hint of floral decay on his breath. “Anger over this would not be justified.” Serun’s focus shifts to my mouth, then away as he rises. “I’ve learned a lot from books since your arrival. Humans enjoy communication, so I am doing my best to do just that.”

So that’s what he was reading.

“Well, sadly, you’re already doing better than most…”

“You mean your not-lover.”

“Among others,” I say, my thumb running up and down the palm of my hand. “The other night, before we were interrupted…Did you want that with me? Or did you do it out of obligation because of the situation I was in with my magik?”

He shrugs his right shoulder. “You needed something to pull you back from the fear.”