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He chuckled sardonically. “How wrong you are.” He sat at the end of my bed. “You visited the titan in your dream walk last night?”
I didn’t ask how he knew I’d been dream walking. As he said, at one point in my life, he knew everything about me, and some things don’t change. “I met with his soul pair.”
“She survived the transference of witches? That's good.”
I frowned. “You didn’t know if she’d survive?”
“I was able to tie their threads together temporarily, but hers was fading. She needed a new witch immediately.” There was a brief silence. “I can see it, you know.”
“See what?”
“The stirrings of a love thread. You’re connected to her.”
I scrubbed my face with my hands and sighed. “I drank from her to form a temporary connection. It’s certainly not a love bond.”
“You bit her? How was her blood?” he asked in a teasing tone.
His question surprised me, and I glanced up to see him smiling with eagerness. “Why would you ask that?”
“Your mother used to say our blood was like sunshine.”
My mother. Their soulmate. I knew what he was inferring.
His wide grin and fluttering hands preempted the explosion of happiness. He jumped to his feet. “Baelen, my boy, this is such wonderful news. You must bring them here immediately. Bond them.”
I held up my hand and closed my eyes. “She isn’t my soul mate.”
“Of course she isn’t.” I relaxed at his agreement until he continued, “Her soul is shared. If you bite the titan, you will find him equally as delicious.”
I shook my head. “If this were true, why wouldn’t Darshaw have mentioned anything about it?”
“You know why. The akari stopped feeding from a source when their population boomed thousands of years ago. Livestock feeds you everything, so there’s no need to drink from anyone.” He looked almost disappointed I hadn’t figured that out, but my mind was whirling.
“I must prepare. There should be a feast, we haven’t had one of those in years, and it will be so nice to be in the presence of powerful love threads—”
He was walking away, talking to himself gleeful mania overtaking him when I stopped him. “Father.” He turned back. “Do not tell the others of your suspicions.”
“But—”
“If you love me, you will do me this small favor.” He frowned. “I’d like to introduce … my soul mates to you all on my terms.” I choked on the words and swallowed thickly.
It’s not true. But I need him to believe me, to keep it to himself until I know more.
His grin was wide as he said, “As you wish, my boy.”
* * *
Later,while chugging many glasses of blood in the hope it would speed up my recovery, I thought about Clawdia. The cold, tasteless animal blood used to satisfy me. But it tasted like swill in comparison to the tantalizing delicacy that was my sunlight. I didn’t think I would ever desire anything else. I was ruined.
Perhaps it’s not out of the realm of possibility—I cut the thought off before it could grow. Soul mates were not something I wanted to consider right now.
I leaned against the wooden cabinets in the kitchens, sipping the bland blood as Charos walked in.
He glared at the glass in my hand. “Help yourself.”
“No one else is going to drink it.”
I would never admit aloud that I was most like Charos. Our tempers were equally matched, our powers as dark as our hair. But because we were so alike, we could trigger each other’s temper easily.
