After a mile or so, I used the sharpened edges of the turreted keep to guide my way until I came to a stone wall that bordered Stellara’s land. I followed it until I found a crumbled edge just short enough to crawl over. Then I made my way to the front entrance of Erzos’s keep.
At the imposing, black arched doors, I raised my cold fist to knock but then thought better of it. Kythel likely wouldn’t be near enough to answer, and I didn’t need to be turned away by a bewildered, suspicious keeper. Instead, I went around the side of the keep, looking for windows that were still lit at this late hour. He was awake. I knew he was.
The north wing of the keep was glowing, illuminated like a star from within. There was one window, one that took up almost an entire wall, with a view out to Stellara. Inside, I saw a shadow move. I recognized the flicker of a hearth. My teeth were chattering, my hands numb.
Taking a deep breath, I shouted, “Kythel!”
My voice echoed in the cold night, jarringly loud, even against the rain.
A figure appeared in the window. Nerves crept up in my chest, the first emotion I’d felt since Lesana’s office, banishing the strange numbness that had taken hold.
The window was pushed open, and I saw wings flare once he stepped out on the balcony. He shot down, tilting the wide expanse of those wings until he was barreling straight at me.
Kythel landed with a grim expression, his gaze raking over me, before I was swept up into his arms and he was launching us back up to the open window.
The first touch of warmth sank into my chilled bones when we were inside the room—an office, I realized—and Kythel slammed the arched window closed. I was shaking. Violently.
“What in Raazos’s blood are you doing,sasiral?” he asked me, his tone angry but concerned, pressing his hand to my back to guide me to the fire. “You’re practically blue!”
“I-I need to as-ask you something,” I said. A steady trickle of water ran down my neck. My hair was soaked. Kythel tore at my tunic when I realized my clothes were sopping wet, my nipples so hard and tight they were painful.
“It can wait,” he growled, a grimly determined expression on his features. “I need to get you warm.”
The laces on my pants were loosened. Kythel tugged, and they sagged to my ankles. Next, he crouched, pulling at my boots. They made a wet squelch sound as he tossed them into a corner.
I was naked before I knew it, shivering as I met his blue eyes in shock.
“Sit by the fire,” he ordered me, snagging a nearby Halo orb that floated by. He tapped it, and it began to glow, radiating heat. Pressing it into my hands, he said, “Stay here.”
He left the office.
The warmth from the orbhurt. But my hands were so cold that it felt like needles were stabbing into my flesh. I clutched the orb tighter, crouching down near the fire. My muscles felt tight and tense. Every icy slide of water that dripped from my hair, down onto my shoulders, my chest, made me shake violently. My teeth chattered, but I was too cold to be embarrassed.
This had been reckless. I should’ve, at the very least, tucked my father’s cloak around me to keep most of the rain from soaking into my own clothes and boots.
Kythel returned. I couldn’t read his expression as he tossed a largehotblanket around my shoulders—one that smelled like him. I nearly gasped in relief, dropping the Halo orb to clutch it between my hands, wrapping it tight. Next he placed something small on the crown of my head. I heard a whistling rush and felt a pulsing wave reverberate down my skull. Water droplets flung away in all directions. Next came a wave of heat, and to my amazement, when I lifted my hand to the strands of my hair, it was completely dry.
My scalp tingled. Kythel lifted the small device away, tossing it onto the floor as he knelt next to me.
Warmth slowly thawed the freeze in my bones. And only when I stopped shivering, only when my teeth stopped clicking together and my toes didn’t feel like they were detached from my feet did I look over at him.
The office was quiet. Rain pelted the window. The fire cracked, especially when Kythel tapped into the Halo screen and increased the flame size.
He’d been with Lyris of House Arada tonight. He’d kissed me outside RaanaDyaan—an angry, passionate, consuming kiss that I’d craved. My reality had been upended since I’d last seen him, even though it had been mere hours earlier.
“I’m okay now,” I informed him quietly. “Thank you.”
“What in Raazos’s blood possessed you to come here tonight?” he asked me, his voice low. It would have sounded comforting, soothing if I didn’t hear the hint of a sharpened edge to it. “In this storm?”
Exhaustion mingled with my nerves. But I needed to ask the question, even if it ruined everything between us. I hated being this person, but it would be a transaction, wouldn’t it? He would get what he wanted. I would get what I wanted.
“Did you mean it?” I asked. “When you said you wanted me as your blood giver?”
Immediately, his whole body stilled. Those blue-jewel eyes fastened on me with an intense scrutiny that made me feel like squirming in place.
I clutched the blanket tighter, drawing it around myself like it was armor.
“You told me to name my price,” I continued when he said nothing. Doubt began to creep into me, making me feel a little sick. “Does your offer still stand? Or have you changed your mind?”
