“They’re not,” I snapped. “Their hearts beat like any mage’s.”
“Okay, okay,” Isabella said, holding up her hands defensively.
I grunted, unsure why I was defending them against a factiously mythical creature.
“So, if I attacked you and started drinking your blood, would I be a blood mage?” Isabella asked, baring her teeth at me.
I shook my head. “It doesn’t sound that simple, but I still don’t understand it.”
Roslyn was sitting on her bed; her knees pulled to her chest, far less enthused by this conversation than Isabella was.
“What is it, Ros?” I asked.
She shook her head as if she were somewhere else in her mind. “I should have taken it more seriously in the beginning.”
“Taken what more seriously?” Isabella asked, pausing at Roslyn’s serious tone.
“When you and Saryna were attacked, everyone knew what Malakai was doing,” she said. “It is called blood play—a lot of idiotic mages do it in The Falls with no real intention of ever awakening the affinity for blood. But we underestimated Malakai.”
“I don’t understand,” I asked, shifting on the cushion of the window seat. “He did it? He awakened the blood affinity?”
Roslyn nodded, looking more pale than usual.
“But how? I don’t get it,” I said.
“First, you must understand the appeal—drinking blood gives a mage a high, especially blood with high spiritual energy. Some humans have more than others, and mages are far higher and coveted by blood mages. Drinking blood gives them incredible power, especially a mage’s blood, but it comes at a price. Mages from the Falls see how powerful blood mages become, but they are enslaved to their power, and their power is controlled by the crown through the Mandate of Alnir. It keeps the power structure under control.
“Still, impressionable mages enjoy dabbling in blood play, such as Malakai and his idiotic friends,” she said. “That is what we thought he was doing. None of us would have suspected he had real intent to become a blood mage.”
I frowned. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Blood mages are powerful and usually bound somehow and used to do another’s bidding. Freedom is sacrificed when this path is taken,” she said. “Malakai is a lord’s son. He had a life of luxury. But there is something else.”
“What?” Isabella whispered.
“The further your bloodline is from the God of Fire, Daemon, the harder it is to awaken the blood affinity. Anyone outside of the royal line would have to awaken a long-dormant gene within them,” she said. “To do that, he would have to consume an enormous amount of blood. The cost of that much blood would be paid in lives—by the dozens.”
I stared at her, my jaw slack and my throat tight.
“But what does that mean for the royal line?” I whispered. “Why are they different?”
Roslyn frowned. “For someone closely descended from Alnir, the son of Daemon, the gene is far from dormant. It would not take nearly as much for them to awaken the blood affinity.”
I bit my lip as my heart started thundering in my chest.
“How much, Roslyn?” I whispered.
“But a sip,” she said, casting me a grim look.
Discomfort hit me like a harsh wind.
Blake.
Chapter 37
Sovereigns, Legends and Dragons
ANNA
