I liked her already.
My headache faded away slowly, and soon, I was able to open my eyes and see them. There was no one else in the room, which I was grateful for. The three of them stood and stared with bated breaths. Severin was the first to move closer. “How do you feel now?”
I must have imagined the endearment before, maybe I had been too out of it and started hearing things.
“Better,” I replied, giving him a soft smile. I felt a tad embarrassed over fainting. I had never fainted before from a feeding, or ever really.
Severin’s relief was obvious. His smile, blinding as he tentatively stroked my hair away from my eyes. Okay, I wasstillin the ‘am-I-imagining-this-shit-or-not’ zone.
“Do you know why you fainted?” Peter asked, ignoring Severin’s glare.
Shaking my head, I winced at the painit brought forward.
“How do you normally feel after a feeding?” the woman I thought to be Dina asked.
“Normal,” I replied. “But they drank from my wrist.”
“So, you never fed them from your neck?” she asked.
“No.”
She sent a glare at Severin. “Perhaps feeding from the wrist would’ve been theappropriatething todo.”
Severin glared right back at her. “I needed to feed from his neck, Dina. I had no control over my body. I told you this!”
So, she was Dina, the Castle Boss. She was also a witch. Witches recognized witches, meaning she knew I was one too.
“Can I have a word with Dina? Alone?” I interrupted, needing to beg for her silence.
I could tell Severin wanted to argue, but Peter simply dragged him out of the room. He closed it behind them. With them gone, Dina sat down on a chair next to my bed. “Remember they can hear everything, hon.” I gave her a smile at that, then mimed writing. She hurried over to my dresser where someone—likely Severin—had placed my notebook. She handed it over along with a pen and I sat up and began to write.
Don’t tell them what I am. Please.
“Oh, hon. Of course. May I ask why?”
I nodded then wrote.
I take some potions to do what I do. I would prefer no one knew about it.
This time she frowned and took the pen and wrote.
I need to know more about these potions.
“Okay,” I replied, out loud. “When, where?”
She called out. “Peter? Take Severin out of earshot and wait for me to text you.”
Her phone dinged, so she pulled it out of her pants and nodded. “They are too far away to overhear. Tell me.” I had to believe her interest in the potions was because she felt territorial over Severin. Wanting to keep him safe. I could only tell her the truth, hoping I could trust her. I felt like I needed to, fainting wasn’t normal and now I feared I’d done something that could potentially hurt me.
I decided to just let it out quickly. “I make potions that cause my blood to taste better.”
“That’s it?” she asked after a beat of silence, like she somehow expected more.
I blinked. “I dab a potion onto my skin to enhance my scent, too.”
“But those things shouldn’t have caused you to faint from a feeding. Does the potion you drink contain other abilities than to sweeten your blood?”
“No,” I replied. “I still have no clue why I fainted. Only that Severin had either taken too much, or because it was from my neck.”
