“Oh, I don’t believe that for a heartbeat.”
“Well, you should.” Hagne punched him in the arm one last time before she headed toward the children.
Grimacing at the pain, Urian let out a fierce sigh. Damn, if it wasn’t his brothers beating his ass, it was one of his sisters. He couldn’t win for losing.
“Uri?”
Great … now it would be Tannis’s turn to have a go at him.
He couldn’t wait to see what he’d done to piss her off and how she’d retaliate as he headed back down the hallway.
His stomach tightened with every step until he reached the room where he’d left her. He put his shoulder against the door to push it open.
Tannis was inside, next to the bed.
Urian drew up short, confused by the scene. “You needed me?”
“Aye.” She jerked her chin toward Xanthia. “Do you know where her husband is?”
He lowered his voice to a whisper. “The humans killed him.”
Tannis winced in sympathetic pain and sighed heavily. “She’s weak and needs to feed. Have you any of your blood to spare for her, then?”
He had to force himself not to curl his lip, but Tannis was right. Xanthia was in no shape to feed the way an Apollite normally did. “I’ll see if any’s still fresh. It tends to go rancid fast.” That was the worst part about his father’s forced donations. They were only good for a few hours. Maybe a day, if he was lucky.
Urian left them and went into his room. He headed to the small stone chest where he stored his blood bladders and unsealed the most recent one.
Gingerly, he sniffed it.
Oh yeah, that was some foul shit there … not that it was ever particularly appealing. Blood chilled quickly once it left a body. Began to decay almost instantly. Within minutes, the metallic taste worsened.
After an hour, it was nauseating.
But beggars couldn’t be choosers. So he carried it to his sister and handed it over.
“It’s not much. She can have it all, though.” He was used to starving.
“Thank you.”
Inclining his head, Urian had barely reached the door when Xanthia began retching over the taste.
“You have to drink it,” Tannis insisted in that frustrated tone she normally reserved for him. “If you don’t, you’ll die.”
“I … I can’t!” She sobbed as she pushed it away and retched again.
He knew the feeling. It was definitely an acquired taste, and she was used to fresh blood.
Urian hesitated as he debated what to do. His sister was right. Without blood, Xanthia’s body wouldn’t heal, and she had children to feed. While they could take the blood of others, Apollite children usually preferred to feed from those they knew and were comfortable with rather than take blood from a stranger. Blood exchanges were up close and personal. Not something a young one wanted to do with someone they’d just met. That type of recklessness didn’t come along until puberty and accelerated hormones that craved getting laid by whatever was “handy.”
Children normally only wanted their parents to hold them while they fed, especially since they tended to drift to sleep right after.
Nephele and Geras had lost one parent tonight. They couldn’t afford to lose another.
Before he could stop himself, he returned to the bed and began unlacing the vambrace Xyn had made for him. “Here.”
Even though Xanthia couldn’t see him, she looked up, startled.
As did his sister.
