The attendants wore white, flowing outfits that looked like they were made of silk. I was instructed to undress, which was a little bit awkward, since I was gold everywhere except my groin. They hosed me down with multiple showerheads to get rid of most of the paint, then ushered me into a jacuzzi-like spa that smelled like roses. The servants’ clothing became see-through as it got wet, and I saw several markings on their skin—some scarred and some fresh. Cuts, bruises, even bite marks.
A chill ran up my spine at the realization that these people had been bled.
I caught the eye of one young woman. She looked only a little older than I was, with long brown hair that had been drawn up from her neck in a tidy bun, like the classical style of a ballerina. On the woman’s neck were two puncture marks—fresh ones—and in between them a series of dashed cuts. The wound was surrounded by fresh, angry bruises.
I glanced over at Lucian to find him already watching me with a pensive expression. You’d told me that bloodborn bodies have advanced senses, but surely, he wouldn’t hear a whispered conversation from across the room.
“That looks painful,” I said to the young woman. I motioned to her neck, and she touched her fingertips to the wound. A small smile played on her lips as she glanced toward Lucian. He nodded slightly in acknowledgement. While scrubbing my back with a soft sponge, she leaned in close to whisper in a dreamlike voice, “If you’re lucky, they’ll share you.”
I stilled in the tub and glanced around at the rest of them, all with hollow eyes and sunken expressions. Their skin—even those with darker tones—had a washed out and yellowed paleness as though they’d been kept alive, but just barely. The way they moved, too. It seemed like someone else was guiding them, rather than their own free will. But still, the woman had a blissed-out expression, like she was remembering something sexy in her mind.
Just as I was considering an escape, Lena came into the baths and dismissed the servants. Lucian rose to greet her. In Lena’s presence, I no longer felt any fear or dread. She had powers I couldn’t even grasp, and she’d promised to find a way for you and me to be together. That was the only thing that mattered.
I toweled myself off and dressed in the clothes they gave me, a pair of loose pants and a long-sleeved, light blue shirt. They looked like silk pajamas. My costume was packaged into a tidy bag that Lena said I could pick up on my way out. A good sign. At least I would be leaving.
I followed Lena and Lucian into a smaller marble room where there was a single bath. A milky liquid coursed through it like a fountain. The tub rested on a raised platform and was only a bit bigger than the one in my apartment, surrounded by all kinds of hospital-looking machines with connected tubes. I recognized the steady beep of a heart monitor and bags of saline and blood. As I approached, I noticed a man immersed in the shallow tub, chest up, so that his face and the entire front of his body were visible while his underside was submerged in the pool of cloudy fluid.
My breath caught.
His skin was a tawny color like he’d been bronzed by the sun. His long hair, even wet, looked light brown with golden highlights. His lashes had the same coloring, and his beard showed hints of strawberry blond. His muscles bulged with strength, and blood circulated through his veins. The man’s chest lifted as he inhaled and depressed with every exhale.
He appeared to be sleeping, with his lips closed and a slight furrow of his brow that made him look like he was deep in concentration. His nose was straight and unbroken, and his eyes were closed. The wheat-colored man was masculine perfection, at least to me, including his strong, muscular thighs and trim abdominals. Even his erection was impressive. And a little intimidating.
“Is that normal?”
“It’s the body’s natural reaction to increased blood flow,” Lucian said with a smirk.
“This is Henri’s body?” I still couldn’t believe it.
“Yes, it is,” Lena answered.
“Can I touch him?” I asked and she nodded.
My fingers were irresistibly drawn to the man’s forearm. The soft silky hairs were damp from the milky solution, and I caressed him as I would you. Tentatively. Worshipfully. I drew my hand up his arm and gently squeezed his bicep, then his shoulder, rounded and firm with muscle. I traced his collarbone to the center of his chest, then traveled down his sternum where it rose and gently fell. I pressed my hand against his heart, then leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to his forehead. There was a scar just to the side of his temple, and I kissed him there too. I expected his eyes to flutter open and to find you staring back at me, but the man remained motionless, as if in a deep, peaceful sleep.
“He’s beautiful,” I said. Tears of gratitude burned in my eyes.
It was you, Henri. How you were meant to be. These were the hands you’d caressed Lior with in tenderness and the fists you’d used to battle your enemies in rage. These were your muscles, strengthened by wrestling matches and combat, and this was your half-angel blood coursing through your veins. This was the body that was taken from you, and soon it would be returned. I lifted one hand and inspected both sides of it, tracing the lines of your callused palm—life, fate, and heart—then turned it over to kiss every knuckle. I placed your palm against my cheek in the way you liked to do. I leaned into it, loving the weight of it pressed against me. In my mind you called mecucciolowith rough fondness.
I swore right then I would care for your every bodily need. I would wash and groom you, service you sexually, and nourish you with my blood for as long as I lived.
“I want him,” I said with a deep aching inside me. There was no filter for my thoughts. In Lena’s presence, my most private desires rose to the surface like the bubbles in that glass of golden champagne.
“Of course, you do,” Lena murmured as if it were obvious. “You can’t help it. He’s a god. I don’t need to tell you that it was quite an ordeal to recover this vessel. It was not in the best of shape when I found it, either. But look how Lucian has restored him to his former health and vitality.”
“You’ve done a wonderful job,” I said to your brother with sincerity. Your body was breathtaking, and soon it would be reclaimed by its rightful owner. Would you be mad at me for summoning your mother? Probably, but I didn’t care. This felt right. It was what you deserved.
“Will you call for him?” I asked Lena. I assumed she would summon you in the way she had summoned me.
“I will, my precious, when it’s time, but you and I must discuss something first.”
I glanced up at her, seeing her face for the first time. I’d been so deeply focused on your body that I hadn’t given her any of my attention.
“What is it?” My hand still stroked the fine golden hairs by your temple. If I could, I would climb into the bath and embrace you. I never wanted us to be separated again.
“This body is my gift to you, Orlando, and gifts from the gods require payment. A sacrifice, if you will.”
She gazed at me softly but there was a sharp glint in her eyes. Some part of me already knew what sort of payment she might require, and I’d resolved myself to it long ago, the first night I’d uttered her name. My life had little meaning without you in it, and if reuniting you with your body was my final gift to you, I could die knowing I’d repaid your love and devotion.
