“Tell me again what happened,” Holden said to Desmond. The vampire made sure he held my head in place so I couldn’t interrupt. “And you keep drinking. ”
I swallowed obediently, but I wasn’t happy about it.
Desmond adjusted the frozen peas higher on my forehead, accounting for a huge knotty lump blooming by my temple. “She’s human,” he said, although we’d already covered that on the way home.
“Which I can smell for myself. How did it happen?”
“That’s what we’d like to know. I wasn’t in the best position to see what was going on, but you were. We think the fairy king took her…gifts. ”
“How is that possible?”
I gave Holden a loaded stare. Perhaps he wasn’t the best person to question what the fairy king could and couldn’t manipulate, considering how he’d played us like chess pieces.
Sexy chess pieces.
I blushed again, not used to how easily my cheeks flared red now.
“We don’t know,” Desmond admitted.
“But she’s human. ”
“She’s human. ”
Holden, who had previously been staring at my face, let his gaze draw down my cheek and to my neck. That single glance was more intimate than anything he could have done with his hands and brought visceral memories of the things he had done to me with his hands. And mouth. And…
I squirmed uncomfortably and tried to push his arm away.
“No. You still look like you were run over by a bus full of domestic-abuse arrestees. You’re going to keep drinking until I can see both your eyes again. ”
I held up my hand and demonstrated how I could still move my fingers by lifting the middle one.
“Charming,” Holden replied.
“Delacourte told her he was going to take her greatest weapon,” Desmond continued. “That’s the wording she said he used. ”
“And you agreed?” Holden said to me, giving his head a shake. “Why would you agree to that?”
This time I forced him away, licking blood from my lips. “I’m sorry, do you remember my other option? He was going to make me leave one of you behind. Are you suggesting I should feel bad I didn’t abandon you to be some fairy lord’s bitch?”
“Who’s to say you would have left me?” When his stare lasted too long, I had to look away.
“I wasn’t leaving anyone. I did what I had to do. ”
“By letting a fairy ask for something as vague as ‘your greatest weapon’?”
“I thought he meant my sword. The fae have been making such a big deal about it. And it’s…special. I assumed it was what he wanted. ”
Holden sighed and shoved his wrist back in my mouth. “Are we going with the notion this is a permanent change?” This was said to Desmond, as though Holden was tired of listening to me.
“It’s hard to say, but yes. That’s what we’re assuming. ”
“She isn’t safe. ”
Desmond bristled, visibly offended. “I think I can take care—”
“No. ” Holden shook his head roughly and pulled his wrist out of my mouth when I was in the middle of another swallow, coating my chin in blood. I swore. “If she’s human, she’s in more danger than just a sad little rogue pack. She’s Tribunal. Her death means someone else replaces her. There are people in the vampire world who will see this as a perfect opportunity to challenge her. ”
“Fuck,” I choked, wiping the dribble of blood off my face. “Fuck. ”