My gaze snagged on the pale scar of the old Craven attack, just inside my elbow. I forced my gaze to where his thumb continued to glide in small circles. There were no fresh marks. No gaping wounds. I stared in wonder. “There’s…there’s no new scars.”
“There will be no new scars,” he said. “That is what I promised.”
He had. “Your blood…it’s amazing.”
And it was. My mind sluggishly delved into all that could be accomplished with it. The wounds that could be healed, and the lives that could be saved. Most people would be against drinking blood, but—
Wait.
My gaze snapped back to his. “You made me drink your blood.”
“I did.”
“How?”
“It’s one of those things that occur during maturity. Not all of us can…compel others.”
“Have you done it before? On me?”
“You probably wish you could blame your prior actions on that, but I haven’t, Poppy. I never needed nor wanted to.”
“But you did it now.”
“I did.”
“You don’t even sound remotely ashamed.”
“I’m not,” he replied, and a hint of a teasing grin appeared. “I told you that I would not allow you to die, and you would’ve died, Princess. You were dying. I saved your life. Some would suggest a thank you as the appropriate response.”
“I didn’t ask you to do it.”
“But you’re grateful, aren’t you?”
I snapped my mouth shut because I was.
“Only you would argue with me about this.”
I hadn’t wanted to die, but I also didn’t want to become a Craven. “I won’t turn—”
“No,” he sighed, placing my arm back so it rested across my stomach. “I told you the truth, Poppy. The Atlantians did not make the Craven. The Ascended did.”
My heart skipped a beat as my gaze shifted to the exposed wooden beams of the ceiling. We weren’t in the cell. I turned my head, seeing a rustic bed with thick covers, and a small table beside it. “We’re in a bedchamber.”
“We needed privacy.”
I remembered hearing Kieran’s voice, but the room was now empty. “Kieran didn’t want you to save me.”
“Because it’s forbidden.”
It took me a few moments to remember what he’d told me before, and my stomach dropped. “Will I turn into a vampry?”
He laughed.
“What about that is funny?”
“Nothing.” The other side of his lips now tipped up. “I know you still don’t want to believe the truth, but deep down, you do. That’s why you asked that question.”
He had a point, but I didn’t have the intellectual or emotional capacity to go there. Not right now.
“To turn, you would require far more blood than that.” He returned to resting his head against the wall. “It would also require me to be more of an active participant.”
Muscles low in my body clenched, proving that they were not, in fact, soft. “How…how would you be more of an active participant?”
Hawke’s smile turned to smoke and became just as sinful as his blood. “Would you rather I show you instead of telling you?”
My skin flashed hot. “No.”
“Liar,” he whispered, eyes closing.
The warmth in my skin started to spread as if it were a spark, and I shifted, feeling less…floaty and more…weighted. I tried to ignore it. “Are…Naill and Delano okay?”
“They will be fine, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to know you asked about them.”
I doubted that, but something was happening, changing.
My body didn’t feel like it was mine, not when the heat was seeping into my muscles, flushing my skin, and pooling in my core. I imagined it was him—Hawke’s blood slowly making its way through every part of my body.
He was inside me.
I felt out of control, just like the night in the Blood Forest, and when we were in the room above the tavern.
My chest suddenly ached and became heavy, but it wasn’t from pain, lack of air, or coldness. No. It was like when Hawke had touched me, when he’d stripped me bare and kissed me—kissed me everywhere. I felt loose. My insides tingled, just as my skin hummed. Razor-sharp lust pulsed straight through me, a dark desire that burned.
Hawke’s nostrils flared as he inhaled, and then his chest seemed to stop moving. His features were still hazy, but the longer I stared at him, the hotter I felt.