Caz cocks his head. "Then what?"
"I haven't the slightest clue,” she admits. “And…there’s more."
Impatience exudes from Renee. I can feel her tapping her foot through the tremor in the earth."Like what?"
Once more, Ursulette is slow to find the strength to tell us. I have to remind myself that she’s been through a lot in the past few hours: she lost her mate, she might have a broken rib or two, and she’s shaken up about something else, something that happened with Charlotte.
We let her speak in her own time.
"After I bit her—" Ursulette swallows. "She—I died."
Caz snorts. "Well obviously not. You’re very much alive right now."
"No. You don't understand," she insists. She pulls back her cloak again, grabs my hand and places it on something sticky on her abdomen. "I died. She stabbed me in the stomach, and I bled-out in the attic of some abandoned cathedral. I remember."
I feel her flinch beside me, the memory so painful that she has to take a few ragged breaths to steady herself before she can continue.
"I remember fading away. I remember the dark. The cold. The absolute nothingness. And he—" the sobs thrash within her now, those pale eyes searching ours in despair— "He wasn't there. Rhain wasn't there. He wasn't—"
I catch her just before she falls, pressing her firmly against my chest where she unleashes every heart-wrenching howl.
I thought the screams I’d heard earlier had been awful, but at least those had been fueled with rage and agony.
These are the wails of someone who has nothing left to spend. Of someone with no hope left.
Renee leans in, drawing Caz and I near as if she’s afraid the forest might be listening.
"If she died, then why is she very clearly alive now?"
"I don't know,” Caz admits. “But she seems to think it has something to do with your girl's blood."
My face pales, but I’m sure Renee’s finds all the color I’ve lost.
"Stop joking,” I snap at him. “Now is hardly the time—"
He throws his arms up in defense. "I'm not joking! Ursulette said she didn't taste like human blood. She didn't taste like druid blood either. And next thing she knows, after biting into the Gravenburg girl, she dies and wakes up again, miraculously alive."
My mouth opens to protest or defend, but nothing comes out. I’m not even sure what I’d say because none of this makes any sense.
Finally, I settle on, "I've never heard of anyone's blood having that effect."
"You think?" Renee chirps. "Do you know how many humans we've sampled? As a species. Someone is bound to have discovered this before. Right?"
Caz shrugs."Unless people like her have been in hiding. Like the Shadow Crusade seem to have been."
“I don’t think she’s part of the Shadow Crusade,” I argue.
“I’m not saying she is. Just that a lot happened when the noctis took over the realm and no one knows why. The Shadow Crusade disappeared. The Magistrate went missing. Magic vanished. All these things had to have gone somewhere.”
"You make it sound like something big is happening,” Renee adds.
“Maybe it is,” I say softly, the pieces of the puzzle finally aligning in my thoughts. “What if that’s why the Shadow Crusade is choosing to fight now? Maybe something is changing and that’s why Charlotte's blood brought Ursulette back to life? What if the druids have found a way to return magic to the land, or change humans, or something—I’m not sure what."
We're all silent for a while, even Ursulette who has pulled herself out of my arms and has started dabbing her damp face dry.
Finally, Caz lets out a low whistle. "Then we're in for a hell of a ride."
I shudder at the thought of it all. The last time our people went to war, mankind and noctis alike faced near extinction on both sides. Only the ghouls thrived. Could we endure another magic-infused war? Does it have to come to that?
