“Then?” Her heart sank. “What else?”
“You were bleeding. Internally,” he explained. “Healing your bones and veins required two different spells from theGuài. Both would have been too much magic for your mortal body. Between how weak you were andhow much arcana might’ve been left over from Adelaide’s tonic and the arrow, we didn’t know.” His voice cracked. “I had to choose.”
What was there to choose?
She felt she might make herself sick, trying to pull at memories that refused to surface. Uncomprehendingly, she looked down at herself. Her muscles ached only slightly, her body tender in some places, especially her shoulders. But she was alive. Here, with him. “It seems you made the right choice.”
But he only gazed at her with a mixture of scrutiny and sympathy. “I was forced to make an impossible decision.”
What was that look? Regret? “What did you do?” She hadn’t meant the question to come out accusatory, but his eyes had dropped reluctantly to her throat.
“A blood exchange has the power to heal a person’s bleeding, their veins, anything related to their soft tissues, depending on the extent of their injuries. So, I drank from you. Then, I fed you my blood.” Lilac drew back from him, pressing against the cool of the door as he continued. “Lorietta and Bastion monitored us to ensure I didn’t get carried away. It was a miniscule exchange, but it healed every wound in and on your body.”
Suddenly, she understood his hesitancy. “Was a bond created?”
This would explain why she couldn’t imagine leaving his side. Her body flushed at the thought of being bound to him in that way; it was a concept she hadn’t been able to fathom when he’d explained the process to her in the carriage, and she certainly couldn’t now.
Confusion warred with the want that dared entertain the possibility. She couldn’t be bound to Garin. She was the queen.
“No,” he said brusquely. “According to the witches, the amount of blood we exchanged was not enough to warrant a complete bond. Whatever you’re feeling now is temporary—something that’s easily dissolved by time spent apart.”
Several emotions warred inside her, the strongest of them fury. Then behind it, regret. She was just fortunate to be here. The way he looked at her now, she wasn’t sure Garin felt the same.
“That’s why you need me gone.”
Irritation flashed across his face.
“I’ll have a meal first,” she said firmly, chin up. “Say thank you and goodbye to the others?—”
“I’m sure there’s a whole feast awaiting you at the castle. Lorietta has closed the bar and kitchen outside of evening hours the past week. She wanted to keep the inn as peaceful as possible for all of you to recover. Everyone is in their rooms.” His response was curt, impatient, and he gestured for her to move away from the door.
Lilac peered up at him, incredulous. “Garin, my injuries would have been fatal had you not done the blood exchange. Right?”
His nostrils flared in answer, as if he were losing patience.
“Do youregretsaving me?”
“We need to leave.” He shifted, his arm snaking around her waist for the knob.
Lilac gripped it tightly with her free hand, again blocking his attempt. In a flash that startled a stifled scream from her, his lips slid against hers. His hands moved against her arms, her waist, his tongue teasing her bottom lip before forcefully entering her mouth. Her worry and anger settled at his scent, his taste enveloping her entirely.
Woodsmoke. A bluebell wood, strong and sweet.
Nothing else mattered. All she wanted was to be under him, around him. She’d dropped the blade and curled her fingers into his hair, and?—
Garin pulled away and tenderly wrapped one arm around her waist, the other jostling the knob at her back. The silver in his eyes began to shift, and the room began to shimmer.
Lilac shut her eyes, gripped his shoulders, and kneed him in the groin. Garin grunted in shock and spun her, pinning her front against the door. Lilac squirmed, shocked this time at her reactionandreflexes.
“Don’t fight me,” he said, sounding breathless. “Not now. Not like this.”
For the first time since waking, Lilac noticed how her whole body thrummed with energy, with vibrant life. Everything felt enhanced. Yes, she had aches, and her anger and sadness had felt particularly vile… but she also felt strong. Invincible. Was this the magic he’d mentioned that hadn’t quite left her body? It was more than the adrenaline that had fueled her survival through Brocéliande. She wanted to fight, seduce, and draw blood, preferably all at the same time.
Lilac could have stopped fighting him, as he’d advised. She could have turned back and kissed him again. She could have invited him to fuck her.
Instead, she elbowed him, hard, in the cheek.
“Fuck,” he said, his voice trembling against his restraint. “Stop it?—”
