Raya, please.
The man nods once, keeping his head bowed. “Yes, ma’am. I am Blood 1025. I am your Blood. I—”
“No. I don’t want that answer. I want a real one. Your real name. I want your illegal name. I want the name you were made to abandon when you became our Blood. Tell me. I insist.”
The man barely lifts his head. Emotion fills his sweet, sad little eyes. “My … My …” He struggles with Raya’s impossible request, his heart strangling him, silencing him. “My name …”
Tristan watches the human, face blank as stone, anguished.
Then the human at last obliges. “K-Kaleb. My name … My name is Kaleb.”
To Be Continued.
