Chapter 32
Why Did He Take My Blood?
Raven
Present Day - Grypheem
Oleks laid in my lap as I lackadaisically ran my fingers through his hair. He hummed his gratitude, his hand reaching up to cup my face. The fire burned brightly across from us, but it was the heat of his fingers that filled me with the most warmth.
“It isn’t your fault.” His voice was soft, hushed.
Two days had passed since Levi was taken, stolen away by the High Priestess, and I hadn’t been able to do anything about it. My body was still recovering from the adventure it had gone on with all of the men and it was clear I was nothing more than a trinket to be kept.
“It was my fault.”
Oleks’s warm eyes churned in emotion. “I watched it play out. It was pre-determined he would be taken. There was nothing you could do.”
It was clear there was more to it than Oleks was saying, but I didn’t press him. The enigmatic man had a way of skirting around the truths with pretty words. A thought struck, “You didn’t…when we were drugged, you didn’t…”
“I didn’t fuck you?” Oleks asked, his lips flattening into a line.
I paused my movements in his hair. “Didn’t you say there would be lasting consequences if you didn’t?”
Oleks flicked his attention away and I could tell in this instance I was too close to a painful memory, that it was taking everything in him not to jump and run and disappear.
Another thought pierced through, and I didn’t wait for his answer before asking, “Has there been any sighting of Ivan? What if he goes after Levi? What if he—”
Oleks’s fingers painted long and hot deep strokes up and down my jaw. “I have sensed him. But I have not found him.”
Fear. It was pure and thick. Between everything that had happened here, my brain hadn’t slowed down enough to remember that Ivan was still very much out there.
That it was clear he was here with a purpose.
“In the castle?” My memory somersaulted back to the wall in the stairs. “Have you—” I bent down, suddenly terrified we were being watched.
The room, which moments ago had felt so cozy, now seemed to blink thousands of eyeballs at us.
“In the walls. There are hidden passageways. Maybe that’s—”
A knock on the door had me freezing mid-sentence. Julian and Griffin shouldn’t be back yet, they were sent to work on readying the castle for the wedding. They needed to remain a cohesive front. But women here were not to be seen…
Oleks untangled himself from me, leaping nimbly to his feet. He reached into his pants pocket tugging out a folded familiar griffin mask and putting it on before marching towards the door.
“Hey Raven!” Matty’s voice was cheerful on the other side, but he wasn’t alone. Amelia stood beside him, her hands clasped behind her back as she bounced on her heels.
Oleks flicked his attention to me, it was clear he didn’t want either of them to enter, but I was curious what brought them here…together.
“Come in.” I didn’t bother getting up.
Matty offered a toothy grin, moving into the room until he sat on the chair, but Amelia chose to remain standing, taking up space behind him.
“Amelia?” I asked her.
In the games, she had seemed larger than life—indestructible—but it was clear the acid had changed her, understandably so.
Matty reached up, tapping her hand. “Amelia.” The name was sharp.
She jumped, facing me and offering a lop-sided smile, half her face still hidden underneath bandages. The long sleeves she wore spilling well past her fingertips as she offered me a half-bow in greeting.
“I saw you tried to tell Levi to run. I wanted to thank you. I know there wasn’t much else you could do to help, but it means a lot.” My words were sincere. I had seen her attempt to warn Levi. Had immediately known it was too late.
But that didn’t change the fact that she cared.
Amelia inclined her head. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but shut it again in frustration. When she met my eyes, her expression was sad, unspeakably so.
It was clear she carried an insurmountable amount of pain. And I could understand why. Losing her voice, half her face, being injured so grievously to only then escape?
It was infuriating.
If only they could have come before the acid game.
If only…
“Look, Raven, I am actually here this time on a bit less fun business.” Matty pulled an item from his thick wool coat.
It was a black bag, just about the size of a book.
“What is it?” Oleks was standing behind me now, his hands landing on my shoulders.
“Drago thought you would prefer he sent me to collect it. But…” Matty appeared sheepish, his entire face-tinged pink as he unclasped the bag, revealing a syringe.
I flinched at the sight, my eyes flicking up to Oleks.
“He wants your blood,” Oleks addressed me without taking his eyes off Matty.
Matty coughed in discomfort. “He does. I apologize, Raven. I tried to turn him down, but he said he would just come here himself if I didn’t.”
“He’s going to send you here every day until the wedding,” Oleks continued, his hands squeezing me tightly. Bending down he whispered in my ear. “I can kill him, but I fear it will cause more harm than good.”
I wasn’t sure if Oleks meant Matty or Drago, but I didn’t especially want to find out. Instead I laid my arm out for him, pulling back my sleeve to the elbow.
“Take it. Is he right, will it be every day?”
Amelia nodded on Matty’s behalf as the latter made quick work of readying my arm.
He met my eyes as he poised the syringe above it.
“Go ahead.”
He did so, the prick a slight annoyance as he completed the task.
“Why is he taking my blood?” I asked.
Matty packed the syringe away, now filled with crimson, but he didn’t answer me. Amelia opened her mouth but shut it in frustration again.
“I will explain,” Oleks murmured, before straightening back up. “I think it’s time you both left. Raven needs to get rest, as her wedding will be in a few day’s time.”
Matty’s face twitched at the words, but I wasn’t sure what I was witnessing.
Annoyance?
Frustration?
Jealousy?
He packed the case away and helped me pull my sleeve back down, his fingers lingering on wrist, on the scars there.
He offered one last indecipherable look before getting to his feet.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, but it would be nice to spend time again outside of this.
I missed you Raven, and it’s nice having a piece of home again. ”
The words landed exactly as I believed he wanted them to, a knife in the gut that twisted over and over.
When they were gone, I panted a few times choking on the last bits of oxygen I had held within my lungs for too long.
“I think you need a break from this room,” Oleks murmured, walking around the couch and helping me to my feet.
“Why did he take my blood?” I managed to choke out.
Oleks didn’t answer me right away, instead finding a large cloak to wrap me in. “Let’s go outside, you need fresh air.” He pulled another mask from the hoard he apparently had of them. This one he placed over my face.
“Oleks, why did he take my blood?” I dug my heels into the ground as he attempted to tug me towards the door.
“I imagine with their obsession with fertility, they have the means to check if a woman is pregnant very quickly.” Oleks hummed. “Drago wants to find out if his scheming worked. If you are in fact pregnant.”
My mouth opened in shock, and I no longer fought him as he led us outside.
He was right, I did need fresh air.