17. Chapter Seventeen #2
Ena was hoping that window would encourage Kaya to share about her own experiences in the Underworld.
Ena knew she had gone there for a time, too, and she was endlessly curious about what had happened with her and Haden and why she had decided to leave Ty as a baby, but the woman stayed silent and changed the topic instead.
“Tell me more about breaking the bond and what led you to come here,” she said.
Ena filled Kaya in on the details—how they’d done the spell and thought they’d summoned Iblis, only to be met with the presence of Gaia. How the seer in their company had told them about a group who worshiped Omnis, and said they had to go there to protect their baby, because it was Gaia’s will.
Ena had just finished explaining about the Canus Elk and the ill omen for her child, when the sun began to get low in the sky, and they found themselves back at the stryx camp, where the others were finally awakening.
“You saw a Canus Elk?” Kaya asked in awe. “I thought those were myth.”
“They are very real,” Ena explained. “It was the second one Ty and I saw, actually. The first sighting was when we met as teens.”
“It sounds like you and my son had quite the bond,” Kaya said, smiling sadly at Ena.
“We did,” Ena replied, the memory of it haunting her.
Blessedly, she was distracted from her sadness when Kaya brought her and Turner over to a group of the stryx, including the young woman they’d met, Max’s niece Xoe, who were gathered around a fire outside of one of the shelters, sharing a bowl of…
Blood. She Knew exactly what was in the bowl, without even having to see. She could smell it in the air, and the smell, as always, was intoxicating.
Ena could barely focus as the men, women, and children in the group were introduced to her. Their dark hair and eyes blended together as she kept one eye on the bowl of blood, wondering when it would make its way into her hands.
The stryx greeted her and Turner kindly as they passed the bowl around, sharing it communally, until it made its way to Kaya, who, of course, abstained, but passed it to Ena.
None of the stryx even flinched as she took the bowl. Evidently, word about her stryx heritage had already made its way around the camp, as she was met with encouraging and curious glances as she raised the bowl to her lips.
She drank deeply, gulping down the blood—drinking far more than the sips the others had taken—until she felt a hand touch her arm. She wanted to ignore it—her body screamed at her to keep drinking the blood—but it became insistent, and it forced the bowl down from her lips.
She felt her ire bubble up inside her, rising with her Gift, and all of a sudden, the words spilled out of her.
{Let me go} she snarled viciously, the words coming out in the eerie echo of her visanis.
Kaya, who had been gently tugging on her arm, removed her hands immediately, compelled by the force of her Gift. The woman looked shocked—confused—like she’d touched a scalding-hot pot and had retracted on instinct.
“Ena,” Turner said, his voice cautious. “What are you doing?”
Ena looked over at him, ready for a fight, but instead she found that his brow was furrowed in concern and he looked upset. The look of his worry shocked some sense into her once more.
What was she doing? Had she just used her Gift on Kaya? She hadn’t meant to, it had just come out…
She looked around to find the group staring at her, looks of concern and trepidation on their faces. It brought her back viscerally to her Summoning—the way her own Coven had looked at her with fear when she’d received her Gift.
“Ena,” Kaya said gently next to her, noticing her reaction. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”
“I-I’m sorry, Kaya,” Ena stuttered. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she choked out.
“I think I might,” Kaya replied. “The animal’s blood is not working, and I think I know why. Come with me, please.”
Ena reluctantly passed the bowl of blood off to the stryx man next to her and allowed Kaya to lead her to another tent.
Inside was Max, deep in discussion with two other older stryx, a man and a woman with grey streaks in their black hair, but they paused when she and Kaya entered.
“My heart’s blood,” Kaya said urgently. “We need to speak with you.”
Max dismissed the man and woman before him, promising that he’d come find them later to finish their discussion, before turning his attention to Ena and Kaya.
“What is it?” he asked once they were alone.
“It’s Ena,” she said, looking over at her and addressing her with her next question. “Am I wrong, or is the blood you’ve been drinking not helping with the bloodlust?”
Ena closed her eyes. There was no use denying it. The blood wasn’t working, and that was painfully obvious by now.
“I don’t think it is,” she admitted. “The cravings, they’ve only been getting worse.
And now, when I drink, I feel…out of control, like I need more and more, no matter how much I have,” she said.
Part of her felt ashamed to admit it—she had no idea what was happening to her or why she was acting this way, so unlike herself.
But she didn’t want to hurt anyone, least of all Kaya or any of the stryx, who had been so welcoming to her.
Kaya took her hands in hers, her grasp motherly and warm. Ena had never had a mother—not truly. She’d had Greya, who had always cared for her, and Heran, a guardian and guide—but not a mother. Something about the care with which Kaya spoke to her made her heart ache a little.
“Ena, I need to know. Is it possible that you ever drank some of Ty’s blood? Even accidentally?” she asked intently.
Ena didn’t even have to think about it—she remembered it viscerally.
The way a drop of Ty’s blood had gotten onto her lip after the ritual to break the bond to Iblis.
His blood had been all over the amulet, and when she’d taken it off her neck, some had gotten in her mouth. And Gaia, it had tasted…ambrosial.
“Yes, I drank some accidentally after we used his blood in the unbinding ritual,” Ena said. “Why?”
“And is that around the time the cravings started?” Kaya asked.