Trinket (Reverse Harem)

Demon Snax

Korr seemed confused. Of course he was: he'd never had servants talk down to him. He had no idea what really happened with staff. And this was just a symptom of the entire problem. Right here. This. Shit that never even occurred to him. He just took it for granted that household staff would be inclined to stay in his good graces.

I glared at him. "So I am not letting them read anything for me. They'd just love to grind my face into my being illiterate. So I summoned Maris. I don't know why he attacked me. Yanice said beautiful blood? What the hell is beautiful blood?"

Ormiss shifted so suddenly his necklaces rattled and lightening crackled outside. Even Asund craned his neck to give me a what did you just say look.

I blushed.

Korr kept his tone strictly diplomatic. "You don't know what beautiful blood is?"

"I've never heard the term."

Itek craned his head around. "Never? You're sure?"

"She grew up in a dream-bubble," Asund said gruffly, expression dark and he shifted, clearly not wanting to talk about what we'd experienced with the Priestess.

The gods knew I didn't. My entire body surged with pain even dancing around those awful memories and what the Priestess had forced me to see. And what I'd felt.

I pushed my hand into my gut. I still felt hollow and empty.

Unicorn, unicorn, unicorn.

"Did Yanice tell you you had beautiful blood?" Itek asked.

"No, she just warned me from being around him," I said. "Which I don't understand why."

Korr watched, somehow capturing my attention with his pale gaze. "Demons, the touched, and the possessed are lured by the taste of mortal and angelic blood. Some have what they call beautiful blood, which is simply a tempting vintage. It's not something a non-touched can know or sense until it's too late. A few drops is not usually enough to drive them mad, especially a minor demon-touched like Maris."

"The ones driven mad by even a drop of mortal blood are typically culled," Itek added. "The Order--and their patrons--know if they can't keep their hunger under control that they'll be driven out. We never trusted Maris around you as a matter of great precaution, not because we actually thought he was a danger to you."

"He should have been able to resist," Korr agreed. "Unless you were bleeding heavily?"

"No, no, I had just been itching myself and had a few drops," I said. "I wasn't even bleeding. Yanice made sure, I must have moved? I can't imagine it was more than a tiny bead."

Asund came around the table. I backed up warily, then stopped. He stepped around behind me to examine my back. "I can see where she's been scratching it, but there's no blood even on her silks. She's right. It must have been no more than a bead."

"What was the note?" Itek asked.

"From Soir. Just an invitation to dinner tonight."

Ormiss, lurking in a corner, made a rather unpleasant noise, but I couldn't tell if it was rage or grief.

"Why is that Raven sniffing around her so intently?" Korr asked Asund.

"You think I would know? I don't. I don't run with these Haven wolves," Asund replied with a growl.

"Ravens are the ones who... delivered... her to that pocket realm," Itek said.

"I think the larger issue at the moment is what drove Maris to attack her," Asund said.