"I will feed you again. " As he regarded her as though she had lost her mind, she kicked up her chin and met his stare. "Absolutely, I will do it again. "
To see this improvement in him in such a short time, she would endure those moments of terror anew. She was e'er trapped by her past, but oh, the change in him: her blood had freed him from his fatigue - and that was going to keep him alive out in the field.
"How can you say that?" His voice was gruff to the point of cracking.
"It is simply the way I feel. "
"Obligation shouldn't take you that far down into your personal hell. "
"That is for me to choose, not you. "
His brows drew in hard. "You were a lamb to the slaughter in that pantry. "
"If that were true, I would not be breathing right now, would I. "
"Did you like the dream you just had? Have fun with it?" As she recoiled, he stalked across to the shuttered windows and stared with fixation as if he could see through them to the garden. "You're more than a maid or a blood whore, you know. "
With proper hauteur, she informed him, "To serve others well is a noble endeavor. "
Looking over his shoulder, his eyes found hers in spite of the hood. "But you're not doing it to be noble. You're under that robe hiding your beauty and your station to punish yourself. I don't think it has anything to do with some kind of an altruistic streak. "
"You do not know me or my motivations - "
"I was aroused. " At that she blinked. "You had to have known that. "
Well, yes, she had. But -
"And if I am at your vein again, that's going to happen. Again. "
"You were not thinking of me, though," she pointed out.
"Would that make a difference. "
"Yes. "
"You sure about that," he said dryly.
"You didn't do anything about it, did you. And that one feeding is not going to be enough - you must know that. It has been too long for you. You have already come so far, but you are going to need more soon. "
As he cursed, she lifted her chin once more, unwilling to back down.
After a long while, he shook his head. "You are so. . . odd. "
"I shall take that as a compliment. "
* * *
From across the bedroom, Tohr stared down at No'One and had to respect the shit out of her - even though it was clear she was nuts: She was utterly unbowed, in spite of the fact that she had bite marks on her neck, had woken up screaming, and was facing off with a Brother.
Christ, when he'd heard that scream, he'd all but broken down the damn door. Visions of her with another knife of some kind, doing hell's own amount of damage, had thrown him into action. But all there had been was her on the middle of that bed, oblivious to anything but whatever was playing in her head.
Salt licks. Fucking hell.
"Your leg," he said gently. "How did it happen. "
"He put a steel cuff around my ankle and chained me to a beam. When he. . . came to me. . . the cuff bit into me. "
Tohr closed his eyes against the images. "Oh, God. . . "