The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“No. Not that.” Well, I could feel his blood in me, dark
and lush, but it had cooled. It no longer drove me—drove
both of us with reckless abandon…
Oh, my gods.
I realized then that Kieran had been there. He’d been in
the room when we—when Casteel and I came together the
first time. He had stopped me from taking too much blood.
Spine stiffening, I looked over my shoulder, half-expecting
the wolven to be standing there. I didn’t recognize the room
at all.
“Kieran left,” Casteel said, splaying his fingers against
my cheek. He drew my gaze back to him. “He stayed
because he was worried.”
“I…I know.” I remembered. I’m concerned about both of
you. I waited for shame to drown me, and embarrassment
did settle over me, but it had nothing to do with what Kieran
had witnessed. “I…I tried to eat Kieran.”
“He won’t hold it against you.”
“I tried to eat Kieran while I was naked.”
“That’s probably why he won’t hold it against you.”
“That’s not funny.” I stared at him.
“It’s not?” One side of his lips curved up, and his dimple
appeared in his cheek.
That stupid, stupid dimple.
“I don’t understand. How did I go from trying to eat
Kieran, to eating you, to this? I mean, I feel emotion. I feel
normal. That’s not how a recently made vampry feels, right?
Or is it because I fed from you?” My heart thumped heavily.
“Does my skin feel cold to you? Do I have fangs?” I vaguely
remembered hearing one of them say that I didn’t, but I
reached for my mouth anyway, just to be sure.
Casteel caught my hand, pulling it away from my face.
“You don’t have fangs, Poppy. And your eyes… They are still
the color of an Atlantian spring. Newly turned vamprys
cannot get enough blood, no matter how much they feed. I
know. I’ve seen them in the hours and days after they’re