Rauvan did not answer.
Of course he did not.
Inside, the shelter smelled like smoke, bone, bitter herbs, and old rain.
The air was cool and heavy.
Dried roots hung from the roof.
Bone bowls and leaf-wrapped bundles sat along one side.
A female sat near the back, half-hidden in shadow, grinding something dark in a shallow stone.
She looked up.
Odette stopped.
This was Rauvan’s mother?
She was not old the way Odette expected.
Her hair was white and long, but her face was strong, her skin deep bronze, and her eyes so pale they made Odette feel like something had reached inside her and turned her bones over.
She was beautiful, but not softly.
She was frightening in a quiet way.
Maeruth looked at Odette for one breath too long.
Odette did not like that.
She had been stared at all morning, but this was different.
The others stared because she came from Rauvan’s shelter.
Maeruth stared like she was seeing a dead thing walk.
“Sit,” Maeruth said.
Odette stayed standing.
“Why?”
Rauvan looked at her.
Odette sat.
Not because she was afraid.
Fine.
Maybe a little because she was afraid.
Maeruth came closer and took her wrist.
Her fingers were cool and dry.
She pressed two fingers to Odette’s pulse, then lifted her chin and looked into her eyes.
Odette tried not to move.
She failed when Maeruth brushed her wet hair aside and looked at the back of her neck.
The old female went still.
Rauvan noticed.
“What?”
Maeruth ignored him and pressed her thumb near the mark at the back of Odette’s neck.
Odette flinched.
“Do not touch that.”
Maeruth’s eyes moved to her face.
“Who told you to hide it?”
Odette’s stomach tightened.
“My mother.”
Something changed in the shelter.
Rauvan felt it too.
He looked at his mother, but Maeruth’s face had gone blank.
She released Odette’s wrist and stood.
“This blood should not still be walking.”
Odette’s breath caught.
“What does that mean?”
Maeruth turned away and reached for a bowl.
“It means your blood is buried, wounded, and awake in the wrong way.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the answer you can have.”
Odette stared at her.
Was this female serious?
She had been attacked, carried, drugged by her own body, watched by strangers, and now this frightening healer was speaking in pieces like it was fun.
Odette stood.
“No.
I am done with half words.
Rauvan said my blood is not hollow blood.
You say it should not be walking.
A strange male just called my name near the water, and I do not even know how he knew it.
So tell me what I am.”
Rauvan’s eyes sharpened.
“What male?”
Odette realized too late what she had said.
Maeruth also looked at her.
Great.
Wonderful.
Now they both looked ready to skin the forest.
“What male?” Rauvan repeated.
“A hyena beastman,” Odette said carefully.
“He was alone.”
Rauvan’s face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
Maeruth closed her eyes.
“Already.”
Odette’s heart began beating faster.
“Already what?”
Maeruth opened her eyes again.
“Your blood called.”
“I did not call anyone.”
“Blood does not need your permission.”
Odette almost laughed.
“That is supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
At least she was honest.
Rauvan’s voice was cold.
“What did he say?”
Odette looked at him.
“He said he hoped I survived the road.”
Rauvan turned toward the entrance at once.
Maeruth’s voice stopped him.
“Do not chase him now.”
Rauvan did not look back.
“He came near her.”
“He wanted her to know he could.”
That made Odette feel worse.
Rauvan’s jaw tightened, but he stayed.
Maeruth looked at Odette again.
“Your blood should have slept longer.
What I gave you should have hidden the scent and closed the worst of it.”
Odette’s head snapped up.
“What you gave me?”
Rauvan looked at his mother too.
Maeruth did not look guilty.
That irritated Odette most.
“You fed me something?”
“You were dying.”
“I was sleeping.”
“You were wounded, fevered, and leaking blood strong enough to call things from the dark.”
Odette’s hands clenched.
“And now?”
Maeruth’s silence was not comforting.
“And now?” Odette asked again.
“Now it is worse.”
Rauvan’s eyes hardened.
Maeruth looked almost angry with herself, which was the first real emotion Odette had seen from her.
“It should have hidden you.
Instead, it woke more of what was locked.”
Odette felt cold.
She had thought the heat from that night was humiliating.
Now she realized it might not even have been the worst part.
“What happens now?”
Maeruth looked at her.
“Predators may come.
Hunters may come.
Males with old blood may come.”
Odette’s mouth went dry.
Rauvan’s face went completely still.
Oh.
So that strange hyena male was not random.
Of course he was not random.
Why would anything in her life be simple?
Odette swallowed, for some reason she thought of her mother and everything that happened.
She did not know the full story about the blood and all that, but she knew that her mother must have known at least.
“My mother knew, didn’t she?”
Maeruth did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Odette stepped closer.
“You knew my mother.”
Maeruth’s eyes flickered.
Rauvan saw it.
Odette saw it too.
“Say it,” Odette demanded.
Maeruth looked at her for a long moment.
“She was not meant to be in Thorn Hollow.”
Odette’s chest tightened so sharply it hurt.
“Who was she?”
“A female who ran out of choices.”
“That tells me nothing.”
“It tells you enough.”
“No, it tells me you know the truth and you like hiding it.”
Rauvan looked at Odette then, and for once he did not tell her to stop.
Good.
Let him hear this too.
Let him hear that his mother was sitting on secrets like a snake on eggs.
Odette’s voice shook despite her anger.
“My mother took only one mate.
No one knew who he was.
Then she died suddenly.”
Maeruth went silent.
Too silent.
Odette felt the shelter tilt.
“What?”
Maeruth turned her head slowly.
“Who told you your mother died?”
Odette forgot how to breathe.
Rauvan’s eyes moved to his mother.
Even he looked surprised now.
…
It would mean so much🥺