Queen of Ashes │ Season 1 │The Journey

26 │Blurry tales

Freya was woken up by the strong patting on her cheeks. After opening her eyes, her vision was blurred, and she felt a strong press on her belly, pinning her to the ground. She blinked.

"Don't die on me, woman." A familiar voice, so deep and husky, echoed around her. "Stay with me, Frey."

Once again, she tried with the blinking. After a moment, she could spot a dark-haired figure kneeling beside her, reviving her and keeping pressure on the wound located on her stomach.

"Leander." Her voice came up raspy. "I'm so cold."

She focused on his face, filled with visible worry and panic. He was glancing from her calm face to her belly and back, panic at its full strength, indeed.

Leander came there as soon as they realized Freya was missing for longer than usual. He was looking for her in the woods, and when he caught her scent, there were moments before he reached that lake.

Spotting these monsters and the running woman, he couldn't feel more fearful. He turned into action quickly, but even so, he was too late. And now she was bleeding out on his hands, leaving him panicked and not knowing what to do, how to save her. She was looking enormously fragile—so very mortal with her pale skin and trembling hands. And watching her eyes, previously filled with so much life and determination, fading away... It left his heart in pieces.

He then realized that without the knowledge of human ways of saving lives and that dread situation progressing, he had no other choice than to do the last thing he had wanted to do. The inevitable.

"Freya, look at me," he said firmly and after ensuring the woman was indeed focusing on him, he continued, "I'm going to feed you my blood. It will stop the bleeding and help you recover quickly. Try to hold on drinking until I take my wrist away, will you?"

She gave him a puzzled look, but nodded after what felt like hours later.

Not wasting any more time, he bared his fangs and bit into his wrist, placing it into the mouth of the fading woman. Her look indicated her confusion, but luckily, she decided to trust him. Good girl.

It was not common for the vampires to give their blood to others. It was the most intimate thing they could do, so usually, they exchanged blood with their partners, and only if they were in a truly close relationship. If anyone ever got to know about this moment between them, they would both be in much trouble. But Leander knew that was the only thing he could do to save her life. And it came pretty obvious to him already that he would do everything to make it happen. If meeting Cassius' wrath in the future was a part of it, so be it.

As for Freya, the first moment Leander told her what he was planning to do, she felt panicked and scared. The action seemed so unreal and odd that her first reaction was to refuse. But sensing his worry at her dying figure, she knew there wasn't that much of a choice.

She dived into his wounded wrist, taking the first gulp of the crimson liquid.

Freya anticipated it to taste terrible, just like humans'—a metallic taste only vampires could appreciate. But as surprising as it was, Leander's blood tasted like sunshine. The sweetness mangled with a little touch of bitterness, made her take the next gulp willingly. But once she tasted it, there was no coming back. She would remember it for the rest of her days. It was like drinking mead—she could get drunk with it easily. Maybe she was getting drunk at that moment, in fact.

She moaned when she felt her body awakening. With the obvious strength that she welcomed with open arms, the desire and a very strong hotness followed. She could feel her wound closing, itching a little. She wondered, though—was it normal to feel so hot all of a sudden?