Roseblood

?Twelve?

As I make eye contact with the Sparkblood prince, I can feel the nerves from Brooke deflate. "Why are you in my room?"

"I need to ask you a question," Adam replies, hard and cold faced as usual.

Just a question?

This isn't going to end well, Elang groans.

He's right. "I thought I didn't have to see you for the rest of the day," I say tentatively. "Couldn't it wait?"

Adam stands up fully, and takes a step in my direction. "How much do you know about your Vinculum bond?"

"My what?" Why would a Sparkblood want to know about that, something that only Rosebloods can do and has nothing to do with him? "It's none of your business."

"Yes it is, if it affects our safety."

Sparky has lost it.

I agree with Elang. What business would people like me have with him and his kind? Absolutely none whatsoever.

Nosy, pesky Sparkblood.

Adam is a lot of things, but I don't think he would go out of his way to be "pesky." But who am I kidding? I've only know the prince for a few weeks.

Out loud I say, "How could I affect your safety?"

He shakes his head. "Not you specifically," he says, and is that a trace of amusement I hear?

It definitely is, Elang agrees. He has some nerve.

You're not helping.

But some nerve indeed. My arm tingles as a portion of the rage from the night of the bear attack catches up with me. I stomp toward him and thrust my finger in his chest. "Look, I don't need you invading my privacy just to ask pointless questions and make fun of me. I've had enough of that from you. So if you really have a serious, legitimate question to ask, ask it. If not, get out of my room." I step back and take a slow, steadying breathe. Mother Earth, that felt good.

The only outward sign that Adam shows in response to my declaration is an intake of breath. It's small, probably a coincidence, but it still makes me feel like I've gotten my point across.

"The Vinculum," he says quietly. "How different are they from regular animals?"

"Why do you want to know—"

"Answer me," he hisses with enough venom to kill.

Looks like somebody is ready for round two.

Elang, no! Stop being so violent.

"Roseblood?"

"O-okay! Fine." He looks disinterested, but his heavy gaze pinned down on me says otherwise. "Other animals, they have..." Have what? I've never really explained this before. I've never had to. "They have normal thoughts, if that makes sense. I mean, normal for their species. Like...er, rabbits. They have quick, fleeting thoughts. Usually small because, well, rabbits are small. Mostly. I mean, I've seen some big bunnies before, but—"

"Roseblood," Adam says.

I snap my mouth shout. Was I rambling again?

Embarrassingly so.

My cheeks flush. Why didn't you tell me? Now how is he going to take me seriously?

Why do you care so much?

"Princess," Adam starts, "you can continue with what you were going to say."

"Oh. Right." What was I going to say? Elang!

Whatever you do, stay away from bunnies.

Argh, he's no help whatsoever. "But, um," I start. "Animals that have the bond are smarter. In a way. They can feel more, have their own attitudes regardless of what they are. A squirrel, for example. Squirrels are quick thinkers; they don't usually think about the outcome of things and are controlled by their routines. But if one of them shared a bond with a human, they would begin to think more about the consequences of their actions. They would be more likely to change the way the do things in favor of what the human does.

"Sometimes a Vinculum bond will be so close that the two souls actually come together. It's only a story, but there are myths about animals that are under the control of their humans because some of their consciousness is given away to them. I think that, if that were to ever happen to me—"

"So you're saying that some animals could fall under the control of people?" Adam interrupts.

"Maybe? I don't know if it's true."

"But if it was possible?"

"Then yes," I answer.

Adam nods, and seems to recede into himself. I can almost see the wheels turning in his head and for some reason, that makes me uncomfortable.

Where do you think he's going with this? I ask Elang. It's not like Roseblood myths are of importance to him.

Maybe they are, Elang says. We don't know what's going on in his fiery little head. Maybe you should ask him.

What? Elang, have you forgotten who I am?

Coward.

Bully, I snap back. But fine. If you insist, I'll do it.

Will you?

Shut up.

I open my mouth to ask, but then close it. What if he's too deep into his thoughts, and I disrupt him?

You're stalling.

"I appreciate this information," Adam suddenly says, stopping me from actually having to say anything. He gets up and brushes past me to get to my door. He leaves quickly and silently, but his presence lingers in my room in the form of heat.

You got lucky this time, Elang says.

What has gotten into you? I don't want to talk to him, okay?

Fine. Weren't we going hunting?

I'm all too happy to change the focus of this conversation. Sure. I could use some fresh air.