Page 104 of Blood Day

My head spun with all his comments and actions. I hadn’t expected him to really answer my questions, but he had. And with more information than I’d ever anticipated.

He’d been gone this whole time.

He’d tried to help me.

He doesn’t want me to go to the moon chase or a harem.

“Did you give me the water?” I asked, the curiosity one that tumbled from my lips before I could stop it.

He’d already said our previous game was over.

But I’d been so overwhelmed by all his responses that I hadn’t thought of this question until now.

Until I’d realized how wrongly I’d understood this situation.Because he’s been helping me in his own way. Not hurting me.

“Yes,” he replied without looking at me. “I couldn’t leave a note without risking your safety. So I left you nutrients instead.”

“What would your note have said?” I wondered aloud. “If you could have left one.”

“That you were my Lily and I would be back for you.” He uttered the words without hesitation, telling me he’d thought about it before I’d asked. Which meant it was true.

“You took away my name.”

“To protect you, yes.” He still didn’t turn around or look at me, his palms steady against the stone tile. “You can’t be Lily at the university. Only here where you’re alone with me.”

That’s why he reminded me not to scream the last time he bit me, I realized.He was protecting me.

The sudden understanding of his actions had me feeling dizzy. There was so much I hadn’t interpreted correctly. And now I had a thousand new questions regarding his intent.

But I couldn’t voice them.

I was still too busy processing everything else.

Master Cedric failed me to keep me from going to the moon chase or a harem.

Master Cedric gave me the water. He didn’t actually take away my name. He came back for me.

Everything spun around me, the water soundingdistant to my ears. It was too much to process at once. Too much to accept. Too muchhope.

Master Cedric caught me as my knees buckled, his arms coming around me as he lifted me into the air. “That’s not how this game is played, Lily,” he murmured, his eyes a pulsating darkness that only made me dizzier.

He moved to sit on the marble bench decorating one side of the shower, his strong body easily holding mine as he settled me onto his lap.

“Just breathe,” he whispered as my head fell against his shoulder. “Inhale and exhale and try to relax.”

His hypnotic tone washed over me, warming my insides. He pressed his lips to my head, his strength swathing me in a cocoon of protection.

The adrenaline and horror of the evening all seemed to be catching up to me. My body ached in a strange way. I wasn’t sore so much as exhausted. Mentally. Physically.Emotionally.

I’d been lost one minute and floored the next.

Master Cedric’s comments about the former world still circulated in the back of my mind.

Humans used to rule,I marveled.Lycans and vampires hid.

What a strange concept.

What would that world even be like?