She wakes again still in her bed. She tries to sit up, but feels so dizzy she almost immediately collapses back into her pillows. With a grunt she drags herself upright again to sees Darius, sitting across the room in a wing-chair and looking at her.
'Where am I? What happened?'
Darius doesn't say anything. He gets up and walks over to the bed. He takes her chin in his hand and moves her head from side to side. He looks into her eyes one after another. He's never been this close to her before. Her heart is racing. His face is less than an inch from hers. She stares at that wanton bottom lip as he opens her mouth – pulling on her lower jaw with his thumb hooked over her bottom teeth – and looks in there too.
'Darius!' she says, suddenly coming to her senses and pulling away from him.
'Do you feel well?' he says, standing up.
'Yes. I think so. A little dizzy. What happened?'
'Kristina. She nearly snuffed you out. I came by just in time. Luckily you were not at the point where you would have had to drink my blood to survive. So do not fear, you are still human. We didn't have to break the laws against conversions.'
Merle's fingers touch her neck. But there's nothing there although it feels tender.
Darius watches her and says, 'The puncture heals fast. There is a little bruising. That'll go soon. You were very shocked and weakened. I gave you sedatives. You've been sleeping for more than twenty-four hours. It's day twelve now, I expect you're counting.'
'Kristina? Why would she ...?'
'She is jealous of you,' Darius says in a very plain matter-of-fact way. 'I am sorry. I thought she was fully controlled. She is fearful of me and I didn't think she could tell when I was in her mind watching her. Perhaps she is getting better at controlling her own psych-powers. Or perhaps she was lucky.'
Jealous? She finds it hard to believe that Kristina, who looks like a debauched angel and regularly performs the divine-sounding 'Blood Rites' with Darius, could be jealous of her – the girl who spends her time locked up, red-eyed and dowdy. 'Where, where is she?'
'Kristina? In the dungeon. Now Oberon's the one playing jailer. I expect he's having some fun with that.' Darius turns and gestures to the table where Kristina usually puts Merle's food. It's laden with fruit and cheese and bread. 'I have to go now, but there are some things for you. It is important that you eat now. I'll lock you in again. For safety.'
As he turns to leave, Merle says, 'If you weren't in Kristina's mind just then how did you know to come to my room and save me?'
Darius stops and turns a little so he's angled half towards her, half away. 'Because I was in your mind. You remember.'