{IRIS}
Lord Val dropped my hand as though it burned him, stepping back, putting distance between us with the swiftness of a man who did not trust himself too near the flame.
"It worked." His voice was restrained, thick with the effort it took to keep it even. "The scent of your blood no longer calls to me." A pause. "To us."
He would not look at the blood staining my palm. He would not glance at the pink-tinged water pooling around me. His gaze hovered somewhere above, never lowering beneath my shoulders, never wandering, as though any further might cost him dearly.
My heart hammered as I clutched my wounded hand to my chest. "T-thank you."
The words fell into a silence so intense it seemed to echo.
Candlelight flickered against the stone walls, casting long shadows over his face, hollowing his cheeks, sharpening the angles of his jaw. His eyes glowed faintly, a cold, silver luminescence that pierced through the gloom.
