I remain glued to the spot, unable to move or say a damn thing. This is beyond a joke and frankly I want no part in it.

“Even the strongest of us cannot resist the pull. The Claiming doesn’t happen very often. But when it does, both parties are usually equally attracted to one another. Perhaps being here has disconnected you from your feelings somehow. I have never known a claiming not to be reciprocated,” Ezra says.

My eyes flick to Rhain. I remember how I felt last night and on the sofa earlier. Were those feelings part of this Claiming they speak of? I have no clue. Then I look at Ezra and remember how it was to taste him, to feel his arms about my body, and I feel a similar pull. “But what about…” I say.

“That is something entirely different,” Ezra says, waving his hand. “I gave you my blood to heal you. Rhain couldn’t do it as it would make this attraction to you even harder to deal with. He would have taken you there and then had he given you his blood, and I sensed that would not have been wanted on your part. Besides, it is not our custom to take something that isn’t given freely and that includes your consent. I didn’t consider Devin because he usually isn’t able to control himself and I was worried he’d drain you of blood.” Ezra shrugs his shoulders. “It is done now.”

“What is done?”

“Ezra has willingly given you, a clan member, his blood. Much the same way as Rhain needs to lay with you to keep him from committing suicide, you must give your blood to Ezra or he too will perish in a similar way. Although it will take much longer, and will be extremely painful.”

“Wait, what!? You’re telling me I must have sex with Ezra too or he’ll die? This is ridiculous.”

“No, you only need to give him your blood. Sex isn’t required, although it is part of the fun,” Devin says, laughing at the look on my face.

“Here, take it. Do it now. I don’t need your death on my conscience.” I hold out my wrist to Ezra and turn my face away.

“That isn’t necessary. I am perfectly happy with my fate,” Ezra says, crossing his arms.

“Ezra,” Devin warns. “This isn’t just about you. I know how you feel about Thalia. This is about the curse.”

“Devin, you will find another in Ever Vale who can take my place. I have lived too long. I am tired,” Ezra says, his shoulders dropping. “I am not taking her blood. My mind is made up.”

“Damn it, Ezra! Why do you insist on punishing yourself so?” Devin says, slamming his fist on the counter. The sound startles me, and I look at him with wide eyes. The jovial Devin is gone now, replaced instead with a far scarier version.

Ezra doesn’t answer, choosing instead to leave the room. I hear him walk into my office, slamming the door behind him.

“Why does he refuse to take my blood?” I ask.

“As I mentioned earlier, before our people were cursed to take blood from others to survive, an exchange of blood would occur when two people wish to bond with their life partners,” Rhain explains.

“Life partners?” I ask. Did he mean marriage?

“It was custom to take blood from the one you love to cement the bond as partners for life, choosing that person to commit to. Once doing so, you are bound to each other until the moment one or the other is returned to the light. Ezra is the only one of us who has been through the Joining ceremony. Her name was Thalia.”

“I understand now,” I say. That was the name he had called me in the bathroom earlier. “He is already bonded to this woman Thalia and doesn’t wish to bond with me. Well, that’s okay, I don’t want to bond with him either. He can have my blood. I don’t want to be responsible for his death.”

“It’s not a simple as that,” Devin says. “Besides, Thalia is dead. She died alongside their child the day the curse was cast. They were in the Light fields. There was no shelter for them to hide from the sun. The pain they must have endured… Ezra has never been the same since.”

“The Light fields?”

“Yes, a beautiful place. A place where the people of Clan Lux once went to regenerate. It still exists but going there now will kill our people. Thalia and Roseanna died there that day.”

I feel my heart squeeze at the thought of his loss. His wife and child dead because of the curse. I feel strangely responsible somehow. “Are you saying he refuses to take my blood so he can die, that he wants to die?”

“Yes, it would appear that way. If Ezra does not take your blood after he freely and willingly gave you his own, then he will suffer endless, agonising pain. Eventually, that pain will drive him mad and he will return himself to the light to be free of it,” Rhain confirms.

“The same fate as you then, it would seem,” I whisper, trying to take in the enormity of the situation. “Let me get this straight.” I take a ragged breath. “I must have sex with you to keep you from going mad and committing suicide. Then I must persuade Ezra to take my blood so he doesn’t suffer the same fate?”

“Alas, it would seem that way. But know this, Cia, I will never make you do anything you don’t wish to do. If it is my fate to return to the light, then I will accept it.”

I look at Devin helplessly. “Please don’t tell me that there’s something equally ridiculous I need to do to prevent you from returning to the light?”

“Not that I know of, no,” he says.

“Well, thank God for small mercies,” I say.

“God, who is he?” Rhain asks, his eyes darkening at the mention of another man’s name. Is that jealousy I see? I let out a strangled laugh.

“No one you need concern yourself with,” I respond, the sarcasm lost to him.

Rhain looks me over and, seemingly satisfied that he doesn’t need to beat off another suitor with a stick, turns to Devin. “What are we going to do about Ezra?” he asks.

“Beat him with a stick?” I suggest, trying not to laugh hysterically.

Rhain and Devin look at me as though seriously considering my suggestion. “It won’t work, he will just heal,” Devin says, eventually.

“I was joking, of course.”

The two of them turn away, talking in hushed tones. I feel dismissed from my own kitchen. Other than offering up my body to Rhain, which is something I need to think long and hard about, and force-feeding Ezra my blood, there is nothing much I can to do at this precise moment. Outside the winter sun is still fierce and it will be a good six or so hours before sundown. Deciding I need time to mull over all that has been said, I stand up. “I’m going to take a nap. Don’t worry,” I say as Devin rises to accompany me, “I have no intention of leaving. Besides, it’s not as if I can go anywhere, it’s still light.”

Rhain looks up briefly and our eyes meet. “Sleep well, Cia,” he says softly, and I can tell he is thinking about last night just as much as I am trying to forget it.