Blue Blood (Series of Blood Book 3) by Emma Hamm (books to read this summer .txt) 📕

She cracked a branch off the nearest tree and tossed it over her shoulder. Jasper’s grunt made her grin stretch. Teeth bared, she glanced at him — she didn’t want to miss the irritation on his face.

He raised a brow at her. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Rare creatures stick together. A Legion surviving this long bodes well for Ignes and I.”

“So it makes you happy that they’re still alive?”

“Gives me hope. There’s more than just me who’s alone now.”

“You’re not a Phoenix. Ignes is.”

Mercy shrugged. “After two hundred years, you become the same creature, whether you combine souls or not.”

She didn’t know if her feet were going numb from abuse or if she was just getting used to it, but the forest floor wasn’t as painful as before. Mercy had a hunch that Ignes was healing her feet every now and then. But she hadn’t seen any scorch marks in her wake, so perhaps he wasn’t.

The birdsongs combined with the echoing cries of green, moss-covered monkeys were music to her ears. How many times had she wished walk freely in this forest? To explore on her own and not have it devoured every time her body needed healing?

Rustling leaves and babbling water filled her senses. It was a gift Mercy had never thought she would appreciate. She wanted to stay angry at the world for betraying her and placing her in a cage, but how could she when everything was the color of emeralds and smelled alive?

One familiar sound, however, was absent — the sound of a large man nattering in her ear. Mercy’s brow furrowed as she realized Jasper wandered from her side again.

She turned around. He was frozen in place, staring at her as though she had sprouted devil horns. She dropped a hand to her hip.

“What?” she shouted at him. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Were you aware of yourself? For two hundred years?”

“I don’t want to answer that question.” It hurt too much to answer. She didn’t want to remember her prison when she was physically so close to it.

Mercy spun away only to collide with his broad chest, smacking her forehead against his chin. Her palms hit his shoulders to balance herself. He was warm against her skin. Almost too warm.

“Were you aware?” he asked again. His arms snaked around her. She was effectively caged unless she wished to burn him. Mercy found she did not wish to hurt him.

There wasn’t much to stare at, so she kept her gaze on his beard. “I told you already, I don’t want to answer. I will hurt you if you don’t let me go.”

“It’s not possible for a human to be aware that long. You must have slept at some point.”

“I was always sleeping.”

“Now I know you’re lying because of that haunted expression on your face.”

Mercy looked up into his piercing green eyes  — they matched the leaves overhead perfectly — and hated him. His shimmering wings fractured the light into rainbows, casting them all around. “I was aware the entire time.”

“And you didn’t go insane?”

“That’s arguable.”

He glared down at her.

“Ignes,” she explained. “Phoenixes can heal any wounds. He healed my brain, my mind, my body. So I stayed alive.”

“And you can send him away whenever you want.” She hoped Jasper wasn’t piecing her story together. “That’s how you know this forest so well.”

“Ignes travels until his flames start to dwindle. On a clear day, he can travel very far. When it rains, he cannot.”

“And then?”

She raised a shoulder. “Then he would come back and show me everything he had seen.”

Jasper nodded. “That’s why you know the creatures that live in this forest.”

“They are the misfits. The oddities. The ones that don’t fit into your four walls and look human. Why do you think they tell you that the trees aren’t just trees? That these are enchanted forests, dangerous for any man or woman to walk in? They aren’t.” She raised an arm to wildly point around them. “This is just a forest. Those are just animals. These are just plants. No one wants anyone to know that magic is going to change humans into what the magical creatures originally were. Human bodies are malleable like clay. They are easily manipulated into something else.”

“Why would anyone want to hide that?” Jasper frowned as he spoke.

“Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you want it to remain hidden that in the end we are all going to end up as monsters and beasts?”

“Malachi has a Dragon working for him. The man looked fairly human.”

“Sometimes humans are too strong for creatures to change them. Other times, it’s the first human body they have possessed. It’s difficult for them to figure out how to make the form something more agreeable. The second or third try is usually more successful.”

Jasper’s mouth split into a friendly grin. “Which explains why you look human enough.”

“I don’t.” She wrested herself out of his arms. “I have strange eyes. I cannot burn. My skin can heal from any wound. I look human in form, but I can assure you, this is not a human body.”

She didn’t want to look at him. Her skin itched where he had touched, as though his fingertips had branded her. She was overwhelmed, it had been many years since she’d been touched by anyone.

Jasper held up his hands. “Okay. Okay that’s fine. If we’re going into territory that doesn’t have humans, what are we walking into?”

She swallowed. “A place unlike anything you have ever seen before.”

“The Five must know about these people, right? They are gods among us. They know everything.”

“I doubt it. They don’t care about us.”

“You should be careful what you say about them,” he warned. “They could be listening.”

“I fear no god,” she told him vehemently. “But I am afraid of humans.”

They walked in silence after that. She worried perhaps she had told him too much. Or perhaps she hadn’t said enough. He kept glancing at her as though she were a puzzle he wanted to figure out.

She wasn’t that.