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

“You have too many layers. No one can open their mouth that wide.”

Maybe she had a point; the sandwiches were a good six inches thick. He shrugged. “She can pull it apart then.”

“No.” Lyra shoved away from the door and took the plate. “If you want this much food, then you’ll need to make these into smaller sandwiches. Even a Giant couldn’t eat them.”

Lyra had never seen Tiny, but Jasper didn’t correct her. He just wanted Mercy to eat. Everything he found out about the Phoenix species suggested that they ate a considerable amount of food. Keeping their bodies at such a high temperature required burning a lot of calories.

Mercy didn’t really eat at all. Although she told all of them that she was fine, he worried she wasn’t. Food was an essential part of life.

So, Jasper continued to bring her bits of whatever he could find, and it satisfied a base part of him when she ate it. The same part that wanted to hunt something down, kill it, and bring it bleeding to her doorstep.

If anyone would appreciate that savagery, it was Mercy.

“How is she doing?” Lyra asked.

“Good.”

“Okay. Now how is she really doing?”

As Lyra puttered around the kitchen, Jasper sat at the table. “I really don’t know. She’s not very talkative, you know?”

“Well, she’s certainly not like us. But we can’t really expect her to be. She’s a different sort of creature.”

He placed his hands on the ancient table and sighed. “She’s been more withdrawn since we moved here.”

“Well, it can’t be easy on her, moving in with all of us right off the bat in a small, enclosed environment. If I were her, I’d be running to the high hills screaming about the crazies who are convinced they’re going to save the world.”

Though there were many places they could have gone after the city was destroyed, Jasper chose his childhood home. It wasn’t much — an old, four bedroom log cabin on the edge of the forest — but they all somehow crammed into it.

Jasper and Mercy had ended up sharing a bedroom, a decision he soon questioned.

Lyra seemed to guess where his thoughts had turned. She raised an eyebrow as she separated the meat and cheese into smaller piles. “Still starting fires, huh?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I never really thought when I finally settled down with someone whose nightmares light the bed on fire. But we’re figuring it out.”

“I’m curious, how are you doing that?”

A blush crept up his neck. “We’re replacing the blankets.”

“Ah, so you’re not dealing with it at all.” Lyra grabbed the loaf of bread and began cutting more slices. “You know, there might be something really wrong with her.”

“She’s fine.”

“It sounds like she has post traumatic stress. Hell, she killed an entire city with her mind. You’d think that would do a number on someone.”

“She’s strong.”

“She doesn’t really know any of us, except you. You’re a great person to go to when you need a laugh, but, no offense, I don’t think you’re really capable of helping her. Those emotions all bottled up inside something that’s so strong is probably a bad idea.”

“Lyra.”

“I’m just saying. There are people and creatures who know what she’s going through and might be able to help.”

“Lyra!” Jasper finally shouted. She paused, knife in hand. “I’m trying. I’m doing my best, but she’s not going to talk to anyone about it.”

“She shouldn’t be alone through this.”

Jasper ran a hand through his trimmed hair and sighed. He wanted his surrogate family to be able to bond with her. That was important to him. But Mercy had withdrawn deep within herself. He hoped she would heal, though he feared she was beyond that.

“I understand what you’re trying to do, Lyra, I really do. It’s just not that easy.”

She nodded. “Of course not. But you know we’re here for you. And for her.”

Jasper would have to be blind to miss how much his family had helped them. Burke had been the first person to run into their burning bedroom and start beating out the fires. Wren had held Mercy in her arms while Wolfgang had run a cooling touch over the burns on Jasper’s body.

It had taken him nearly a week to coax Mercy back into bed with him after that incident. They had gone through it three more times since, and the nightmares were getting marginally better.

“This sort of thing takes time,” he told Lyra as she finished spreading mayo on the bread. “I think she’s going to pull through.”

“I hope she does.”

“Because of the prophecy? Yeah, we probably need everyone sane.”

“No, not because of that.” She slapped the knife down on the counter. “Because I like her. She’s good for you, even though you don’t see it. You’ve changed.”

“Have I?” He looked down at himself. Other than being clean, he seemed the same.

“You’re more responsible. You stand on your own two feet better than you had before. You’re more assertive, you tell people what you want, and you take it. They’re good changes. I can’t tell you how impressed I am.”

Jasper didn’t know how to feel about that. He didn’t like to think he had changed because of another person, but pride puffed up his chest all the same. These were the kind of changes he had wanted to see in himself.

Apparently, repeated near-death situations over a short period turned a boy into a man.

He leaned forward and stacked the sandwiches atop each other. “You’ve changed too you know.”

“Have I?” Lyra’s smile suggested she was all too aware of her changes. “How so?”

“You’re softer. Kinder. More aware of other people rather than just yourself.”

She tucked a loose strand of ink dark hair behind her ear. “Being in love will do that to you.”

“You’re good with him. I don’t know if I ever told you that, but you are. He treats you well. And magic looks good on you.”

He left Lyra standing in the kitchen with her jaw