BLOODBOUND - THE VAMPIRE TRIALS
Not metaphorically.
It boiled.
The scent hit the crowd before the magic did, iron-rich and laced with power.
The coals beneath me hissed as blood seeped from my cracked skin, soaking the embers.
The sky darkened. And then… I moved. Not rising, not yet.
I twitched.
The pain should’ve ended me.
Instead, it opened me.
Bloodbinding surged up through my spine, hungry and unholy.
It wasn’t Sevrin’s gift anymore. It wasn’t borrowed.