East

I set down the goblet and pushed up the sleeves of one arm. The bandages ran to my elbows. Blood spotted several places, mostly red but with flecks of black, too. Not one to willingly go to a doctor, I had the urge to have the weird stuff in my blood checked out. Was it normal after being put into cryo-sleep for seven decades?

Was cryo-sleep normal in any era?

Dammit, Carter. Couldn't tell me straight up what you were doing, could you?

"Shall we tell them?" Chaghan asked me with a small smirk.

I glanced up from examining my arms. "Tell them … ?"

"My sudden turn of health, the healing of my liver, was a gift," he told the others. "It was brought by the goddess. I have conveyed the magic to all of you as a sign of my gratitude for your service to the Empire."

The men appeared pleased, while I bit back a snarky response. Batu's uncle knifed me up to drug his men. There were nine of them, dressed in furs with signs they had come from battle in the city recently. Only one wasn't drinking his wine. He was frowning as he listened to the uncle of Batu.

Seeing him, Chaghan lowered his wine goblet. "What troubles you, nephew?"

The man didn't look similar enough to be Batu's brother. Aside from his size towering over the others, he had a narrow face and larger eyes.

"With respect, uncle, I am aware of how this magic was granted," he said with a nod of his head. "I feel it does not honor the Eternal Blue Sky and the gift he sent us."

"This" Chaghan yanked on the chain connected to my neck "is a gift for us to use as we need. Her language skill, her knowledge. Her blood, if it grants us life."

"Blood, Chaghan?" Another asked and peered into his cup. "Blood is sacred."

"Did you have her permission?" the frowning nephew asked, leveling his dark gaze on me.

No way in hell. A glance towards Chaghan, however, made me swallow the response. He was giving me a look that made me want to protect my ears. It didn't help that he began pulling me closer by the neck.

"Did you have her permission?" the nephew asked again.

"I did not need it, nephew," came the icy response. "When you all awake tomorrow, you, too, will benefit from the magic of her blood. It is the gift from a commander to his loyal warriors."

No one spoke. I was almost relieved to see the warriors were as uncomfortable with the idea of drinking my blood as I was. It wasn't normal, then. I had managed to attract yet another crazy man.