I cleaned the wound quickly in the bucket, and then opened the trunk much more carefully this time to pull out my undergarments. I then dressed swiftly, pulling yesterday's shirt and trousers back on, and silently hoped that the beast wasn’t carrying any diseases.

With a sigh, I examined the hole that the rat had made in Alexia’s gift. I didn’t have the skill or supplies needed to fix the ruined handkerchief. It frustrated me so much that I nearly screamed. It was just another thing gone wrong. Another way I was being punished for my treason. Maybe I could ask Leander for a mending kit, so I could at least close the hole.

I wiped at my forehead. It was so warm. Strange. Touching my palm to my cheek, my skin felt a bit hotter than usual, like it was still coming down from the panicked interaction with the rat. The lingering quality it had was similaar to the way I’d felt when the bark had dug into my spine…

My mind shuddered at the thought, recoiling from the memories.

Absently, I rubbed at the spot where the warmth was the most noticeable, which was above my sternum. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just odd. As minutes turned into hours, the warmth mostly faded, and I was left to sit and wonder at the sensation.

If Alexia were here, she’d say something like “Maybe it was more upsetting than you thought?”

But that would be wrong. My run in with that rat had definitely gotten my heart racing, which usually made me sweaty, but not like this. This felt like a surge of warmth from deep beneath my skin, a woosh of something that escaped. The last time I’d felt this way—

My mind shuddered again, refusing to confront the memories of the forest. I gritted my teeth against the discomfort. I just needed to think past the men, and remember... I’d been burning up after I was attacked, and it was more than my fear that had borne it. I just couldn’t name what else.

My eyes began to wander to the corner, half expecting the rat to be staring at me from atop the trunk, and half wanting the rat to be there. I shook my head in disbelief. The thought was ridiculous. All the same, no matter how I tried to distract himself, I couldn’t help but feel drawn to the corner of the room.

Lunch came and went, and the warmth in my body reduced itself so that I only felt its heat in my chest. I was starting to wonder if the bite had been disease ridden, and if the warmth was an immediate manifestation of illness.

I tested the knob, and found it unlocked. I opened the door to see Leander out in the hall, his head turning away from a book at the sound.

“Can rat bites cause fever?” I asked, trying to sound conversational and not suspicious.

Leander levelled a look at me, raising a dark brow. “Were you bitten by the rat?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “No, but I know that they carry diseases, and fevers often accompany disease.” It was a struggle not to fidget at the lie, so I finished with a truth. “I’d sleep better knowing that if it bit me in the night, I won’t catch an immediate fever.” Because the way my chest warmed, it must be a sign of fever.

He chuckled. “You won’t catch an immediate fever from a rat bite. It takes time for disease to spread in the body, multiple days even. They aren’t venomous.” Leander paused thoughtfully, before continuing. “Just tell me if you get bitten. Otherwise just throw something at the beast before it has a chance to bite you. They usually don’t attack unprovoked.”

I nodded, thanking him for the information before shutting myself in the room again. I shouldn’t have lied. I should turn around and confess that I’d been bitten, so that Leander could put my mind at ease. Maybe he’d even be able to heal whatever was going on with heat.

“You won’t catch an immediate fever.”

The thought should have been reassuring, but it only opened up more questions.

The burning diminished further, until only a sliver of it remained. It almost felt condensed to the size of a pinprick. I closed my eyes and laid back on the floor. The woosh I’d felt had been strong, and powerful. Familiar, even. My mind tried to recoil again, but I refused to be cowed as I blew the door wide open on the memory. My skin had burned while I’d prayed for salvation, when I’d begged to be saved, and who had saved me?

The dog.

It had burned when its saliva had dripped onto my skin, but not because it was hot... it had reacted with immediate understanding, and it had saved me. Protected me. A tugging sensation pulled at my chest, and I tried to ignore it, but the longer I dwelled on the dog, the more persistently I felt the tug.

My eyes opened, immediately darting to the corner. In a few strides, I crossed the room and pulled the trunk away from the wall, uncovering the hole. Darkness from the room next door hid its contents as I laid flat on my stomach to peer through the darkness. There was nothing there. Nothing that I could make out in the dim light outside of crates. The rat had scuttled away hours ago, but the sensation wasn’t appeased by my proximity. If anything, it intensified.

The tiny sliver of warmth was barely perceivable now, but as I laid there, searching for something “other”, I could feel it like a thread. A tiny thread that was intrinsically a piece of me. Like it had escaped through my flesh. Something was tethered to it at the other end.

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Without knowing how, I could feel the presence on the other end. Somehow I knew it was nearby. I raised up just enough to feel along my side of the wall, as if I could follow the thread through the wood, stopping where I knew the rat was sitting.

Suddenly, the warmth of my core gently rose to coat my throat, the words reverberating down the tether as I called out softly.

“Please come back.”

As if it had been waiting in stasis for my call, the rat stirred. A pair of beady little eyes scurried towards me as it rounded the corner, nearly colliding with my face. The rat stopped itself just in time, and I stared at it in shock.

It rose up on its hindlegs. The animal didn’t appear to be as surprised as I was, just curious. Tentatively, I reached out my bitten hand.

“Climb onto my hand.” The warmth surged with power as I commanded the rat.

I could see its hesitation and through our connection, I could imagine its opinion was something along the lines of ‘I dislike this suggestion, greatly.’ But regardless of how it felt, the rat lowered back onto all fours and walked onto my outstretched hand.

“I do not like it here.” It seemed to say, before scuttling back off my hand and through the hole. I expected it to keep running. That would be natural, but it stopped on the other side of the wall. Like it was waiting.

My breakfast still sat untouched on the morning’s tray, long forgotten by the chaos. I pulled the tray closer, picked up a piece of dried meat, and tore off a small bite with my teeth.

Bloodbinding was a uniquely human magic. Just as Frostbinding was limited purely to water, not just any liquid. Or how the Chronobound could affect the speed of a process, but not the speed of anything living. Even Charmbinders, who often targeted people, still relied on inanimate objects to place their charms on. The only other magebound who could directly affect living things were the Essencebound, whether it was plant, animal, or man.

The main separation between blood and essence came down to the difference of flesh and mind. Any flesh could be mended, but how could a man’s mind understand that of a beast? That was why it was impossible to place a Bloodbinding on anything that wasn’t human.

Or at least, it HAD been impossible.

I stared at the rat. I must be going crazy. The possibility went against everything I’d ever known to be true.

“Climb up onto my shoulder, and this is yours.” I said, setting down the scrap I’d just torn in my teeth.

It was a request that no animal should understand, or do willingly. If the rat was brave enough to enter the room a second time, taking the meat, it was possible that everything I’d seen was an elaborate coincidence. But I wasn’t just tempting it with a treat, I was asking it to do something more. Climbing up on my shoulder first would mean—

The rat only hesitated a moment before it quickly scurried up my side, and climbed up my torso. When I twisted my neck to look, it’s face was right next to mine. The animal’s little paw pressed against my cheek as it stood at eye level.

“Meat now?” The words didn’t come out of the rat, because it could not speak, but I knew with absolute certainty what it wanted. The rat’s intention came through the bond that tied it to me, speaking to my soul in a way I undeniably understood.

“It’s yours.” I replied, realizing that it shouldn’t be able to understand my words anymore than I could understand its squeaks, but it was hearing me.

The rat squeaked happily as it scurried down my arm, grabbed the meat, and dragged it through the hole. I felt the tiny thread of magic stretch away from my body, spanning the distance that the rat placed between us as it took its scrap elsewhere.

That thread…the initial heat…that was what I’d been searching for, and had been unable to find. The truth of it went against everything I’d ever known about the Bloodbound, and yet, I had bound the rat to myself.

I was a Bloodbound mage.

The next morning, I ate half my breakfast and strategically left the other half sitting in front of the hole. The rat I’d bound yesterday approached the tray first.

“Don’t eat all that.” I admonished.

The rat—who I’d named Apollo—turned his pitiful gaze on me. A heartbreaking, ‘why?’ written plain on his little face.

“Fine. A little bit.” I conceded, and Apollo grabbed an apple slice in his tiny hands.

Communicating with Apollo was strange, but the more chances I had to interact with him, the less it felt like I was commanding him with my Bloodbinding, and more like I was talking with him.

I waited, standing to the side of the hole and out of sight. With Apollo fearlessly munching away, another rat approached the tray. It sniffed at Apollo, who in turn squealed something back. The second rat picked up a bread crumb and began eating it. A bead of sweat dripped into my eye and stung. I fought the urge to wipe it away.

I was going out on a limb by trying this because there was no way I could try and do this with only one hand, and I wanted to prove I could do it again.

Inwardly, I reached deep inside myself until I found the pool of warmth that I had come to realize was my magic. No longer useless and caged in my core, but alive and waiting to escape. I wasn’t sure how other Bloodbound mages, like my father, viewed their magic, but with Apollo it seemed to be mostly intention based. Speaking was more for the benefit of clarification between the binder and the bound. As long as the intention was clear, I shouldn’t need to speak.

‘Grab him!’ The command of my intent raced silently through the bond. I held my breath, poised to lunge with Apollo.

But Apollo continued nibbling on his apple slice. He hesitated a moment, and then continued to eat more.

He’d clearly heard me, so why hadn’t he acted? I gnawed on my lip. This new rat was eating the crumbs quicker than Apollo with the apple. I was running out of time, and it was going to leave. Maybe I’d worded it wrong? My mind raced as I quickly tried to dissect my mistake. I’d said ‘grab him’ but maybe it wasn’t a him? Do rats really use their paws to grab things that aren’t food?

I tried again, expanding my intentions. I needed Apollo to understand what I needed.

‘Don’t let the rat leave. Trap the rat.’

In an instant, Apollo dropped the apple slice and launched himself at the other rat, biting it on the knape of the neck. The other rat writhed in confusion, trying to bite Apollo back. I moved quickly, shooting my good hand out towards the angry fur balls. The newcomer was enraged, squealing and twisting its body to try and escape using teeth and claws.

Pain shot through my arm as the rat blindly bit whatever it could find. My magic thrashed beneath my skin, waiting until I came into contact with the rat's saliva. I felt the moment that it happened, a surge of power breaking free to bind the rat without even trying.

“Let go.” I hissed, doing my best to ignore the pain of the bite.

The new rat let go, looking up at me fearfully.

“You’re fine. I won’t hurt you.”

The rat eased, tilting its head to the side. “More crumbs?” It asked through our bond. Its fear already forgotten at my command.

“All the crumbs you want.”

I smiled. I had done it. I really could Bloodbind. I’d even done it twice, and I could do it again. This could change everything.