Rites of Blood: Cora's Choice Bunble 4-6 by V. M. Black

that, even if I wanted it to be?
    “What do you study here?” Dorian asked abruptly.
    I blinked. “I thought you didn’t care.”
    “You care. Perhaps I should care. Perhaps it’s a thing like grandmothers—something I have forgotten to care about.”
    There was a lot more going on behind those clear blue eyes than I had given him credit for. For all my questions, all I ever thought about was what he wanted from me, what he did to me, what my life meant to him in the context of his history. I’d wondered the night before if he even peed—because I still didn’t credit him with being fully real.
    “Economics,” I said, as awkward as any first date. “I want to go to grad school, then work for a governmental agency or maybe a nonprofit, studying markets. After I got sick, I was thinking maybe healthcare.”
    “I have any number of businesses. I’m sure that some of them make use of economists,” Dorian said.
    Was he really offering what I thought he was? “I don’t need you to find me a job.”
    “A job. A company.” He shrugged. “Whatever you wish.”
    “I’ve worked for everything I have,” I objected. “I’ve earned my scholarship and my grades, and I’m going to earn my degree. I don’t need to be given a job—or a company.”
    “It’s not about need. I want you to have it,” he said mildly.
    My mind rebelled. When someone could come in and drop into my lap so much more than I’d ever hoped to earn, it made my own efforts seem pitiful in comparison.
    Did that mean I was proud of standing on my own two feet? Or was I just too easily ashamed of how little I’d been able to do?
    “Think about it. The offer stands,” Dorian continued. “Don’t want a corporation? How about a charity? Feed the starving children of whatever country you wish.”
    And that offer struck me like a knife in the heart. How did I dare say no to that? All it would cost was my own small life, and how many others could I save? And I’d have happiness...of a sort. Eventually. Dorian would see to that.
    “What if I want to go to grad school?” I didn’t realize I’d spoken those words until I heard them. My own small, selfish dream. Would he give me that?
    Dorian blinked. For once, I’d surprised him. “Yes, you’d said something about that. The University of Maryland has an excellent program—”
    “I didn’t apply to UMD. It’s not one of my choices.”
    Dorian was quiet for a long moment. “The research labs are here, Cora. And at this moment, the world’s politics revolve around Washington, and I’m in the center of them.”
    “Right,” I said. “That’s what I thought.”
    “I didn’t say no,” he said.
    “You didn’t have to.” He wouldn’t leave D.C. And I couldn’t stand to be away from him for a whole week at a time. After only twenty-four hours, I could hardly think of anything but him.
    “We can work something out,” he said, but I couldn’t imagine what. “In the more immediate future, I want you to consider coming to my New Year’s Eve party.”
    “Will it be like the Lesser Introduction?” I asked. I didn’t bother to hide my distaste.
    “No. I will not subject you to that again. You’ve seen the gamut of our society. I want you to see the best of it now. I want you to see what’s worth fighting for.”
    I looked at him over my bowl of cereal. “What if I say no? Will you force me again?”
    He had that weary look again, the one I couldn’t quite understand. “This is not an obligation that I must keep, nor is it something that must be done to keep you safe. If you refuse, I won’t make you come. But I want you to give me a chance to show you what else a bond can mean.”
    I thought about testing him then, refusing just to find out if he was telling the truth about not making me.
    But he was right—if there was something better than what the night before had shown me, I should see it. I wanted to, and I was sure it was me wanting, not him. I needed some sign of