Page 79 of Dark Witch Resurrection

The three of them stood there for a moment, the tension slowly leaching out of the air.

"What's her problem?" Aliya asked.

"She's unhinged." Marina let out a breath. "For some reason, she hates me and enjoys taunting me. I had forgotten about her when I asked to be transferred here."

Wonder's eyes were still blazing with anger as she turned to Marina. "You need to report this to Jade," she said firmly. "This is not acceptable behavior in the village."

Wonder was correct, but Marina was reluctant to make a fuss and draw attention to herself. Borga had been living in the village for a while, while Marina had just arrived. If Borga had behaved well so far, Jade might blame Marina for provoking her.

Besides, Jade was even scarier than Borga.

"It's okay. Eventually, she will tire of picking on me and move on."

"That's not how it works." Wonder sighed. "I don't have a lot of life experience, but even I know that bullies need to be dealt with, or they just get emboldened."

"Why you, though?" Aliya asked. "Borga is unpleasant, but I've never seen her that vicious to anyone."

"Borga is a bad apple, always has been. Not that the other purebloods were much better, but they were mostly just condescending, and she was mean. I was one of the maids assigned to clean the pureblooded females' quarters, so I was forced to interact with her. Maybe she'd gotten it into her head that I caught Mo-red's eye, or she just enjoyed lording it over me. No one had much in Igor's compound, not even the pureblooded Kra-ell, and because they had so little, the ones whose characters were less than stellar tried to make themselves seem better than others by tormenting the humans."

58

THE PRINCE

Ell-rom blinked, confusion clouding his features as he stared at Bridget. "What do you usually eat?" she repeated, her voice gentle but insistent.

He frowned, searching his fractured memory for some clues, some hint of what his body required for sustenance. But there was only blankness, a void where that knowledge should have been.

After having such a remarkable breakthrough and remembering his and his sister's names, he had hoped more memories would come rushing in, but he had no such luck.

After they had rolled his bed back to his room, he'd fallen asleep again, and when he'd woken up, it was with the same confusion as before.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I can't remember."

Bridget nodded as if she had expected as much. "That's all right," she reassured him, laying a comforting hand on his arm. "We'll figure it out together. I don't think your body can process blood, but that's what the Kra-ell live on, so let's start with that. Does drinking blood appeal to you?"

He felt bile rise in his throat, and his stomach convulsed as if preparing to purge what was inside of it.

"Not at all. I find even the thought of it disgusting."

"How about animal or fowl flesh? Raw or cooked?"

Ell-rom's stomach lurched violently again, a wave of nausea crashing over him. He swallowed hard, fighting the urge to hurl, his face twisting with disgust.

"No," he managed, shaking his head vigorously. "No meat, either."

"That's odd." Bridget frowned. "The gods eat everything." She glanced at Jasmine. "Am I right?"

Jasmine nodded. "We all ate the same things, and there were all kinds of you-know-what in the dishes. I don't want to mention it because Ell-rom looks green."

"I do?" He lifted his hand and looked at it. "I still look slightly gray."

"It was a tease." She patted his knee through the blanket covering him.

The friendly touch shouldn't have aroused him, but he couldn't help it. He didn't know how old he was, but he knew he hadn't been touched much, and definitely not by females other than his sister. He couldn't remember their mother touching him either, but she must have, at least when they were little.

"It makes sense," the senior medic said. "It's not like they could get the you-know-what or cook it in the temple." She looked at him. "How about baked food, fruits, or vegetables?"

Tearing himself away from sinful thoughts, Ell-rom tried to catch a flicker of memory that danced at the edges of his consciousness.