---
Vera spoke again, mercifully calmer. "Bond blood feels warmer. Richer. More stabilizing. More satisfying. It can create calm after panic and hunger after calm. It can make you think the blood itself is the reason you feel close to someone, or make you think closeness is only blood. Both mistakes are dangerous."
Lily listened with full attention now, her embarrassment forced aside by the seriousness underneath it.
Sekhmet took over the explanation.
"That is why your first feeding after turning will be from me," he said. "But not your only education. If you only ever learn bond feeding first and nothing else, your instincts will become too attached to one shape of relief. That makes future control worse."
Lily nodded.
Then asked, "Will it hurt?"
He looked at her.
"The first time?"
"Yes."
Sekhmet considered the question honestly.
"Yes," he said. "And no."
Lily looked deeply unimpressed by that answer.
