"That's what they say."
He seems genuinely pained by the topic, a nerve touched where he thought there was no sensitivity left. "...but it's just as often a person's own blood. At least for... I don't know. Small things."

He stares at the floor. "The rest might be true. I don't know. I've never seen it. If elven slaves are used in rituals, they probably aren't the house staff."