Page 50 of Taken By the Blood God

Davian crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me. “Do you honestly think the witch will give you what you want? Will be what you wish her to be?”

“The only thing I wish for her to be is herself,” I retorted. “And that’s all I want as well. I don’t want her to change. I understand Cassia’s insistence that we were not meant for each other now. I can see that neither of us would have been happy with the other as we were. I was always too much for her, and she couldn’t give me the fire I needed in a mate.”

Davian sighed in disgust. “You’re not going to listen to reason, are you?” he asked.

“If you were speaking reason, I would,” I argued.

My brother shook his head. “When this doesn’t end the way that you want it to, promise me that you’ll find me before you do something rash.”

“What have I done that was rash?” I asked.

He snorted. “Burying yourself beneath a mountain for over fifteen centuries because the woman you wanted didn’t return your love sounds rash to me.”

“You know it was more than that.”

“Do I?”

It was my turn to shake my head. “We were losing our humanity, brother. We were walking deeper and deeper into the shadows that lie between good and evil. I didn’t want to continue down that path, but you refused to listen when I said as much to you.”

“So, you abandoned me?”

“You were set in your direction. Nothing I said or did was able to dissuade you. I couldn’t remain at your side.”

Davian leaned forward, resting his clenched fists on the table. “I would have listened if I’d realized what you were planning. I would have changed.”

We both knew those words weren’t true. At the time, Davian had been consumed by his thirst for power and flesh. He cared less and less what his actions did to others and only about himself.

“The past is done,” I finally said. “Our only choice is to move forward.”

My brother rolled his eyes. “It’s easy to say that when you weren’t trapped and drained of magic the way cattle are drained of blood after slaughter.”

I didn’t point out that the choices he made led to his imprisonment. Davian was too bitter and too determined to blame me for the things that had happened to him. I sensed that he held resentment toward Minerva because of it as well. Though her birth hadn’t been for a thousand years after Cassia trapped him, she carried a piece of his jailor within her.

The silence fell between us, heavy and thick like a slab of stone.

Finally, Davian broke the tense moment.

“I’ll try, brother. But I won’t keep silent when I feel you are making the same mistakes.”

“I don’t expect you to hold your tongue,” I replied. “But you won’t make the choice for me. Or for Minerva. What happens between us is just that—between us.”

He scoffed. “I want no part of that. I had my fill the last time.”

I ignored that last jab and got to my feet. I’d been listening with half an ear and heard the shower turn off upstairs. Minerva would be down shortly, and she needed to eat to fuel the healing of her body. My magic had done a great deal of the work, but she needed to replenish her resources so that the healing magic would continue working.

As I moved around the kitchen putting together a plate of food for my little witch, my brother watched me and shook his head in disbelief. I ignored him. Someday, he would find a female who would turn his world on its head, and he would understand. Until then, I would have to tolerate his skepticism.

Chapter

Twenty-One

Minerva

My body was healed from my injury, but my magic was distant. Sluggish. It felt unfamiliar, as it had when I first manifested as a girl. I needed to reconnect with my magic and with the goddess.

After a quick consultation with my calendar, I realized the moon would be visible tonight. Drawing down the moon would be the perfect way to recharge and get back in touch with my power. A full moon would be best, but I wasn’t sure I could wait. I needed to rebuild my magic now. Though it was only going to be a crescent, a waxing moon encouraged growth. Of magic and self.

I waited until the last minute to tell Talant where I was going. He’d been hovering near me all day, watching me with those bronze eyes. I understood how prey felt when they realized the tiger was watching them in preparation to pounce.

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