Page 58 of Taken By the Blood God

His words hurt. Not only because he admitted that he loved this Cassia, but also because it was clear that it hurt him to admit she didn’t love him the way he loved her. Whatever relationship they had, he wanted it to be something more.

“Then, why are you refusing to leave her and go your own way? There are plenty of willing women who would do anything you asked. Even goddesses would offer whatever your heart desired just to see you smile.”

“She makes me better,” Talant admitted. “For her, I want to be better. I see the world differently when we are together, and I do not want to go back to who I once was.”

“Fine,” Davian said. The single word was rife with frustration. “I give up. I am not going to stay here and watch you follow her around like a lost puppy. When you come to your senses, you will be able to find me.”

I lay still, listening to their voices fade as they left the room.

Once they were gone I opened my eyes expecting to see rough walls and rustic furniture. Instead, I lay on a soft mattress covered in a finely woven blanket and silky sheets. Strange.

I blinked, and suddenly reality snapped into place. I was home in my own bed, sprawled across Talant’s bare chest, one ofmy legs thrown across his with my knee resting on the mattress between his thighs.

Why had I expected to see a primitive single room structure with hand-hewn wooden furniture? The dream had been peculiar. Not because of its content, but because it felt soreal. Not like a dream at all. More like a…memory.

For some reason, the steady thump of Talant’s heart beneath my ear didn’t comfort me. I rolled away from him, facing the window that looked out over my side yard. I noticed the curtain was closed and realized Talant must have done it during the night. They had been open when I went to sleep.

Talant rolled over, curling his body around mine. His arm settled across my waist, pulling me as close as possible. It was as if he wanted maximum contact, even in his sleep.

For such a powerful creature, his need to remain close to me surprised me. And it humanized him. If I viewed him as arrogant and aloof, it was easy to keep the distance between us. But, when he vowed that he belonged to me, when he made himself vulnerable, the wall I’d built between us cracked and began to crumble.

No, I was lying to myself. I’d been melting toward him since the day he brought me home. I’d made sure he had clothes and toiletries. I made him cake and cookies. Despite how angry I’d been about his brother and how they’d treated my niece, I wanted to show him what he’d been missing in his time asleep—how it felt to have someone care.

My thoughts went back to my dream. My gifts were usually geared toward the future. I could see things unfold, threads that wove together, spreading far and wide like a spider’s web. But I wondered if maybe the opposite side of that coin was the past. Was I seeing Talant’s past? If so, why?

He freely admitted that he was not proud of who he had been before he’d trapped himself within that mountain, that he was much more like his brother.

If Davian, now and from my dream, was any indication of what Talant had been like, I was glad I hadn’t known him.

I had many flaws, but the worst was my ability to hold grudges. It was something I worked on since Ally had come to live with me. I didn’t want to hold someone’s past mistakes against them, especially if they were truly penitent.

Everything changed. Even people. They could learn and grow. At least, if they wanted to. Based on Talant’s words and actions since Ally woke him, he regretted his past and his statements that he wanted to be different were sincere. It was much easier to give him the benefit of a doubt since I didn’t know him as he once was.

Talant’s arm squeezed me tighter, stealing my breath. “Your thoughts are very heavy, little witch,” he murmured against my shoulder.

“Are you listening to them?” I asked, wondering if he possessed the talent of telepathy. I hoped not. I didn’t like the notion that he could pluck the thoughts from my mind whenever he wanted.

“No, but I swear I can feel the weight of them against my skin.” He reached up and swept the hair off my neck, placing his lips against my throat. “Are you having regrets?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I answered honestly. “I wasn’t thinking about that.”

“What were you thinking about?”

I decided to be honest. A lie of omission would be easier, but I’d never taken the easy way out in my life.

“What you were like before,” I answered.

Talant froze, his body tightening behind mine. Then, his hand went to my shoulder, rolling me over onto my back. He propped himself up on an elbow and looked down at me.

“Why?”

The room was darker than usual with the blinds closed, so I couldn’t see his face clearly. Only the gleam of his bronze eyes pierced the shadows.

“Because I wondered what you were like, if you were as bad as you insinuate.”

Talant inhaled sharply. “Why would you care?”

I shifted so that I was turned more toward him. Turning my head was giving me a crick in my neck.

---