Page 66 of Taken By the Blood God

“That sounds good,” I replied, picking up the cup to take a sip.

As usual, the coffee was perfect. Marjorie might be a banshee, but her food and drinks were sheer magic. Well, not really magic, it was skill, but she was the best, and we were blessed to have her in our little town.

“Let’s see,” Sela muttered. “We have brownies, snickerdoodle cookies, macarons…oh, she put in some fried pies, too! There’s apple, peach, and chocolate.”

“I’ll take a chocolate fried pie.”

Sela looked up at me and grinned as she handed one to me.

While I took a bite of the fried pie, Sela dug a snickerdoodle out of the bag.

We ate our treats in silence for a few minutes. My body relaxed as the taste of chocolate and coffee mingled on my tongue.

“Okay, now that we’ve had the first hit,” Sela said. “I have a question for you.”

“Shoot,” I said before I took another bite.

“You told me what happened but not how you feel about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“How do you feel about all the things that have happened lately? About Talant?”

My stomach twisted at her question. I hadn’t really thought about it. As soon as I realized that my chest joined my stomach in writhing. I had no idea how I felt. About any of it. About what happened in the cave. Talant. Davian. Even Ally being mated and never coming back to our house. My house.

With shaking hands, I tucked the last bite of the chocolate fried pie in my mouth and chewed. The bite seemed to dry out in my mouth, so I washed it down with a swallow of iced coffee. Sela watched me silently as I did all this, her expression sympathetic. Finally, I swallowed the pastry and chocolate in a hard gulp.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

It was the first time in decades that I wasn’t in touch with my emotions. Since my power had manifested at the age of thirteen, I’d sought to identify how I felt, especially when my life was so chaotic. Understanding and moving through emotions was the only way a witch could control her power. A witch without control was a danger to everyone around her. Maybe that was the problem. I’d exerted so much control that I’d completely distanced myself from how I truly felt. I wasn’t in touch with my emotions because they were on the other side of the wall I’d built around my heart. To keep others, no,myselfsafe.

“I haven’t thought about it before today,” I continued.

“So, think about it now,” she replied.

This called for more chocolate. I reached out and snagged a brownie. Marjorie made the best I’d ever tasted. I couldn’t quite figure out how to make mine taste as good, though I knew she added a dash of instant espresso powder and a little extra vanilla.

I broke off a corner and popped it into my mouth. The fudgy goodness seemed to melt on my tongue. As I savored it, I tried to sort through my tangled emotions, but they slipped through my fingers like thin threads of silk. I broke off another piece ofthe brownie as soon as I swallowed the first. It still didn’t help me figure out how I was feeling. Defeated, I slumped down in my chair and looked at Sela.

“I can’t do it. Every time I try to name my emotions or untangle them, it’s like they shift away. The inside of my head is so chaotic and messy.”

“That’s because falling in love is chaotic and messy,” Sela said, popping an entire macaron into her mouth.

Suddenly, I was no longer slouching. I was sitting stiff and straight, staring at her in disbelief. “I’m not falling in love. Who would I be falling in love with?”

She arched a brow at me and smirked. “An arrogant blood god with a smoking hot body and a tendency to bite?”

I shook my head. “No. No. Absolutely not. Whatever is between us is too…too furious and crazy to be love. Real love is warm and sweet. It’s gentle. Not toxic and…and…” I threw up a hand. “Whatever the hell he and I have. It hurts just as much as it feels good.”

I followed Sela’s example and shoved the rest of my huge brownie in my mouth, chewing viciously.

The smirk on her face faded and she leaned forward to put her hand on mine. “Minerva, I realize that you’re my mentor in all things magical, but I’m going to say something, and I want you to really listen to me.”

I nodded, still chewing.

Sela’s fingers wrapped a bit tighter around mine. “You said that things between you and Talant are furious, and they hurt. That love should be sweet and gentle.”

I kept nodding as I swallowed the brownie.

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