Page 76 of Taken By the Blood God

He didn’t say anything else, just turned and gestured at his minions. They all moved quickly, each grabbing me roughly and detaching the shackles from the stakes in the ground.

Air left my lungs on a deep grunt when they turned me over and pinned me face down in the dirt. Rope was wrapped around my wrists and tied to the stakes before the shackles were unlocked from my wrists. As soon as the metal was removed, I felt a low thrum fill my bloodstream. Heat and rage echoed in my mind, but they didn’t belong to me. They belonged to Talant. Somehow, I could feel his emotions.

The fucking blood exchange. He said it wouldn’t connect us, but he must have lied. I should have known better than to believe him.

A split second later, triumph joined the anger and fire that filled him. He knew where I was, and he was coming for me.I didn’t need my clairvoyance to understand that. There was a connection between us now, and he wanted me to know.

Any other time, I would have been pissed that he lied to me about our blood exchange. Right now, I was just glad that help was on the way. I would make him pay later though.

A hand gripped my hair, tugging my head back.

“If you try anything other than calling them, I will let my coven take turns with you until you wish you were dead,” the warlock hissed. Considering this guy ran away when he realized he was losing his coven to two gods, I didn’t feel the need to fight back just yet. Especially since the gods in question were on their way here. No, I would give him exactly what he wanted.

“I understand,” I murmured, trying to appear suitably afraid instead of pissed the hell off. He smirked again and released my hair.

As soon as he stood, chaos exploded in the clearing. Fire and black smoke engulfed the warlocks surrounding me. Screams rent the air before being cut off abruptly. I tried to lift my head higher and twist it so I could see. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Talant moving toward me, flames running from his hands, up his arms, dancing in an invisible wind. Davian was right behind him, arcs of purple lightning sparking at his fingertips.

I sensed the trap too late to warn them. One moment, they were running in my direction and the next they were frozen in place, their bodies hovering a few feet in the air.

I’d never seen magic like this before. It was violent and so black that I wanted to shrink away from it. I didn’t want to know what sort of workings the warlocks had done to set these traps, the sacrifice of blood it would have demanded.

The warlock that I’d been speaking to had vanished as soon as the trouble started, but now he emerged from the trees, looking confident and smug. My hands fisted as he saunteredover to Talant and Davian. They couldn’t move their heads as he walked around in front of them.

“Ah, I see it now. You’re brothers, aren’t you?” he asked, tucking his hands in his pockets. He seemed completely unbothered by the burnt bodies of his coven scattering the clearing. And by the fact that he was the only one left standing.

Anger swelled within me as I watched him step closer to Talant. Then, I realized he’d forgotten all about me and the fact that the shackles suppressing my magic had been removed. Power roiled inside me, growing and swelling, until I was so full that I felt like I would burst from it. Something inside me broke, a barrier I’d never sensed before. It shattered. The magic that flooded me was deeper and more vast than any ocean I could have imagined. My skin glowed with pale blue light. The light pulsed and shuddered.

Memories crashed through my mind then. My time as Cassia. My time with Talant and Davian. How desperately they’d both clung to me until I’d given them no other choice but to leave. The sorrow I felt when Talant buried himself so far away from me. The anger at Davian when his selfishness and recklessness had forced me to imprison him. Falling in love with a mortal man and giving up my godhood to be with him. My children. My grandchildren. A life full of love and laughter. The power that waited in the void for the one who would someday wield it. My Conduit. The one meant for my friend, Talant.

My body shook with the force of power that filled me. The ropes around my wrists and ankles frayed and vanished, dissolving into nothing, and I was suddenly on my feet. Wind shrieked through the clearing. The warlock whirled to face me, shocked and horrified. With a single gesture, he was swept off his feet and pinned to a tree thirty feet away. He tried to fight me, to curse me, to call on power from Davian and Talant, but he wasn’t strong enough to break my hold.

I strode to the circle that held the males who had come for me and thrust a hand through it, breaking its hold on the two gods inside. Talant reached for me, but I held up a hand, keeping him back. He looked me over, as though he was checking me for injuries. Before he could speak, a scream pierced the early morning air.

We faced the warlock who was still shrieking in agony. His skin was turning black as purple lightning surrounded his body. He continued to scream as his flesh shriveled and began to peel away.

I turned my back and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see his death. I couldn’t deny that he deserved to die. He’d killed people in his quest for power. He wouldn’t stop if he was given another chance. He would only continue down this path of darkness.

Finally, the screams ended.

When I turned back, the only thing left of the warlock and his coven was a pile of ashes. Davian stood over the ashes, his hands fisted. I could sense his power from here. He had taken back the magic that the coven had stolen from him.

“Minerva.”

Talant’s voice broke when he said my name. I looked at him, feeling the anger rising within me. Not Cassia’s anger. Mine. Goddess, I was so angry. Angry andhurt. He’d done exactly what I feared he would. He’d hurt me so badly I wasn’t sure I would ever recover.

“You lied to me,” I said, my voice shaking with my anger.

“I know.”

“You knew that I was Cassia reborn, and you saidnothing.”

He didn’t answer. His eyes were wet as he stepped closer to me. I moved back, keeping distance between us. I feared what I would do if he touched me, what the magic bucking inside me would do. With Cassia’s memories, I knew that I was thestrongest of the three of us, and I didn’t want to do something I might regret while my emotions ruled me.

Still, he said nothing.

Finally, the dam holding everything back split, and the questions filling my mind spilled out of my mouth.

“Was it ever really about me, Tal? Or was it about having your precious Cassia back? Only this time, she didn’t know that she shouldn’t fall in love with you in return, did she?”

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