Page 77 of Taken By the Blood God

The magic within me twisted and writhed, wanting to seek out the source of my pain and destroy it. But I couldn’t allow that. As much as he’d hurt me, I didn’t want to hurt him in return.

His eyes burned into mine, but I didn’t give him a chance to answer me.

“It was never about me,” I said. “And that’s a betrayal I can’t forgive.” I didn’t hesitate another moment. I used the magic overflowing inside of me to open a portal back to my house. Until I’d accessed my Conduit powers…Cassia’s magic…it would have expended too much magic. But now, I had power to spare.

Once I was there, I cast a spell to keep them out. I didn’t want to see Talant or his brother again. Maybe for the rest of my life.

Chapter

Thirty-One

Talant

“I see you didn’t take my advice.”

I didn’t take my eyes from the spot where Minerva had vanished before my eyes. I couldn’t stop seeing the hurt and betrayal on her face. Or hearing the way her voice broke when she told me that she could never forgive me.

“Brother.”

As he spoke, Davian laid a hand on my shoulder. I flinched, unable to control the reaction. My brother sighed, heavy and resigned. “Why didn’t you talk to her?” he asked.

It was the first time in centuries that he sounded like he once had—before we became so power-hungry and jaded. He sounded like an honorable man. A warrior. A protector.

“I did talk to her,” I said. “I didn’t tell her everything because I knew it would be too much. I told her about our past and how I ascended to a throne before I became a god. How we met Cassia. How we each found our way entombed in stone, whether by choice or force. I intended to tell her the rest. Just…not yet.”

“I’d say you waited too late.”

I didn’t have the energy to be angry with him. Or even frustrated. I rubbed my chest. The pain behind my sternum wasfierce—a mixture of my own heartbreak and the sense of betrayal Minerva was feeling. I forced myself to build a wall between her emotions and mine. Not for my sake, but hers. If I could sense what she was feeling, she could feel me as well. She didn’t deserve to feel this pain.

I did.

I’d made so many mistakes in the past that I thought I’d learned everything I needed to know. Until I met my little witch.

My brother often said love made people stupid. At the time, I thought he meant that they made decisions out of a desire to please the other person. Now, I realized he meant that love made us stupid because we believed that we were protecting our love by hiding things that might hurt the other person. By keeping secrets or interfering in an effort to save them stress or harm—we ended up hurting them even more.

I had been stupid. Exceptionally so. I believed that if I’d given Minerva enough time to see me, to love me, that she would understand why I hadn’t been completely honest with her.

I’d also hoped she would see that I wasn’t the same any longer, that I had changed. I let my fear get the best of me.

“Give her a little time,” Davian said, interrupting my self-flagellation.

“I’m not sure a decade would be long enough. Nor that I could wait that long for her to forgive me.”

He shook his head, looking around at the clearing. “I doubt it will take that long. She hides it well, but the witch loves you.”

“I’m not sure that she does,” I murmured, following his gaze and taking in the smoldering piles of ash.

“That’s because you’re afraid to look too hard. You don’t want to see what she really feels in case it’s not what you want.”

I frowned at him. “Thank you for your words of wisdom, brother, but I think you’ve said enough tomake me feel better.”

Davian shook his head. “I’m not telling you all of this to make you feel better. You fucked up. You need to acknowledge that. That will be the first step to your apology to Minerva.”

I cocked my head to the side. “I think that’s the first time you’ve used her name in my presence.”

“Well, the witch will be my brother’s mate at some point. I should probably learn her name before it happens.” How he could be so brutally honest yet optimistic at the same time, I didn’t understand.

“Okay, so I acknowledge I fucked up. Any other advice?”

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