Page 162 of Between Soul and Vessel
A small smile touched my lips.Territorial male.
He placed the soap on the edge of the tub, picked up my left arm, and slid the cloth over my skin. As he did it, he asked, “How do you feel abouteverything?”
“About you sticking your thumb in my butt?” I quipped, unable to help myself.
“The intensity of your orgasm told me everything I need to know.” He tacked on, “Smart-ass.”
I chuckled. We both did. Then I asked, “Where did you learn to do that?”
“Do you really want to know the answer to that question?” he challenged softly.
I thought about it. The idea of him doing that withanother woman had me seeing red. I shook my head. “No, you’re right. I don’t.”
“That’s what I thought.” He lowered my arm into the water and turned his attention to the other one. “I’m talking about everything Naia told us.”
“I haven’t really had time to think about everything yet,” I answered honestly.
“You have time now.”
“I don’t even know where to start.” Wasn’t that the truth?
“Alright, I’ll go first. What are your thoughts on what she said about the Creator being your father?”
“I don’t know what to make of that. What do you think?” I asked, looking up at him.
He glanced down at me. “I think it’s true. When she was telling us the history of your origin, I didn’t detect any lies. Not only that, but I’ve watched you, Sage. You have an unfathomable amount of untapped power, power I believe surpasses my own. I’ve seen little glimpses of it, here and there.” He paused. “For example, when the stone giant hurtled the slab of land at you and the others. Out of nowhere, you created a mountain, just like that. I believe you are more powerful than either of us know. So yes, I do believe you are the daughter of the Creator.”
Face shifting back down, I stared at the ancient symbols etched into the wall. I sat with that for a moment. I needed to.
If I was truly the Creator’s daughter, what did that mean for me? If the Mother Realm had the same hereditarymonarchy laws as the Three Realms, it would make me heir to his throne—a throne overtaken by the empress, who was technically . . . my stepmother. Her ruthless laws had destroyed these lands and made so many suffer.
A heavy weight fell over my shoulders, pushing them down.
“Talk to me,” Von said, dipping the cloth back into the water, warming it.
“If I’m his daughter, does that mean it is my responsibility to fix this broken world?” I asked, the words bearing even more weight the moment I freed them from my tongue.
Von lowered his cheek to the side of my head. “No, it’s not your responsibility. Who your parents were does not define who you have to be.” He dropped the cloth into the water and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly.
I needed it.
I felt some of that pressure ease, but not all of it. My fingers intertwined with his.
“Can I be honest?” I asked, my voice small, as if the walls might judge me for what I was about to admit.
“Always.”
“I feel for those who have to live in this world, I do. It is not right, what the empress is doing to them.” I took a breath. “The Sage who grew up in the cottage would want to stay here and see if she could help make this world better, but . . . the Sage I am now? All I want to do is find our baby’s soul and go home to the Three Realms as a family. Does that make me horrible? For wanting that?”
“That doesn’t make you horrible at all, my love,” Von answered. “Putting your needs before others is okay to do, especially in this situation. You have lost so much, and now, you just want what we once had—a second start at a family. It’s okay to let that be the thing that drives you. The rest is just noise.”
“Says the villain.”
“Saysyour husbandwho wants what’s best for you,” he corrected me.
I grinned at that, glancing at the rings on our fingers.
We spoke for some time after that, and when Von finished washing every inch of me, he dried my skin and carried me to the bedroom. He brushed my hair, braided it, and then we crawledinto bed.
