Taken by the Blood God (Devil Springs #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Minerva

I couldn’t sleep.

Since I’d woken up on the floor of the cave after Ally healed me, something just wasn’t right. I felt restless and uneasy, as though I was missing a vital part of my body or memory.

I turned over in my bed again, trying to find a comfortable position. To find the peace that I usually felt every night.

But it wasn’t possible.

Finally, I sighed and tossed back my blankets, climbing out of bed.

I would make myself a cup of herbal tea. My own personal blend that I drank when the voices in my head got too loud and the world seemed too bright. It always helped me relax and eased my anxiety.

I slipped a light cotton robe over my silky nightgown and left the bedroom, my footsteps nearly silent on the stairs.

I walked through my quiet house, listening to the peace of the spring night. Devil Springs wasn’t always quiet at night, especially during the week of a full moon, but tonight, it was perfectly calm and still.

Almost unnaturally so.

When I entered the kitchen, my steps stuttered.

He was there, stretched out in one of the chairs at my kitchen table, a glass of milk and a plate holding a huge slice of chocolate cake in front of him.

“You’re up late,” I murmured, getting over my surprise as quickly as I could.

“I wanted something sweet,” Talant replied, his velvety voice filling the kitchen even though he spoke softly.

The way he said it made me think the sweet thing he wanted had nothing to do with cake.

I didn’t want him to know when he caught me off guard. Or that he affected me at all.

It wasn’t because he was a god. And not just any god, but one of blood magic. The magic that I had a strong affinity for.

It wasn’t even because he was so beautiful that I could barely look at him. His eyes were everchanging—dark gold one moment, amber the next. When he was angry or calling his power, they went bronze, streaked with deeper red tones of ruby and garnet. His face was composed of sharp angles and tawny skin surrounded by thick black hair that nearly swept his shoulders.

He should have been too pretty, almost feminine, but he wasn’t. His body was built with hard muscle, lean enough to move quickly, but large enough to intimidate. I knew because he rarely wore a shirt or pants. He tended to walk through the house in nothing more than a pair of cotton athletic shorts. If he changed them out for a loincloth, he would have been declared an ancient barbarian god.

None of that truly unsettled me.

No, it was because there was something familiar about him. As though I’d known him my entire life. And maybe for lifetimes before that.

It was clear that I couldn’t ask him about that. Any time I tried to learn more about him or his past he would shut me down or change the subject, but never in a nasty way.

No, Talant would flirt or smirk or say something unbelievably arrogant to distract me and then pretend I’d never asked him anything at all.

His evasiveness combined with my lack of visions was making me edgy. And I didn’t like to feel edgy. In fact, I strove to be in constant control of my emotions.

It had taken me two decades to harness my magic. I didn’t feel as though the premonitions and the intuitive magic were driving me insane. It had also taken me that long to recognize that my abilities with blood magic were nothing to be ashamed of. And that the stigma attached to it by the coven in Devil Springs was unfounded.

I had finally settled into my power and into myself. I had created my place here, and I was happy with it. And with myself. But Talant’s presence was stirring all of my emotions up again, making me question myself and my control—making me anxious and knocking me off balance.

I set about making myself a cup of tea, taking the smoked glass jar that held my special blend out of the cabinet next to the stove.

I ignored the shiver that wanted to crawl down my spine and put the kettle on to boil.

I also ignored the fact that I’d been making him cakes, cookies, pies, and other assorted treats since he’d awakened in that cave and come home with me. The first night, when I’d been too tired to do anything, he’d gone through the kitchen and put together a plate of fruit and cheese for me to eat in bed. He’d also brought a plate with a few cookies on it, asking me what they were.

Once I explained, I’d offered to let him try one. When he did, his eyes lit up, and he’d smiled as though he’d discovered something marvelous. He asked me where I got them, and I told him I’d made them. The way he looked at me in that moment…it had made my knees weak.

As soon as I had regained my strength, I’d started making him treats. Even on the days I was ready to cast a spell that would trap him back under that damn mountain because he was driving me absolutely bonkers.

“Why are you still awake?” he asked. For once, his question didn’t have a sarcastic edge. He sounded as though he cared.

“I’m not sure,” I answered, pouring hot water over the tea ball resting in my cup.

“Did you have a bad dream?”

I shook my head. “No. I haven’t been able to fall asleep yet.”

He fell silent. When I finished making my tea and turned around, I found him watching me closely, the plate that held his cake empty. He must have inhaled it.

I didn’t want to, but I walked over to the table and took the chair on the opposite end, facing him. I grabbed the honey from the center of the table and drizzled some into my cup.

He waited until I’d taken my first sip of tea before he said, “We need to talk about my brother.”

I lowered my cup, the flavor of lemon and herbs on my tongue. “What about him?”

“About how we’ll free him.”

I put the mug down on the table with a snap, the tea sloshing over the side and spilling across the scarred wood. “We’re not freeing him. He threatened to kill me, and he could have killed my niece with his asinine plan to have her wake you.”

A muscle in Talant’s jaw ticked as he stared at me. His eyes brightened. Their gold color was now tinged with a hint of ruby light.

“I gave him my vow that I would come for him soon, and it’s been two weeks. You needed that time to recuperate from your ordeal, but now we must act.”

“I won’t help you,” I argued.

He sighed. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”

“And why is that?” I asked, my question biting.

“Because you’re the Conduit of the goddess who imprisoned him, and only your power is capable of setting him free.”