Taken by the Blood God (Devil Springs #4)

Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

Talant

I fought the urge to leap to my feet and follow Minerva. I hated knowing that I disappointed her. Knowing that she thought so little of me. I hated that I’d spoken the truth, yet she dismissed it as sarcasm. But it was probably for the best that she thought me egotistical and irritating. For her protection. And mine.

I forced myself to remain still until I heard her bedroom door shut. Then, I got to my feet and carried my empty plate and milk glass to the sink. I washed them, thinking about all the deceit I’d perpetrated in the past two weeks.

Minerva had no idea what she’d brought into her home. If she did, she wouldn’t taunt me the way she had. In fact, she would have done her damnedest to trap me beneath that mountain as soon as I was freed.

Instead, she allowed me to come home with her, and to take care of her while she healed from the damage my brother had done. I wasn’t happy with him about that, and it would be discussed when I saw him in the flesh. Probably with my fists.

There was also the fact that I had exaggerated my ignorance of modern times. It was a blessing that Ally, Minerva’s niece and my Anointed, was recently mated to a gargoyle. If Ally was still living here, she would have revealed that my lack of knowledge was nothing but a con.

When Minerva realized I’d never eaten a cookie or cake before, her face and eyes had softened. The way she’d looked at me—it took my breath away. Then, she’d gone out of her way to make sweet treats for me, including the chocolate cake I’d devoured when she came into the kitchen tonight.

But I’d lied when I pretended ignorance. I might have been slumbering beneath that mountain for over a millennium, but I still saw the world change around me. I knew what a fucking cookie was.

It was selfish and stupid, but I liked the way she looked at me when she thought I was experiencing something new. Her guard dropped, and those thorns she wore as armor retracted.

Minerva was unlike any woman I’d ever known. She was extraordinary in the simplest ways.

She took the time to experience things. From the way she savored her tea to the way she would go outside every day to experience the early morning sun, Minerva didn’t just exist, she lived .

In all the years I’d been walking the earth or slumbering beneath it, I’d forgotten to live. I’d taken it for granted. Me, who had been granted the rarest gifts of power and eternity.

Being with Minerva reminded me that I shouldn’t take my time for granted. I had more time than any human, yet I had done nothing useful with it. Not for others and not for myself.

I’d succumbed to shame when I locked myself beneath the earth.

It was time for me to stop running away from what I had been in the past. The only thing I could control now was my present. And my future.

I walked outside into the backyard and settled on one of the Adirondack chairs Minerva arranged around her firepit. I looked up at the sky, staring at the stars. I needed to relax and focus for the magic to work.

I gathered my power, focusing on my brother. A connection must be established first. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes.

It was going to take a great deal of power to pull my brother’s consciousness from where he was imprisoned. The wards around him were difficult to penetrate. Not impossible but difficult. Especially since he was significantly weaker than he once was. He wouldn’t be able to help me, to boost my magic with his own.

I hadn’t been lying when I told Minerva that the warlocks were draining him. While we were powerful as gods, our power was still finite. There was an end to it. And he was rapidly reaching that end.

There. I felt the spark of his mind. While his magic was weakening, it was still the brightest light in the dimness of the human realm. I could almost see the furious purple light of his consciousness as I narrowed my focus.

My body seemed to fall away as I yanked him free from the cage of the wards, bringing his mind to me.

“Brother.”

Though it wasn’t intentional, the landscape in my mind looked like the cave where I’d slept for over a thousand years. I didn’t have enough power to project anything more comfortable. My power was closed off, a trickle rather than the raging river it once had been. My years of slumber had created a disconnect. My power was returning to me, but it was slower than I would have liked.

I turned around and found my brother lounging against one of the boulders that rested against the curved wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his ankles were crossed as well. If I didn’t know him as well as I did, I would have thought he was the picture of relaxation.

“Brother,” I replied.

We stared at each other in the darkness, neither of us speaking.

“Have you come to free me?” he finally asked.

I shook my head. “You know I can’t. We need the witch.”

He sighed. It was a heavy sound. “And she won’t do it, will she?”

His words were devoid of emotion. Of anything. They were flat and even heavier than his sigh. It was the sound of a man who had given up hope.

“Actually, she will help, but she has some conditions first.”

Some of his apathy dissipated. He straightened, no longer leaning on the boulder, and his arms fell to his sides. But he didn’t speak.

“She wants your true name,” I said.

His chin jerked back as though I’d slapped him. Minerva gaining his true name would give her the ability to imprison him again. After hundreds of years, I knew he wouldn’t want another to have that sort of power over him again.

“What?” he whispered.

I held up a hand before I continued. “And she wants to bind you to the town.”

“ What ?” he asked, his voice no longer a whisper.

He was shouting now.

“Why are you bargaining with the witch?” he continued, waving his arms around as he paced back and forth in front of the boulder.

Violet sparks showered from his fingertips, his magic leaking due to his emotional turmoil. My hold on my magic slipped. Just a bit.

I tensed, tightening my mental grip on the power, but the seed of fatigue was sprouting.

“Just form a blood bond with her and force her to do your bidding!”

It was a testament to how weakened he’d become that the amethyst light emitting from his hands was his only show of magic. In the old days, the entire mountain would have quaked beneath the force of his ire.

We were both the weakest we’d ever been. Yet I didn’t want to go back to the past, to return to the creature I’d left behind.

“I will never be that man again,” I replied, my voice softer than his.

He noticed the underlying stone beneath my words and stopped pacing.

“Brother,” he began, walking toward me, his hands held out in a conciliatory gesture. “We are not men. We are gods. We do as we please.”

I shook my head in response. “No, we don’t. Not anymore.”

He stared at me, his face partially shadowed. I couldn’t see his expression, but the air around him rippled as though his magic flexed and displaced it.

Once again, my hold on this place wavered, causing the walls to shift and blink out of sight before they returned a moment later.

My brother looked around before bringing his eyes back to me. He knew I was barely hanging on, but he seemed determined not to let this go.

With a sigh, I continued, “The world is a very different place. And I’m different as well. We can no longer make demands of the humans the way we once did. Nor can we make them bend to our will. We cannot act with impunity any longer. The humans outnumber us, and our friends are precious few.”

My brother remained silent, staring at me with his hands fisted tightly at his side.

“I want to free you, brother, but not at the expense of what I’ve worked so hard to become. And the trust I’ve earned.”

“I am your brother, not just in power but in blood, and you’re refusing to free me.”

He was no longer yelling. No, his words were cold, piercing the air like icicles.

“I can’t free you. Only Minerva can. And considering how you treated her and her niece, she’s not inclined to do so. I’ve convinced her to do it, but she’s insistent on her terms. That is not my doing, but yours.”

He took a ragged breath before moving closer. Close enough that the fury in his eyes burned away the shadows surrounding his face. Purple fire danced around his irises.

“Talant, if you care for me, you will free me.”

I shook my head. “I cannot.”

This conversation was going nowhere, so I brought up the one thing that I knew would break through his hard head. I was growing too weak to continue holding his consciousness here.

“She’s a Conduit,” I stated. “That is why she’s the only one who can free you.”

“You mean?—”

I nodded, and he stopped speaking. His jaw tensed as he stared me down.

Finally, he said, “Very well. Give the witch my true name, and tell her I will submit to her other…” He waved a hand, “demand.”

“Thank you, brother.” I held my hand out to him.

He stared down at my palm, his face tight, before he finally grasped my wrist with his hand. I curled my fingers around his wrist, holding tight.

“Don’t wait too long, brother,” he stated. “I don’t know how much time I have left.”

“I’m coming, Davian. You will be free soon.”

The walls around us shimmered before they vanished into darkness. My brother’s arm became nothing but a tingle against my hand.

As he faded from view, my magic no longer able to hold him here with me, he said, “See you soon.”

“You will, Davian.”