Taken by the Blood God (Devil Springs #4)

Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

Minerva

Our planning session ended up being short.

Mostly because we both realized we had no idea what we were up against yet, so it wasn’t an efficient use of our time to argue over our plans now.

The entire time we talked Talant acted as though what had happened earlier, well, hadn’t occurred. In fact, he said nothing even the slightest bit flirtatious. Not a single innuendo or smoldering look. Both of which were typical for him.

I should have been relieved. I should have been moving on. But my brain was stuck on the things I felt with him earlier and the words he said to me after.

If he really felt that way, why had he withdrawn so completely?

Was I being ridiculous? Absolutely.

But after several years of celibacy and now the strongest orgasm of my life, it was understandable that I felt discombobulated. At least, that’s what I told myself.

Once it was established that we couldn’t make plans until we knew what we were dealing with, Talant called downstairs and asked Gerald for a map of the town. The man brought it up within a few minutes, all smiles and asking if we needed anything else. It was strange and disconcerting, especially since I knew he’d never met Talant before. Yet he acted like he was a regular guest at this hotel. A familiar one.

It was a frightening type of magic that could accomplish that with no potion, without even a direct line-of-sight to the target. Talant had cast this spell from half a mile away at a diminished capacity. Now that he was back to full strength, what would he be capable of? Would I be putting the people of Devil Springs at risk by bringing him and his brother back to the town?

I had to push that thought to the side. One problem at a time. But I would keep it in mind as we dealt with the warlocks siphoning power from Davian. I needed to have my own back-up plan if things went awry.

Well, when things went awry, not if. Because it was guaranteed something was going to go wrong. It always did.

The table was too small to lay the map flat, so Talant spread it on the end of the bed, smoothing out the folds as best he could. I opened my mouth to offer a scrying spell, but he waved his hand over the map, whispering words in a language I didn’t recognize.

Though I didn’t understand what he said, I knew it was an incantation by the way magic began to sizzle in the air around us. Talant’s power felt hot, like the noon sun in the summer. Waves of heat that would burn you if you were exposed to them for too long.

I’d never felt anything like it before, except for his brother’s power. Davian’s magic wasn’t hot, but it crackled and sparked like electricity. Or lightning.

The hot air around us gathered, centering over the map. As I watched, a small mark appeared on the page, maybe a mile outside of town.

“Is that where Davian’s prison is?” I asked.

Talant nodded. The expenditure of magic seemed to have no effect on him this time. If anything, he seemed even more vibrant and invigorated at the use of his power.

I walked away from him and started gathering a few snacks and bottles of water from the mini bar.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “We just had lunch, and we need to go see what kinds of wards and guards they have in place.”

I shot him a wry glance. “We are. I’m just making sure that I won’t starve or pass out from dehydration while we’re there.”

“What?”

I sighed. I knew that he wasn’t as ignorant of our time as he pretended. The man slipped up way too often, using modern phrasing and recognizing things he shouldn’t have after over a thousand years underground. But this was getting moronic.

And he wondered why I didn’t trust him.

“Tal, not all of us are immortal gods who have no need of food or water. I need to eat every so often and stay hydrated, or my body becomes weak. If my body is weak, my magic must work overtime to keep me moving, which means I have less reserve to cast spells or fight off an attack.” I lifted the small bag of snacks and water I’d packed. “Which means I need to bring sustenance with me if we’re going to stake out a warlock coven for the next twenty-four hours or more.”

He blinked at me. “But you’re a Conduit.”

I bit back the urge to scream. Was he deliberately being obtuse?

“And I still don’t know how to use that power yet. You’ve barely explained it to me. I’ve let it lie because I wasn’t ready to deal with it, but now I have no choice. So, how about, while we’re watching the warlock coven, you give me a rundown of how being a Conduit works?”

I tried to keep my voice calm as I spoke to him but knew that I was failing.

“Of course. You’re right.”

It was my turn to blink at him as though I’d never seen him before.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?” I asked.

“I said, of course. You’re right.”

“Just like that?”

He frowned in confusion. “Just like what?”

“You just admitted I was right.”

“And?” he drawled, obviously still lost.

“Nothing,” I answered, shaking my head. “Nothing. I just didn’t expect you to concede the point so easily. You rarely do on anything else.”

A smirk tugged at his mouth. “Only because I enjoy the look you get on your face when you argue with me.”

I stared at him, half-angry and half-amused.

“See? That look right there. Like you don’t know if you want to laugh or turn me into a toad. It’s cute.”

Okay, the half-amused part was completely gone. I was just angry.

“Don’t tell me I’m cute when I’m angry,” I snapped. “Or being a toad will be the least of your worries.”

“How’s that?” he asked, still smirking.

I smiled back, batting my eyelashes at him. “Because I wouldn’t bother with something so trivial. I’d probably make all the hair on your body fall out before I cast a spell to seal your lips shut.”

His smirk turned into a wide, white smile. That smile made him look younger. Softer. And all too human.

I growled at him. There was no other word for the sound that rumbled in the back of my throat. By the goddess, I was spending too much time around shifters if I was resorting to their habits.

“Vicious. I like that trait in a woman.”

Oh, how I wanted to wipe that smile off his face.

My fingertips itched as they turned cold. I glanced down and saw pale blue light emitting from them and a thin coat of ice appeared, coating the pads and nails of my fingers as though I’d dipped them in water and they’d flash-frozen.

“What on earth?” I breathed.

“There it is,” he murmured.

He came over to me, stopping a few inches away. I was holding my hand up in front of my face, examining the ice. He reached out and cupped it, turning my palm toward him so he could see.

“There’s what?” I asked, trying to ignore how hot his palm felt against the back of my hand, and how my body and my magic reacted to the warmth of his power. I would have expected our magic to clash and spark since they were so opposed. He was fire, and I seemed to be ice.

Instead, his heat flowed through me, and I felt the chill of my skin seep into him. For a moment, our power wove together, tangling intimately. It was almost like a dance, his fire and my ice in sync as it moved. Like two lovers who had been parted for too long and were finally coming together again. I gasped, and the sensation stopped. My magic pulled away from him, settling within me again.

“You accessed your Conduit powers,” he explained. “The goddess whose magic flows through you—she was like a cool breeze, calming and fresh. But, when you angered her, she could chill you to the bone.”

He released my hand and stepped back. “But she was compassionate and gentle so that type of anger was rare.”

I might be compassionate, but I’d never been accused of gentleness. Except with Ally. Curious about the goddess whose powers I’d inherited, I asked, “How rare?”

His face went blank, his eyes losing their burnished bronze color and becoming a bleak brown. “Only once.”

He’d said he loved her. And the way he shut down told me that whatever happened between them—it was bad. I didn’t know how to handle that expression on his face or the wall he’d retreated behind, so I did what I always did when things became tense or awkward. I changed the subject.

“We should probably go,” I murmured, keeping my voice soft. “Your brother is waiting.”

Talant stared down at me. I could tell by the way his eyes searched my face that he was thinking hard about something. But he kept it to himself. Thank the goddess. I wasn’t sure I could deal with any more of his raw confessions today.

It might have been barely past lunchtime in Texas, but in England (which I’d found out based on the map’s labeling), it was six hours ahead. Which meant the sun would set in two or three hours. I preferred to find our stake-out spot in the daylight.

After a few tense moments, he nodded. “Let’s go.”