Taken by the Blood God (Devil Springs #4)

Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

Talant

I wanted to believe the look on Minerva’s face was disappointment, but I couldn’t be sure. I wanted her to be disappointed.

But the little witch so rarely gave me what I wanted.

Her shimmering gold eyes narrowed. “This won’t allow you to track me or anything like that?”

I shook my head. It wasn’t an outright lie. But it wasn’t the complete truth either. I knew I would have to explain the truth to her eventually, but I wanted her healed and whole.

I wanted her to take my blood. Not only to heal her, but because she would carry a part of me with her forever. The few drops would carry a trace of my magic and remain with her until her death—which should be much, much later than the typical one- or two-hundred-year life span of a witch.

If they were not mortally injured, witches could live much longer than humans. But Minerva was different.

Her powers as a Conduit would allow her to have the lifespan of the god or goddess she channeled. Unless she gave up her power as Cassia had done. Then, her life would continue as expected until she passed from old age.

I refused to consider it. Minerva would accept her Conduit powers and use them. If for no other reason than the fact that her beloved niece would likely ascend to godhood. Especially since Ally’s mate was a gargoyle, and that species was all but impossible to kill.

“All right.”

It took me a moment to realize that Minerva was agreeing to take my blood. Without further argument. It was so unexpected I wasn’t sure what to say. Then, I recognized her words and knew I needed to do this as soon as possible because it was likely she could change her mind.

I allowed my fangs to drop and pressed my thumb to the sharp tip of one before I held it out before her face.

The little witch scowled at me. “I hope you at least washed your hands if you expect me to?—”

I didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence, merely shoved my thumb between her lips.

Like the witch she was, she sank her teeth into the base of my thumb—hard. I grunted and tried to ignore the way the sensation went straight to my dick. I focused on keeping the wound open for a few seconds, waiting until she swallowed around my thumb before I removed it.

I wasn’t going to think about how that made my cock twitch. This was for her health and her protection. When I pulled my hand away from her mouth, a drop of blood rested on her bottom lip. I couldn’t look away when her tongue came out to lick it away.

By the gods, she was killing me.

Her stare was murderous as she looked up at me.

“What in the hell was that?” she hissed.

“You only needed a few drops,” I stated. “I wasn’t about to stand there and argue with you when this was the most expedient way to handle?—”

It was her turn to interrupt me. A blast of icy power swept me off my feet and pinned me to the wall.

Clasping the front of her robe together with one hand, Minerva swept the blanket off her body and got to her feet. She stalked over to me, staring up at my face with scathing eyes.

“Do not EVER take a choice from me. God or not, I will end you.”

I tried to push back against the force of her power, but rage had allowed her to access the full depth of her magic. She held me in place with no more than a grunt.

“Am I understood?” she asked, her voice low and dangerous.

The sight of her in the dark blue silk robe, her fiery hair lying in a tangle over her shoulder and her golden eyes full of a chill so cold that it burned like fire made my heart pound in my chest.

She was everything Cassia had never been. Everything that I needed in this long, lonely existence.

Because of that, I would give her anything she asked for.

“Yes, little witch,” I murmured.

Her head cocked to the side as she continued to study me. “I can’t tell if you’re planning to set me on fire or kiss me if I release you.”

“I would never hurt you.”

Her hand lifted to the now-healed skin of her chest. My eyes dropped to the movement, and I winced.

“Never intentionally,” I amended.

Minerva took a step back, staring down at the flesh of her chest. The red mark was gone, leaving only smooth, pale skin behind. She turned her back to me, likely to pull the robe open wider. After a moment of looking down at herself, she wrapped the garment around her body and tied the belt.

Then, she faced me. She no longer looked angry, but her expression was intense.

“What are you doing, Tal?” she asked.

I shrugged, not quite sure what she was asking.

“Why are you acting this way?”

“I promised your niece I would take care of you. I nearly failed, and my actions caused you harm.”

“So, this is guilt?” Her hands flexed at her sides as she stared at me.

“No.”

“Then, what is this? You’re acting as though…” She trailed off, swallowing hard.

It was clear she didn’t want to give voice to her thoughts, so I finished them for her.

“As though I care about you? As though you belong to me?”

Again, her eyes narrowed, the light brown irises flashing with frustration.

“Yes,” she answered, her tone sharp.

I leaned forward, pushing against the power that held me to the wall. “I am. Because you are mine.”

From the close distance, I saw her pupils expand and the flush that crept from her chest up her neck to her cheeks. I heard how her pulse began to race, and her breathing became quick and shallow.

But, as quickly as the reaction began, she took a step back and a sense of calm enveloped the room, fueled by her magic. The invisible bonds holding me in place released me so abruptly that I stumbled forward a step.

Minerva straightened her spine, her hands at her sides. She looked every inch a goddess.

“Claiming I’m yours doesn’t make it so.”

Her tone was cold and distant as a glacier when she spoke. She wanted to put me in my place, but it was too late now.

I knew the taste of her blood, the feel of her power, and I wanted the rest. Her body. Her heart.

Her very soul.

“Then, I vow that I am yours,” I said. “All that I am belongs to you. And someday soon, you shall say the same to me.”

I knew that my vow would hold power in this place. It was part of the reason that I had chosen the cave nearby as my resting place. This town and the mountains surrounding it held a primal power. Vows made on this soil were binding until death.

Minerva stiffened at my vow, the flush in her cheeks fading away. She appeared fragile and uncertain.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she murmured. “Promises made in Devil Springs are?—”

“Promises kept, either by the magic of the town or the nature of the creature that makes them,” I stated over her.

Minerva shook her head. “Why would you do that? You will never…”

She stopped speaking, and her shaking hands fisted the ends of the sash cinched around her waist.

“Never be able to claim another. I know.”

My little witch turned her back on me, walking across the room before she halted in front of the window.

“I don’t think I will ever understand you,” she murmured. “Every time I think I have you figured out, you change. Like a virus.”

I had to bite back a smile at her comparison. If she thought it would offend me, she was wrong. She could never offend me. Except when she thought so little of me after I came to stay with her.

“I don’t change,” I argued. “I’ve stopped hiding behind your expectations.”

Minerva faced me. “My expectations?” she asked, her voice rising and cracking.

“I showed you what you expected to see. As long as I did, you felt safe enough with me.”

“You’re saying I expected you to be an arrogant ass?” she asked, fisting her hands by her sides.

“No,” I answered. “I am an arrogant ass. But that’s not what I’m talking about.”

She waved a hand at me. “Now you’re just trying to confuse and frustrate me, and I’m too tired to deal with it right now.”

I took a step forward. “No, I’m trying to show you more than you want to see.”

Minerva bit her lip. She suddenly looked young and vulnerable. I wanted to gather her into my arms, to comfort her.

“Just…leave me alone for a little while.” She backed away from me, heading toward her bathroom. “I need to shower anyway.”

“Little witch?—”

“No, Tal. I’m not arguing with you about this.”

I could see that she had made up her mind.

“Do you need anything?” I asked.

Minerva’s face was closed off, but I could still see the fast thrum of her pulse in her throat. As much as she wanted to remain unaffected, she couldn’t.

“No, I—” Her voice broke, so she cleared her throat. “I’ll be fine.”

I nodded and walked to the door of her room, putting my hand on the knob.

Before I opened it, I turned back to look at her. “I chose to rest beneath that mountain because there was nothing and no one in this realm that called to me. I knew it was only a matter of time before I became like Davian was before he was imprisoned. But every century I spent alone is worth it if I belong to you.”

I didn’t wait for her to respond. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it.

I left her bedroom, shutting the door behind me. I walked down the stairs and headed toward the kitchen. I could hear Davian in there.

My brother’s eyes were on me when I walked into the room. He was sprawled at the kitchen table, a plate of bread, cheese, meat, and fruit in front of him.

“You still haven’t told her what she is to you, have you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “She’ll run.”

Davian frowned at me. “You’re doing it again, brother.”

I collapsed in the chair on the opposite end of the table. “Doing what?”

“Making a mistake.”

“What should I do instead?” I asked. “Force her? Take her away from her home until she stops fighting me?”

Davian shook his head, clearly disgusted with me. “You should leave her be. Did you not learn your lesson the first time?” he asked.

“Minerva is not Cassia. She may carry Cassia’s power within her, but she is nothing like her.”

“You say that,” he argued. “But do you truly believe it?”

“Minerva matches my fire, turn for turn, breath for breath,” I stated. “Cassia was gentle in all things, even her arguments. Minerva’s anger can cut like a blade. As can her tongue.”

“She can match your fire, but what of your blood magic?” he asked.

I scrubbed my hands over my face. “She doesn’t fear it the way Cassia did. She considers it a tool. Moreso than the power she inherited from Cassia. Her skill with blood magic manifested far earlier than her Conduit powers.”

Davian crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me. “Do you honestly think the witch will give you what you want? Will be what you wish her to be?”

“The only thing I wish for her to be is herself,” I retorted. “And that’s all I want as well. I don’t want her to change. I understand Cassia’s insistence that we were not meant for each other now. I can see that neither of us would have been happy with the other as we were. I was always too much for her, and she couldn’t give me the fire I needed in a mate.”

Davian sighed in disgust. “You’re not going to listen to reason, are you?” he asked.

“If you were speaking reason, I would,” I argued.

My brother shook his head. “When this doesn’t end the way that you want it to, promise me that you’ll find me before you do something rash.”

“What have I done that was rash?” I asked.

He snorted. “Burying yourself beneath a mountain for over fifteen centuries because the woman you wanted didn’t return your love sounds rash to me.”

“You know it was more than that.”

“Do I?”

It was my turn to shake my head. “We were losing our humanity, brother. We were walking deeper and deeper into the shadows that lie between good and evil. I didn’t want to continue down that path, but you refused to listen when I said as much to you.”

“So, you abandoned me?”

“You were set in your direction. Nothing I said or did was able to dissuade you. I couldn’t remain at your side.”

Davian leaned forward, resting his clenched fists on the table. “I would have listened if I’d realized what you were planning. I would have changed.”

We both knew those words weren’t true. At the time, Davian had been consumed by his thirst for power and flesh. He cared less and less what his actions did to others and only about himself.

“The past is done,” I finally said. “Our only choice is to move forward.”

My brother rolled his eyes. “It’s easy to say that when you weren’t trapped and drained of magic the way cattle are drained of blood after slaughter.”

I didn’t point out that the choices he made led to his imprisonment. Davian was too bitter and too determined to blame me for the things that had happened to him. I sensed that he held resentment toward Minerva because of it as well. Though her birth hadn’t been for a thousand years after Cassia trapped him, she carried a piece of his jailor within her.

The silence fell between us, heavy and thick like a slab of stone.

Finally, Davian broke the tense moment.

“I’ll try, brother. But I won’t keep silent when I feel you are making the same mistakes.”

“I don’t expect you to hold your tongue,” I replied. “But you won’t make the choice for me. Or for Minerva. What happens between us is just that—between us.”

He scoffed. “I want no part of that. I had my fill the last time.”

I ignored that last jab and got to my feet. I’d been listening with half an ear and heard the shower turn off upstairs. Minerva would be down shortly, and she needed to eat to fuel the healing of her body. My magic had done a great deal of the work, but she needed to replenish her resources so that the healing magic would continue working.

As I moved around the kitchen putting together a plate of food for my little witch, my brother watched me and shook his head in disbelief. I ignored him. Someday, he would find a female who would turn his world on its head, and he would understand. Until then, I would have to tolerate his skepticism.