him? He felt oddly exposed, and to his surprise, he
allowed himself to be even more exposed as he murmured, “I was alone. Utterly alone. No crowd. Just me.”
“What about your mother?”
“I never knew her.” Sutekh had taken him when he
was an infant and left Dagan’s mother freshly pregnant
with a second child, Alastor.
Had she mourned him? Or had she known by then
what Sutekh was, what her son was? They were questions he hadn’t allowed himself to think about in centuries. What was the point? He could never find the
answers. The mortal who had given him life had died
nearly three hundred years in the past, shortly after
giving birth to his brother.
But lying here, looking into Roxy’s bronze-green
eyes, listening to her share her memories, he wanted
to offer her something, share something. It was an odd
experience, this wanting to tell her about himself.
“My father visited from time to time,” he said at
length, pleased that he’d found some personal tidbit to
share.
EVE SILVER
315
She nodded, solemn, intense, and he was glad he’d
given in to the urge to exchange memories.
Still, she said nothing. The silence dragged. Too
long. He had the uncomfortable, horrible realization
that she expected him to say more.
At last, she asked, “What about your brothers?”
He stroked the skin of her ankle, up her calf. Smooth
skin. Like satin. Dipping his head, he traced his tongue
along the bone at the side of her ankle. He contemplated the length of her leg, considered tracing his
tongue from calf to thigh to—
