352
SINS OF THE HEART
Roxy sensed a sharpening of Dagan’s attention, as
though somehow her answer would decide something important, something that had nothing to do
with who was going to end up bleeding all over the
hallway floor.
The answer choked her. She saw Calliope tense ever
so slightly and she realized she had no time to think.
No time to decide.
She was going to have to sacrifice something here
tonight. She couldn’t have both Dagan and the Daughters of Aset. She saw that with brutal clarity.
“Both,” she snarled. “I don’t want him hurt, and
even if I did, you couldn’t.”
“Why?” Calliope asked, her tone sharper than
Roxy’d ever heard.
Again, Roxy felt that surge of panic. Why what?
Why didn’t she want him hurt? She didn’t want to say.
She just wanted it to be what it was, without words
marking it, defining it.
Slowly, Dagan turned his head toward her. She felt
like everything else in the room disappeared. The floor,
the walls, even Calliope. Gone. And there was just
Dagan, seeing clear to her soul.
She wanted to beg him to let Calliope go, to do this
for her, to walk away. A part of her was terrified to ask.
What if he felt so little for her that he said no?
She was risking everything here, and she could be
left with nothing.
His gaze flicked to Calliope, and Roxy’s heart
slammed against her ribs.
