facing them both down.
“And you,” she said to Dagan. “Did it occur to you
362
SINS OF THE HEART
to explain that you hadn’t turned me into a bloodsucking fiend? That it was—” She jerked around and
glared at Calliope. “What? An accident of my birth?”
Calliope looked affronted. “Not an accident. A gift.
You say it as though it is some dreadful curse that’s
been perpetrated on you.”
“Isn’t it? I suck blood to survive! I did it in secret,
hiding what I was, taking tiny bits, going as long as I
could between feedings! The pain was horrific, like
hunger pangs multiplied by a thousand. The first year,
before I found you, I thought I was dying. Every day,
I thought I was dying.” She spun back to Dagan. “I
thought you did this to me! I cursed you, hated you—”
longed for you, loved you.She didn’t say that. Didn’t
even want to dare think it. She took a shaky breath—
“I blamed you for all of it.”
Calliope was staring at her now, green eyes bright
with horror and dismay.
“Am I to understand thathewas your First Blood?
A soul reaper?” Her tone was flat.
Roxy nodded. Dagan moved up beside her again,
protective, possessive, close enough that his arm rested
against hers. “Does it matter?”
“We do not feed from supernaturals. It can breed
an…unwanted connection.”
Guess that explained the waking dreams.
“He saved my life. From a rapist and his partner.
