“I’m not a man,” I deadpanned dismissively.
Her smile broadened, and her face took on that maternal expression that always messed with my head, and that I wished I could see more often.
“If you like her then woo her,” she said softly.
“But is she mine?” I insisted.
She immediately rolled her eyes then glared at me as if she wanted to smack the stupid out of me.
“Why do you always ask questions you know I can’t answer?” Mother asked, aggravated.
I emitted a frustrated growl and shook my head, defeated.
She frowned and gave me a confused look. “Why are you so troubled?”
I heaved a sigh, and my shoulders slouched. “Eleni is nothing like Amara. So why do I like her? Why do I react so strongly to her presence? Am I so fickle that, less than twenty-four hours ago, I should have been still pining for the woman I couldn’t have, and now I’m obsessed with this one?”
She shook her head as if I was a hopeless case. “You silly boy… Over the last couple of centuries, you have drunk the blood of many females. In all this time, only two women moved you this strongly. That hardly makes you fickle.”
“But the first one wasn’t mine, and yet I couldn’t stop wanting to claim her!” I argued vehemently.
“That’s not surprising. Amara has angelic blood. Only a monster could have gotten to know her as intimately as you did by drinking her blood and not falling for her. Her divine light called to yours.”
“Angelic blood?!” I exclaimed, flabbergasted.
My mother nodded. “It goes back quite a ways in her ancestry. Her family doesn’t even know about it anymore. But it shines brightly in her. Everyone loves Amara. Frankly, I would have been distraught had you not been moved by her. You know this woman better than anyone, even herself. Stop overthinking, my son. Just live. Follow your heart.”
“I don’t think I’m ready to be heartbroken again,” I mumbled, feeling pathetic.
“Nothing in life is ever guaranteed.”
She waved at the wall behind the spinning wheel. I couldn’t see anything on it, but I could feel the powerful magic swirling around that area, indicating that something potent was taking place there. Very few people could see the complex network of threads marking the fate of countless individuals without hermaking it visible. But Grim Reapers and Angels of Death like my brother Pharos could see it all.
“Even with me spinning the Wheel of Fate, I cannot tell you with certainty what the future holds. Only possibilities and probabilities...”
I stared at her for a moment, then something settled in my chest.
“Sheismine,” I said with a conviction I couldn’t explain.
My mother’s silence only confirmed what I believed. I smiled, a pleasant warmth spreading through my chest. Too many thoughts fired off in my head for me to make sense of any of them. After a moment, I refocused on my mother, realizing I’d been lost in my musings for quite some time.
My cheeks heated, and I shifted in my chair. She gave me that tender motherly expression again that messed me up further.
I cleared my throat and changed the topic to hide my embarrassment.
“You who know flowers well, could you tell me where I could find a specific glowing flower? I’m sure I’ve seen them before, but I cannot remember where.”
She nodded, allowing me to share the vision I received from eating the Onis’ hearts.
“Sanguine crocus,” mother instantly said.
I slightly recoiled. “Those cannot be sanguine crocuses. That’s not what they look like,” I argued, confused that my mother could be so off about anything.
She gave me an indulgent smile. “They do take that specific appearance but only on a moonless night.”
My jaw dropped with sudden understanding. No wonder I didn’t see any earlier while flying around.
“Where can I find them?” I asked without much hope, expecting her to chastise me again for asking questions she couldn’t answer.
