?Warmth without the burning.
?He’s going to find out.
?I finally snap out of it.
?I straighten and the hand that was rubbing circles on my back disappears, but his scent doesn’t. His scent that is like a soft fire within the middle of a calm wood. It’s steady, quiet, anchoring.
?“Mavyn.” My heart hurts. My spirit. Mysoul. “Are you going there again?”
?There.
?There.
?With. Him.
?I press my nails deeper into my skin as I blink and water drops onto my desk. I think I’m about to test if this waterproof makeup Hanna put on me is actually waterproof.
?Straightening, I remove my hand from over my heart and the desk and rub my eyes. Clearing the mist along my waterline and taking a clear, deep breath. When I turn and actually look at Callahan he lets me see everything through his eyes.
?My golden devil.
?“I held out for a long time last time,” I respond. “He used a lot of energy so it’ll be a while more. Probably a couple months, at least.”
?Breaking eye contact, I turn to those behind me and dip my head at them.
?“I’m sorry for snapping at you, but please do not call me that.” I look at Ricka first and then the rest of them. “Any other nickname is fine, just not that one.”
?“Why?”
?Jullia doesn’t berate her sister for her blunt question, but I think that has more to do with the glazed look in my best friend’s eye.
?“Because that was Sanivin’s name and I hate her. She let her brother be forgotten when she should have been the oneto disappear. That’s the only reason some believe the Forgotten God of Blood Moons is a Godskiller.”
?Asher lowly clears his throat and quietly says, “Sanivin was a child.”
?Frustration grows but I take another slow, deep breath to cool it.
?“Nineteen is not a child.”
?“It is for humans.”
?“And she had eleven hundred years to grow the fuck up!” I snap.
?Silence, and I take another deep breath but that apparently isn’t helping. Ricka tilts her head at me but it’s Mila who asks the next question.
?“Aren’t you supposed to give grace because in a sense she technically is your granddaughter? Why are you being so harsh.”
?“She is not,” Ricka speaks before I can answer. “She is not a god.”
?Scorn scoffs and Ricka and Hanna glare at him.
?“She isn’t,” Ricka says to him through her teeth. “I invoked the moral of name and soul and she basically rolled her eyes at me. It’s impossible for gods to not answer it.”
?“Yeah,” Scorn snarks, “unless you already know their name. Mavyllora Sanivin Tsukkenai.” He’s leaning against our open door way with his wings nonexistent. His sunset eyes hooded as he stares at me as if this is boring. “She is a primordial no matter what any of you say or she says. That’s why she won’t let you see her soul.”
?I say nothing and roll my eyes. The room drops a couple degrees and we all turn to Hanna and Jullia, the latter who’s glaring at all of us with her lavender eyes.
?“Can we just,” she snaps, “have one fucking night without all the bullshit?”
