and she didn’t think it was fear for her or for himself. It was fear of her.
A desire to protect him rose within her as she saw that fear and relief bloomed sweetly as the twisted branches above him began to recede. He grimaced, his mouth pulling taut as the thorn slid from his shoulder, and then grunted as more were tugged from his body by the trees as they began to withdraw, slowly at first. They gained speed as that relief grew stronger in her, as the thought that Thanatos was safe now filled her mind and calmed her heart.
Something around her waist slid over her skin and she gasped, looked between their bodies and watched the thick black root unwinding from around her. When she looked back up, the trees had receded completely, were almost back to how they had been. The branches remained longer though, sharp with spikes and heavy with prickly cones of some kind, as if she had done more than manipulate them.
She had brought them back to life and they were ripe with seed now.
Thanatos pushed himself up, grimacing as he eased off her. She scooted out from beneath him, deeply aware of his blood staining her chest, and feeling wretched as he inspected the cut on his shoulder and she noticed it wasn’t the only one he had.
He sank onto his backside and held his shoulder as he looked at her. “I do not suppose you inherited your mother’s power to heal too?”
She felt terrible as she shook her head.
He huffed and stood, another grimace rolling across his handsome face as he peered down at his black leathers, looking at the back of his leg. The guilt churning her stomach only worsened as he hobbled towards the forest, flexing his wings, and she noticed there were holes in them too.
His beautiful wings.
She dropped her gaze to the ground, shame eating at her.
“It is not the first time I have been stabbed. I will heal.” He eased back down onto the ground and she glanced at his wings as he stretched and arranged them. He noticed and looked at them. “They will heal too. Faster than the rest of me.”
That didn’t give her comfort.
She tried not to let everything weigh on her and pull her down into the mire of her thoughts, but it was difficult. Not only had she killed someone by touching them—killed two people in fact—but she had hurt Thanatos with another power she possessed. Was there nothing good about her at all? Was hurting people all she could do?
“Come now.” He gentled his tone again, his deep baritone rolling over her like a calming wave, but this time it didn’t lift her spirits. He sighed softly. “Has anything like this happened before when you have been asleep?”
She was quick to shake her head. Like her power to kill, she hadn’t known she had this dark gift.
“You do sleep then?” He canted his head when she glanced at him.
She nodded this time.
He shrugged and grimaced, held his shoulder. “You just do not want to sleep around me.”
And she felt bad about that, especially now that he had protected her from her own power.
“I do not like to sleep around anyone,” she said, aware that it wouldn’t make things better between them. “Although I suppose I slept around you in the end.”
Had she been too tired to keep going? She hadn’t felt that tired. Normally, she only slept when she had no choice, her body shutting down against her will. She had the vaguest notion she hadn’t chosen to sleep this time either.
“I made you sleep.”
Those words leaving Thanatos’s lips shocked her.
“You made me sleep?” She frowned at him, not quite able to believe it. Some distant memory lurked in the darkness of her mind, and she pursued it, caught it and pulled it to the surface, into the light. “My brother… Keras… has the power to make people sleep.”
“So I have heard.” He inspected his shoulder again, looking for all the world as if he was avoiding looking at her.
“You have that power too.” She felt as if she was fishing again, trying to catch the truth from Thanatos this time rather than a memory.
He didn’t look at her. “Something like that.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” She hit him with another frown, was on the verge of demanding he answer her when he loosed another long, deep sigh.
“I cannot make others sleep. Only you.” His gaze met hers, a solemn