have seen that same look in the eyes of your brothers too, when they watch their females.”
She was about to snarl and tell him she wore no such look, a need to defend herself rising to the fore even though she wanted him to know how deeply she desired him.
How fiercely she wanted to claim him.
Only she ended up reeling as his words sank in.
“My brothers have females?” She couldn’t believe that.
In her head, they were all young still, none of them really grown up enough to pursue a long-term relationship. It struck her that back when she had been captured, the last time she had seen her family, her oldest brother Keras would have been only a little over four hundred years old.
Now he would be close to one thousand.
She was now older than all her brothers had been when she had last seen them, and here she was wanting a relationship with Thanatos, while at the same time thinking her brothers weren’t mature enough to pursue a real relationship with females.
“Gods, apart from Keras, I do not even know what they look like. How grown they are. The idea that they have all settled down is… unbelievable.”
Thanatos chuckled at that and stood. Water sluiced down his powerful body, making her a little hazy and warm, to the point where she forgot what she had been talking about. She forgot the ability to think at all as he waded to the edge of the pool, giving her a glorious view of his firm backside between his black wings.
When he stepped out of the pool, he spread his wings and shook his feathers, spraying water everywhere.
A woman could get used to having a view like that in her life.
He stole it from her by pulling his black leather pants on and fastening them, gave her a look that said he knew she had been ogling him. She stood and walked towards him, let him get a good look at her too. It was only fair.
Thanatos growled as she stepped from the water, raked his silver gaze over her in a way that made her shiver and heated her blood. She denied the urge to walk up to him and kiss him, pulled back on the reins of her lust and dressed instead.
He stalked to the fire and lit it again, and she slipped her arms into her black tunic jacket and followed him. She held her hands out to the blue flames, savouring the way they heated her chilled skin and dried her.
Thanatos eased down to sit beside it and shook his wings out again, and started preening them.
He paused and looked at her. “Your brother, Ares, and his wife have a daughter.”
Her eyes widened. “A daughter? I’m an aunt?”
He nodded, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. “She was born soon after we vanquished Eris and her minions.”
“I can’t wait to meet her and—” All the light that had been filling her turned to shadows that swamped her as she thought about what she had wanted to say.
She looked at Thanatos, knew how bleak she had to look when his brow furrowed and he held a hand out to her. She stared at that hand. One she could touch without fear.
She slipped hers into it and he pulled her down to him, settled her between his bent knees and curled his arms around her, tucking her close to him. She leaned back into his chest and stared at the fire, no longer feeling the warmth of it.
“We will find a way for you to control your power, Calindria.” He held her a little tighter, a little closer, and she relished it and the spark of warmth and light it awakened in her.
If anyone could help her master this terrible power of hers, it was Thanatos.
She stroked his hands, staring at them now. “I think I need skin contact for my power to be effective.”
“What makes you say that?” He rested his chin on her shoulder.
“The Messenger put gloves on and when he grabbed my hand, I didn’t hurt him. I remember that the guards always wore gloves when they had to move me, or came to give me food or water.” She snuggled closer to Thanatos. “When I touched the Messenger’s bare skin, I hurt him then… I killed him. So, skin contact must be necessary.”
“It is possible.” He rubbed her arms, warming her. “We will run some tests… but you must still learn to control this power.”
“I know.