Chapter 37
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
“The markings of a god mean that you hold all the power and energy of a god without being immortal,” I stated in utter confidence.
“All?” he asked for clarification.
I nodded. “Yes. All godly power. Hear me out?”
He nodded slowly, and I took that as my go ahead to ramble.
“For a while, I’ve wondered why Blythe couldn’t just resume her godly duties after I freed her soul from her statue.
But I just realized after reading more of the book that since it was only her soul in the statue, the body she had resided in was long gone.
” I began pacing the room with my hands folded behind my back.
“And as Leighton said, the energy of a god cannot be destroyed. The soul needs to go somewhere. That somewhere, was my body.”
Sebastian’s eyebrow twitched. “Didn’t we know this?”
“Let me finish.” I held a palm up. “I thought she just gave me the power of the cosmos, but I think she gave me all of her power. Her soul has been slowly intertwining itself with my soul. For instance, when I first wielded the starlight with Delani and in the woods, my skin didn’t glow.
But when I tried with Kohen afterwards, it did.
I had killed others before the Draemornian in the interrogation room and I didn’t see into their minds.
But with this last one, I saw his entire life because that kind of power must have been in the realm of Blythe’s capabilities.
Maybe Kade was right about the meteor shower acting as another catalyst. Almost like a rebirth of Blythe's magic—her soul but in a mortal body.”
Sebastian remained silent as he stared back at me, as if he was trying everything in his power to comprehend what I was telling him.
I glanced into his bewildered expression. “Are you following?”
“Sure.”
“The difference between her and I is that my body is not immortal. I am still me—still mortal—but I hold all of her godly power.”
“But if her body was immortal, how did it just vanish after the other gods removed her soul?”
“A body that has lost a soul is incapable of obtaining a new one. It says it in the book. Without an immortal soul, the immortal body turns mortal. But a mortal body cannot turn immortal, even with the addition of a godly soul.”
Sebastian blinked. Once. Twice. Three times before his eyes locked open and stayed that way.
“Did you hear me?”
“Loud and clear. I’m just…processing.”
Sebastian bent at the waist to pick up the manuscript so I could show him the passage I referred to. “But it says right here that no mortal has ever held the markings.”
“Yes. Because in the sense of my corpse, I am mortal, but I now have her energy inside of me. My soul is no longer completely mortal, even though my body is.”
“Huh,” he said, tapping his foot as he read.
“Also, look at this.” I stood next to him and stabbed a finger into an excerpt lower on the page. “Most souls after losing their original host go beyond the veil unless there is a new and willing host to take their place immediately.”
Sebastian’s eyes rapidly explored the text “You think you absorbed the Draemornian’s soul when he died?”
“No. It said a willing host. And I would consider myself anything but willing.”
“So you were willing when it came to Blythe then?” His tone very clearly conveyed his lack of understanding.
“That was different. Her soul is immortal—it couldn’t go beyond the veil regardless. And maybe since I already had a connection to her, my body was willing even though my mind wasn’t.”
“Her soul was immortal, but now that it's linked to you it's…mortal? So if you died, her soul could now go beyond the veil?
“I think so.”
“I’m so confused.” His vision returned to the page and he remained quiet even after he finished reading—I knew he was done simply because he read much faster than the average mortal.
“What are you thinking?”
Sebastian exhaled through his nose and closed the book, holding it in one hand and shoving his free hand into the pocket of his jeans. “This changes things.”
“Yeah, it does. Maybe you should listen to my ideas now,” I spat.
“No chance.”
“Stop trying to protect me for one damn second and think about everyone else,” I snarled, my thoughts regressing back to our meeting.
“I think you’re forgetting that the whole reason we even met is because it was my job to watch over you. It’s in my blood, Maeve. Before everything else, I’m a soldier. And I’m always going to do everything in my power to protect you, whether you like it or not.”
“Before everything else?” I repeated in a scoff, my voice falling to an inaudible level.
Sebastian’s dark brows fell. “That’s not what I meant. I just meant—”
I raised a palm up and cut him off. “I know exactly what you meant, Sebastian.” In my loungewear and barefoot, I ripped the bedroom door open and stomped into the hall. I put effort into slamming it behind me, only for him to tear it back open and follow me into the corridor.
“Where are you going?” he called after me.
I didn’t look back. “To blow off some steam.” The arena was calling to me, and there was a practice mannequin with his name on it.
“Oh, great. Last time you did that you made out with fucking Sawyer.”
My body went completely rigid. Except for my eyes, which almost fell out of my damn skull. I pivoted terrifyingly slowly, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “What did you just say?”
He must have realized his mistake, because he clamped his jaw shut so tightly that I didn’t think it would ever reopen.
My feet began moving against my will and I stormed back to him. “Just because I’m mad at you, doesn’t give you a right to bring up shit from the past that you claimed you were over. That’s not fair, and you know it. You and me weren’t together when I kissed—“
“Made out with,” he corrected.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Made out with. You and me weren't together when I made out with—”
“In a room that was meant to be ours,” he added, with a slight smirk.
My eyes closed taut as I drew in the slowest, most purposefully calming breath of my life. “Okay…you and me weren’t together when I made out with Sawyer in our prospective room—”
“Right after talking to me, I should add. I can pretty much guarantee I was on your mind through the whole kiss.” He granted me an absolutely smoldering hot smirk. “I was. Wasn't I?”
On the gods.
“Are you trying to irritate me?”
His beautiful, though cocky, grin made me explode.
“Well it's working!” I shouted at him.
He stood static for a few heartbeats, then his normally ocean eyes darkened to the color of a stormy sea. He ground his jaw, then lowered his voice to a growl, “Get back in our room. Now.”
“What?” My head pulled back at his demand. “No. I’m going to the arena.”
He took a step towards me, his boot scraping the floor beneath as he moved. “Room. Now. That is an order.”
“I don’t take orders from men who think they can control me,” I shot back, putting my hands on my hips.
He scoffed, clicking his tongue. “I don’t take attitude from stubborn women.”
Our eyes narrowed in sync as we stared each other down, and the lust that coated the air was enough for any bystanders to recognize.
My body went lax as I realized. “Does fighting with me…turn you on?”
Sebastian took another step for me, gripping my hair with his fist and pulling my neck back to look him in the eyes, the roughness of the maneuver creating agonizing shivers all over my skin.
His fingers moved to my face to forcefully grip my cheeks. “Get back in that room and take your clothes off so I can fuck some sense into the both of us,” he demanded, the hint of desperation in his voice intoxicatingly enticing.
“I think you're confusing my anger with wanting you,” I responded through puffed out lips, holding onto the stubbornness that I knew he actually loved.
“I think you’re confusing my order as an option, love.” His voice dropped to the tone he only used when he was having his way with me, and being reminded of the way my body felt every time he spoke that way almost had me dropping to my knees in the middle of the damn hallway.
I knew that I did in fact have an option, but he knew that I wanted this just as much as he did.
So I obeyed.
I stomped back to our room, slamming the door before he could enter—again—just to emphasize how pissed I still was.
“Watch the attitude,” he warned as he entered and then locked the door behind him. “I haven’t had you in a while, and you're even sexier when you’re angry, so yes—fighting with you does in fact turn me on.”
“Fighting with you just pisses me off,” I shot back, though my obedience to his orders claimed otherwise. “Also, we literally had sex last night.”
“That’s a long time without having my dick inside of you.” He leaned back against the door, his lips turning up in a smirk that made my knees weak. “I’m in charge tonight—”
My eyes tore away from him to roll back to view my brain. “Aren’t you always in charge? That’s the whole problem we’ve been having lately.”
He held a finger to his lips, silencing me. “Take your shirt off.”
I didn’t move. I wanted him, yes. But that didn’t mean I was going to make it easy on the overprotective ass.
“Shirt. Off. Now.” His glare sliced into me.
Grumbling, I lifted my arms, pulling the shirt over my head and tossing it to the ground. “Fine. Now take yours off.”
Sebastian shook his head. “Pants,” he cockily used the single word as an order. His eyes flickered to my bare stomach, lingering over my bra, which I knew he would make me take off next.
I stepped out of my pants, adding them to the pile with my shirt. “If you wanted a strip tease, you should have asked me nicely before you pissed me off.”
He watched me from the door, his expression growing more cocky by the second. “Bra, too, love.”
The way he looked at me like I was the most exquisite thing in the world forced my thighs to clench.
Moving my arms to my back, I unhooked the lace, shrugging it off my shoulders and down my arms until it landed on the ground.