It was far from the glamourous home he had imagined Cass living in. This was as rustic as it came, with furniture that looked hand-made and a tiny kitchen consisting of an old white stove, a sink and two cupboards. The only light in the room was a naked bulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling and an oil lamp on the desk to his left.
Maybe the coven didn’t pay their witches well. He knew a thing or two about covens, and most of them operated like mercenaries, taking on contracts across the world. He glanced around at the small home again. Either the coven only paid Cass a small wage for her work and kept the bulk of the money for themselves, or Cass liked being off grid for some reason.
“I’m just grabbing some things.” Cass’s voice drifted from the shadowy corridor. “Make yourself at home.”
Outside, Milos growled. The deity wasn’t happy about being left behind again.
“Cass…” Daimon started, shoved his hand up his forehead and over his white hair, and blew out his breath. “I am sorry.”
He wasn’t sure why he needed her to accept his apology so badly, but he did. He needed to know things were all right between them, that he hadn’t messed everything up, and he needed her to know that he was aware he hadn’t been the easiest man to put up with. He knew he had done a lot of things wrong.
“About trying to drown me?” She poked her head out of a room, an expectant look on her beautiful face.
“About that… About a lot of things…” He clenched his fists at his sides, fighting for the right words.
“I could list them for you if it makes it easier.” She stepped back into the corridor. “But I won’t.”
He waited for her to go back to packing, but she lingered, and her aquamarine eyes gained a sombre edge he didn’t like.
“Do you know why I moved here?” She glanced around the small house, her fine black eyebrows furrowing slightly. “I came here because it was quiet… a world away from persecution… a world away from everything.”
Everything?
The way she had said that word made him feel that her coming to this remote and sparsely populated island had been about more than just avoiding humans who had wanted to drown her for being a witch.
She had been trying to escape something else too.
“Was there another reason you moved here?” He wanted to take a step towards her to regain her attention, but forced himself to keep still, giving her space he could feel she needed.
“No. None. It was warm, quiet. The people respect me.” She was quick to duck out of sight, back into the other room.
He wasn’t the only terrible liar in the building.
He mulled over what she had said, and how she had looked.
She had picked somewhere warm where people respected her.
She didn’t feel respected in chilly Russia?
He took in his surroundings. This island home in the Aegean had to be the complete opposite of where she had grown up. All the covens he had come across had lived together in a building big enough to accommodate them all. The last coven he had crossed paths with had owned an enormous estate in England with acres of land and several large buildings on the land, including a palatial main house.
He imagined Cass’s coven lived in a large compound complete with a mansion too.
So why had she traded a life there for a life of quiet?
And respect.
His gut squirmed in response to that word, one he could hardly apply to his actions around her. Neither he nor his brothers had shown her respect. They had all treated her with distrust and tried to keep her out of their business.
Maybe he needed to be the one to change that.
Because deep down, he did respect her. He saw her value, what an asset she was for his side, and that in the battle ahead, she could be the key to them winning.
He would make her see that he believed in her.
He blew out his breath.
He just wasn’t sure where the hell to begin.
He looked out of the door, struck by the beauty of the place Cass called home. Endless blue water. Dusty hills. White houses that seemed to reflect what light there was, making the place seem even brighter. The warm air was dry, not moist as it was in Hong Kong, and the fresh breeze carried the scent of the sea.
Everything about this place felt so tranquil.
He could picture himself here, whiling away his days, eating well and living off the small patch of land Cass owned. He imagined her garden had been lush before, well-tended.
He drifted towards the other window to his right, wanting to see the view in that direction. When he’d had his fill of the beautiful coastline and the itch to check on Cass had grown too fierce to ignore, he turned back towards the main door and his gaze caught on a letter on her desk.
On a word that leaped out at him and had him frowning as he leaned closer for a better look.
Offspring?
He scanned the letter and then read it again, a weight settling in his gut as he tried to make sense of it. His thoughts spun as he kept reading it over and over, only a few things sticking in his mind.
It was from her coven. It was the last time they would ask her to return home. There was a man awaiting her arrival.
She would bear a child as expected of her.
It was dated four days ago.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and braced one hand against the desk, supporting his weight. He reached for the letter and stopped, his hand hovering barely an inch from it as he battled the urge to
