Page 83 of Found Objects
“She did, and all winter I brought the three of them wood for the fire and game, but they needed a small barn for some animals and had no way to build it…and so I changed.”
“You became a man.”
“Yes.”
“How long ago was that?”
“I—see, I was one thing for a long time before there were even people. I was formless, just wind, and then when the goddess decided that wickedness needed punishment, suddenly, I took on the form you saw.”
“So for a long time,” he murmured, smoothing a finger across my eyebrow, “you were made of the elements, of wind and water, and then you were a Cù-sìth, and then a man.”
“Yes,” I ground out.
“And when you became a man, you changed from something that killed, to something that protected.”
“Yes.”
“And your goddess didn’t mind that, even though you were made to do one thing?”
“I think since I’ve never seen another like me, that the others might be where we began, and I’m the only one on this side of the world.”
“With Teague, and Ondine.”
I nodded.
“It makes sense that you’re different—a healer and a protector.”
“I’m not a—”
“I suspect that all the people you’ve saved over the years would call you a healer.”
And many had, so arguing was fruitless.
“What about this form you took, with your bright green eyes and jet-black hair?”
“I can’t change it like Ondine, so it’s always been this.”
“There must be legions of men and women who have—”
“Just men,” I corrected him quickly.
“Okay, so what? Thousands of men in your bed?”
I tried to move, to get up, but suddenly there was a hand on my throat, tight, and another fisted in my hair, holding my head back. My breath caught, and he couldn’t miss the full-body shiver that rolled through me.
“You’re ancient, Mere. Older than mountains and rocks and trees. And yet there’s been no love for you in all that time, only sex with strangers?”
I could move if I wanted, but with the dryness of my mouth, how hot my skin was, and how hard my cock was, I didn’t even try.
“No one has ever claimed your heart?”
“It never… I’ve wanted others, but not to keep.”
“Why not?”
I swallowed hard.
“Answer me.” The demand was clear in his voice.
