“I love filling you up,”his voice is a husky whisper.
My mouth clamps close and I clench my thighs together—just now realizing that I’m still smeared with whatever the hell is there.
“I noticed,” I respond dryly. I’m hyperaware of the hardness against my tailbone.
God, I can’t even put into words what the hell happened before I passed out. Looking back now, I had looked like I was being mauled by a demonic entity.
It’s difficult not to think of it without worrying about the job I was sent here to do. Some part of me just wants to get lost in the feeling, but I thought of the sprouts. Of Captain Moriarty coming to collect.
It’s enough to dampen my libido. When Datu holds another piece to me, I shake my head.
“You gotta explain to me what happened earlier. Why did the captain call you…” I trail off.
“My lord?”
I nod, my throat feeling tight. I can’t see him right now, but he’s too still against me.
“I told you before I knew too much of humanity. Not in the way of history, literature…but religion.”
The silence is so loud, I can hear the vacuum of space.
“I still retain godhood because many humans worship me.”
The tattoos. Mother was right. This is it. The bitter frosting on the moldy cake. The cherry on top of the steaming pile of shit. My skin prickles, goosebumps covering me. Before I do anything I regret, I push myself off his lap then turn to his direction.
He’s watching me with wary, glowing eyes. He threads his fingers together between his knees. His deep violet hair falls over one shoulder before my eyes begin to sting when I look at him too long.
“Humans…you meanbadhumans?”
He doesn’t respond, stops breathing, even. I know I’ve been going with the flow, not making a big deal out of his contempt for us, but it’s starting to get to me. Why had I thought this was some sort of insane love story?
“Does it matter? They’re all the same in my eyes.”
A chill runs down my spine at how unbothered and indifferent he sounds. This was it—those light-hearted smiles, thec’est la vieattitude had been to hide something dark. I had liked Datu a lot because he’d been so open and amenable. Now, I feel like a complete fool. Something ugly begins to fester in my chest.
A fury is sparked inside me, and it isn’t driven by hunger. The feeling washes away all the fuzzy feelings, and now, I’m fighting for my dignity that has been trampled on too much. A self-worth that had never shown manifests itself now.
“Is that what you think of me, too? Have you been thinking you’re just slumming it with a human because I can fix a few problems?” My voice is cutting.
He tilts his head down, the cold gaze turning into a glare.He doesn’t answer back, though, and I’m growing frustrated.
“Answer me!” I hiss.
“I have very strong feelings against your kind who worship me. They have distorted every single thing I exist for.”His answer is deflection.
“What did they do? Built a cult for you?” It’s a crazy thought, but I know as soon as it leaves my mouth, it’s true. My breathing becomes uneven as I think of all the men, women back home with all the full-body vine tattoos. I had thought it was just some sort of trend that got out of hand.
“Atrocious things are done in my name.”
He’s not saying no either. Whatever this cult is, it’s the reason why he has enough power to keep this island from dying. A noble act that stems from so many cruel deeds.
“I have never asked anything from the humans, but it seems like they are easily corrupted by power. They take more from me as much as I gain from their twisted devotion.”
Shakily, I pick up the toga from the floor. The bed I had woken up from was just a hole on the ground lined with webs of silken leaves. As I look around, I find that we aren’t at his altar in the forest at all. We’re back inside that rooty cave where Teva had hid him. The dais that he’d been trapped in is where he stares menacingly at me now.
“Alright, yeah, I agree. Some, but not all. For a god who is more than a millenia-year-old, that’s a very limiting point of view.” I snap.
His jaw clenches, and I can almost see shadows of a spiked cowl flexing like a King Cobra’s when he hears that. He’s insulted by my words. Crazy how I’d never thought how much vitriol he had for me until now. I cover myself before I tell him I’m going out to get some air. I don’t want to say things out of anger. My number one motive here is to save the sprouts, not to spare my feelings.
