Page 37 of Jayce

My breath catches in my throat as they stare in my direction. My eyes brim with tears of uncertainty.

After what feels like an eternity of longing, my daughters and two brooding Minotaurs stand within reach. The girls’ faces hold evidence of many tears shed in the last hour.

Damian releases his hold on me and gently pushes me in their direction.

Do I try to hold them? Do I remain aloof and see if they come to me?

As I approach my daughters, my heart pounds with an equal mixture of dread and determination.

I know my fears of what they must feel toward me cannot dictate my actions. My guilt has no place where their safety is concerned. Everything I’ve sacrificed has been for their protection.

The memories of my past trauma claw at the edge of my mind, threatening to overwhelm me, but I inhale deeply while pushing them aside. I have no choice but to focus on the task at hand.

My body stiffens as they move closer. What I have to say will hurt them.

“What are your names?” A question that has burned in my heart from the day I gave them up.

Chapter 25

Shay

I resist the urge to lie down on the floor right here in front of this woman. My pelvic floor is screaming at me to get into the happy baby yoga position I learned yesterday. Or this very moment could be what pushes me to find a tree to wrap my arms around.

Dr. Lanny laughed when telling me about the true origins of tree hugging. Apparently, hugging a tree with your chest pressed up against it is a genuine therapeutic method.

My body’s telling me this is too much stress right now. While my heart knows this is exactly what I need to heal.

“What are your names?” the woman who gave birth to us asks.

I grab Cill’s hand. “I’m Shay.”

“And I’m Priscilla.”

She shakes her head. Tears flow from all our eyes. “You were never supposed to find each other.”

Both our breaths hitch at the same time.

“Well, we did. The Fates knew we needed one another and fixed your mistake of separating us.” I don’t hide the bitterness.

Her lip trembles. “Your father heard both heartbeats growing inside of me. Two babies getting dropped off at a firehouse would have made national news. He’d have found you for sure.”

“We already know about the crazy man who thinks he owns one of us,” Priscilla adds.

“You were both promised to someone.”

“Figures.” Jayce’s hand rests on my shoulder. I’m torn between releasing Cill’s hand and clinging to him.

“If the women outnumber the men in that herd like this one, those men should have no problems finding another heifer,” Anjal suggests.

She looks at him, not with anger that he interjected, more like with pride that he’s protecting us.

“When I left the herd, it comprised of a dozen men with all the same mind. Including my poppa. They gathered the heifers and divided us among the twelve. We had no say. To them, we were a gift from the gods to do with as they pleased. We were never told this, but many of the ladies believed that they’d all lost their true mates—either in death or rejection—and that’s what turned them into monsters.”

“But without a true mate, they’ll never have a son,” Jayce says under his breath.

“The bull rules them instead of the man. All logic disappeared when they gave control to their animals.”

Nikolaos clears his throat. “I have a couch and a couple of chairs in my office. There’s more privacy in there if you’d prefer to use it.”

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