Page 288 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

He’s silent for a moment.

“When?” he asks softly.

“When I was away. I found out it might be the only way to be with you and?—”

“You risked everything, didn’t you?” he murmurs in a low, pained voice.

“Maybe I did. But I’m here, am I not?” I give him a tremulous smile. “I’m here and your father will officiate our wedding and we’ll live happily ever after.”

“Oh, Minnie,” he adds in a ragged voice. “What have you done?”

“It’s fine,” I mutter.

“No. It’s not fine. It will never be fine, no matter how much this needed to happen.” He takes a deep breath. “I wish things were simpler. That we could be together without the entire universe being against us.”

“Well, what is done is done,” I say, a little weirded out by his ominous words. “But on the bright side, it’s not the entire universe that’s against us since no one knows about us.”

He bites his lip, lost in thought. “For now.”

“For as long as we can keep it that way.”

He sighs.

“I love how optimistic you are when you, better than anyone, know just how much this, being here, with me, is going to cost you.”

I shrug, though his words root themselves in my mind.

“I knew the risk when I did it.”

“And you did it anyway…” he trails off. “Minnie, Minnie…” There’s something odd about him. I frown as I try to decipher the expression on his face. It’s a mix of sadness and resignation, but I don’t understand exactly why he would feel that.

“I hate how much you have to sacrifice for me. But I’m also so damn selfish that I wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as you’re mine…” He presses his lips together as he stares at the road ahead.

Slowly, he glances at me and gives me a sweet, sad smile.

“That probably makes me a horrible person.”

“It makes you human.”

He shakes his head. “If you only knew…” His voice drops an octave.

“What? What should I know?”

“Never mind.”

“What?” I repeat. “You can’t just say that and not continue.”

He’s silent for a moment, so I badger him some more.

“In a perfect world, I would have shouldered all your burdens. I would have loved you, protected you, and kept you in a tight cocoon close to my heart where no one could hurt you.”

“Might I remind you I am the powerful goddess here?” I ask drily. He doesn’t mind me as he continues.

“But it’s not a perfect world. And one thing I’ve realized in the time I’ve lived without you, waiting for you, is that some things just…must happen. If not, we would not become who we are meant to become.”

“Mine, what are you on about? You’re not making any sense. Did you perchance hit your head? Do you need blood?”

He chuckles. “You don’t need to understand me now.”

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