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Chapter Twenty-Two

She swore she could feel the earth rumble as the giant took a step toward her.

Grasping Nathan's shoulder like a lifeline, Sang took a subtle step behind him to hide her perusal of the new spirit. She could feel Nathan's back as he tensed, his own stare tracking the new man's movements. The spirit's bare feet dented the plush grass, the barest scraps of a crimson toga drawing down his thighs as the man— Raven lumbered forward.

The skin on her arms prickled, awareness seeping into her bones as she cataloged the traits of the mammoth man. Raven, the Spirit of Strength, embodied his namesake quite well. Wrapped in layers of sinuous muscle, the man had dark hair cascading down his forehead and swarths of tattoos wrapped around his bare arms. The skin of his chest that his toga failed to hide was dusted with a fine layer of hair, dipping its way down his abdomen and disappearing beneath the fabric.

He was painted in the same tone one might have crafted the marble characters of gods. It was so different compared to her boys. They still held remnants of boyish charm, but this man— he was hardened even in his apparent sensuality.

"So, little liberator," the man caught her eye as her perusal fell to his face, "Your name is Sang?"

Her tongue fell dry, "I—"

"Sang. It is a beautiful name," the spirit smiled as he drew out her name, bright teeth gleaming behind full lips, "You have my thanks for freeing me."

Curiosity bubbled, and before she could think too hard about it, Sang broke out of Nathan's shadow to address the man, "Does that mean you really were the tree?"

Raven's laughter rang out over the clearing, ratcheting up tensions that had previously dwindled.

"Is she seriously talking to him?" Gabriel whispered in the background, tone a tad too high, "Why the fuck is she talking to him?"

"I am no tree, little one," Raven took a lumbering step closer, mirth glinting in his expression, "I have always been a man, but I was trapped in the damned tree for punishment." He dipped his head consideringly, "You freed me for the first time in fifty years."

"Fifty years?" Nathan sputtered, trying and failing to bring Sang back behind him. When she danced out of his reach, he gave her an exasperated look before continuing, "You've been in this forest the whole freaking time?"

The Spirit of Strength scoffed humorously, his stare never wavering from Sang's figure as he answered, "Fifty years is nothing to me. I have been alive longer than your tiny civilizations."

In Sang's respectful opinion, that didn't make the situation healthier. Nathan paused, staring at Raven with something akin to fear as he agreed, "That doesn't make me feel better, man."

"I did not say it to make you feel nice," Raven corrected, thick brows furrowing as he gave Nathan a confused glance, "It is the truth. I have met gods and goddesses," his attention fell back to Sang with a heavy intensity, "But nothing will ever compare to you, little liberator."

"Oh," Sang managed to squawk out, panic making her green eyes go wide as she exchanged a flummoxed look with Nathan. Had he complimented her? Swallowing to hide her bafflement, she stammered, "That's very kind of you—"

Nathan was not so polite, "Are you flirting with her? Now?"

"Why would I not?" Raven managed to answer the question with ill-hidden sass. Despite addressing Nathan, his stare continued to crawl over Sang's features with a type of reverence she had never seen. He looked at her as if she was made of the finest glass, "I would bind my life to hers."