Page 27 of Caught in the Devil’s Hand

First, she wanted to know why he hadn’t told her Mama had died, and that her brother was sleeping a short distance from the cooling corpse of their beloved mother. Had he thought she already knew? Had he thought she’d skip down to the river without seeing to her mother’s body, or making sure her brother didn’t discover her first?

Second, she wanted him on top of her, inside of her, rubbing and sweating against her as they kissed and moaned until they reached that vision-blurring, spine-bowing climax for which she’d been aching more and more.

She had already told Oka she would be gone most of the morning to “work” for the demon. He still didn’t know what she did specifically, and she hoped he didn’t find out for a long time, if ever. He had instructions to sleep in, clean up, and prepare the seeds of which he had knowledge for planting that afternoon.

Sitting awake at his side, she looked at the edge of the door and confirmed the sun had risen above the horizon. She kissed Oka’s cheek, and he frowned in his sleep as though he would wipe it away. Then she stood, put on her boots, and slipped through the reed door.

No one was about, but they soon would be to start the day’s labors. Carefully surveying for any spying eyes, she took the path that led to the medicine field and the meeting place. Anyone who did see her would likely assume she was heading out to work, but they might also notice she wasn’t carrying any seed bags or tools. Once she was among the trees, she picked up the pace.

All she could think about was the demon she was about to meet. The timbre of his voice, his harsh breaths while he drove himself inside her, and the way he made her feel—heavy, soft, and warm. She also remembered the bite of his insults, the grip of his fingers around her wrists, and the demands he made of her.

Halfway up the first hill, she spotted a flicker inches in front of her face and stopped, a gasp trapped in her throat. The silky, tenuous threads of a spider’s web, only just begun, were stretched across her path, anchored by a few branches hanging low and close together over the path.

Fear gripped her, and she took several hasty steps back. Pressing her hands against the flutter in her chest, she stood there in indecision while flicking her eyes about, looking for the web’s architect. She soon found it wiggling with constructive haste on the branch to the right. The eight-legged menace was perhaps the size of a kavua seed, not very big at all, but size didn’t matter. She was utterly terrified of it.

The web was high enough that simply ducking would clear her of the lowest threads, but there was no way she would walk under it. However unlikely, the chance that a spider would drop onto her neck and crawl beneath her collar kept her from moving forward. A pitiable, mewling noise welled up in her throat.

She couldn’t be late meeting Vallen. She couldn’t skip. She had to get past the web. Oka would be able to remove it later—it had become his job, seeing as how she was useless when it came to spiders—but for now she had to deal with this obstacle on her own.

Stepping carefully, she left the path and traipsed through the forest to avoid the spider and its partially finished web. The morning dew clinging to the underbrush dampened her skirt, and when she reemerged on the path, dead leaves were stuck to her dress. She impatiently brushed them off.

After taking a breath to calm herself, she continued walking, but she couldn’t help scouring the path in front of her for any other “construction sites” as she came closer and closer to the meeting place. Thankfully, she saw none.

Up ahead was the clearing, and she clenched her hands as if holding tight to the courage it would take to scream at the demon waiting for her. She couldn’t let him control the conversation, at least not until she’d said her piece.

Then arousal hit her full force, flushing her cheeks and making her stumble. The gasp from earlier that had never managed to escape her throat broke free. She hugged herself, hoping she could somehow contain the waves of heat washing up and down her body. Her magic stirred, and she worried she wouldn’t be able to put another foot in front of her.

“Damn you,” she hissed, livid he would use his magic on her already. After shaking her head and blinking a few times, she managed to walk, but only because she was now determined to kill him.

The morning sun greeted her when she emerged into the meadow—cranky and aroused. She found Vallen standing to the left in a spot where the grass was crushed. Hmph, as though she even needed a reminder of where they’d first embraced. Each time she had passed through this clearing on her way to the medicine field, she would remember the night he’d caught her, and the feel of his warm lips against hers.

Today he wore a dark blue jacket with gold ties. It framed his broad shoulders perfectly, and its decorative, gold seams complimented the lines of his chest and sides. His black pants wrapped snugly around his long legs, but the jacket fell too far for her to see the erection she knew was there.

Her sex flowered with excitement, but she held back the needy groan rising in her throat. Even at a distance, she saw his knowing smile. Forcing herself to walk to him, she waded through the ankle-high blades of grass until she came to a stop an arm’s length away from the man whose touch had haunted her for the last week.

“Good morning, Shumei,” he rumbled, voice rolling over her body. She shivered.

“Why didn’t you tell me my mother had died that morning?” she bit out, ignoring the dizziness in her head and the clenching arousal in her sex. She needed answers now.

“I thought you already knew,” he readily answered. “I followed you to the river, thinking you had gone there to mourn in private, but seeing you naked distracted me.”

She balled up her hands. “Distracted you?” she scoffed. “And yet you managed to coax that deal out of me. Are you really so single-minded, you damned de—”

“Yes, I am,” he said, eyes flashing. “This way of life is all I have known for a long time. I rarely think of anything other than my next meal.”

She had no immediate response. She also rarely thought of much else besides how to keep her and her family fed and sheltered—at least until Vallen and her intrinsic magic had entered her life.

“I have a question of my own,” he said, leaning forward. His cold eyes stared straight into hers and she almost looked away. “The evening before last, you received quite a kiss, but from whom I could only assume was another woman. Tell me what you were doing.”

“Trading for information, that’s all,” she said, not wanting to admit what she now knew about his nature.

“Trading with whom?” he whispered, taking a step forward. She had to tilt her head up to maintain eye contact.

“With—with the witch.” She saw no reason for holding back that detail, yet he inhaled swiftly, a raw emotion passing over his face.

“She is dangerous, Shumei. Do not trade anything else with her,” he warned. “She already cast one spell on you, and thankfully its effect was rather pleasant.” He said the last with a small smile and glanced at her chest.

Her breasts! Realizing he was right, she gasped and laid her hands protectively over her bosom. Her old dress had become tighter across her chest, but it had been so ill-fitting already that she hadn’t thought much of it, and then Vallen had given her a new dress. With everything that had happened in the last week, the subtle growth of her breasts had been the last thing to capture her notice.