“I saved you.”
Her breaths stilled. “If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be here.”
A twisted smile curved his lips before vanishing. “No, you wouldn’t.” His hands moved up her legs, pushing her pants up with them. The water was cold on her skin. Her legs fell open slightly as his shadow loomed over her, and the outline of his horns pierced the ceiling once again.
“Will you hurt me?” she asked cautiously, her chest tight.
“Will you try and stab me again?”
She pondered briefly. “I don’t know.”
He slid his hands higher, bringing the cloth with them until the bunched up material of her pants stopped him. An empty, hollow ache built between her legs, a reaction she couldn’t stop even though she hated it.It helps. It helps the betrayal.
His touch did not make her feel the same way the Laslite’s touch had. There was no disgust, only anticipation. What pressed against his leathers at the crux of his legs, Aldora could only imagine, but she knew instinctively that it was hers to tame.Would his prick look like a man’s?If not in size, at least in shape? Vedikus wasn’t a human, not fully.
That he wasn’t a man didn’t bother her at all. She had never liked men before the Laslite, and she liked them even less now. They were only of use to the frightened women and girls of her town because of their fear of what lay beyond, just out of sight. Her dealings with them had always been quick, brief, and exploitative. Mutual. But only in the sense that women needed them to destroy that piece of themselves and most men took full advantage of that.
He drew his hands off her.
Her breath returned, her stillness eased, and he handed her back the dagger. Aldora took it slowly, narrowing her eyes.
“If you don’t know, try again.”
What?She looked at the weapon, then back to him. The dagger was heavier now. The weight unbalanced. His shadow enveloped her, his eyes lost in the dark. Aldora raised herself up, shifting the weapon in her hand. Her heels pressed into the stone, and she curled her toes.
She poised the dagger at his throat, and moved it until the tip of the blade was at his eye. He didn’t look at it—but at her, unafraid despite the blade an inch from his face. Her hand began to shake.
I...can’t...
Aldora slowly lowered the dagger, discovering something she didn’t like.
I can’t.
“You trust me too,” she marveled softly.
Vedikus laughed abruptly and rose to stand, leaving her kneeling on the stone before him. Her eyes widened. He grasped her hair in his fist. “Oh, I’ll hurt you, little human, but you’ll be better for it in the end. Wash up.” His voice lowered with warning. “Do what needs to be done. Tomorrow we head for Prayer and its toils will be worse still. I’ll be back when you’re done.” Vedikus released her and stormed away.
He disappeared into the shadows without another word.
Aldora listened to his steps until they were gone too, and for the first time since being sacrificed, she didn’t want to be alone. Didn’t want her captor to leave.
Her captor...
My savior.The weight of her thoughts threatened to crush her. She clasped the hem of her shirt.I couldn’t kill him and he trusts me.
The revelation stayed with her as she peeled out of her dirty tunic, pants, and boots, leaving her undergarments on for safety. She washed them in the water, wringing out the dirt and scrubbing off the dried sweat and blood. Aldora draped them on a protruding stone to dry by the fire.
And with deft movements and her senses heightened—listening for his return—she took the bowl and bathed in the frigid spring. Her flimsy cloths plastered her skin. She quickly scrubbed her flesh raw in an effort to rub out her traitorous desires.
He saved me.She frowned.
She couldn’t deny it and glanced at the doorway. Aldora scrubbed harder.
Her undergarments came last, her pulse strumming, as she stripped off the final barrier. She prepared for Vedikus to spring from the darkness and pin her to the ground. To exert his control and fill her head with wicked imaginings.
But as the air breezed over her drying skin, and while she cleaned her final article of clothing, his attack never came. The ache inside her would remain a secret.
Aldora redressed in her wet under layer, bearing the cold water. Time passed on well after she was done, until she lay on her side by the fire, her wet garments clinging to her skin.
