Page 62 of The King of Hearts

“Savina!”

I close my eyes and grit my teeth when I hear my name called. It could be worse. It could have been my parents or brothers.

I force my lips to curl into a fake smile and turn around to face Emersyn. She comes rushing down the steps with Tomas trailing behind her. The front of the church is lit up, so they both get a good look at my face. I must really look a fright because shescreeches to a halt several feet away from me. Her mouth hangs open for a brief second before she snaps it closed.

“Jesus, Sav, what in the hell happened to you?” she asks, her eyes roaming all over my face before tracking down my body, then back up.

What I want to say is nothing, but it would be stupid to do so because it’s obvious from my appearance that something did happen.

“Umm…” I mumble. What in the hell do I tell her? I can’t tell her the truth. Well, I could, but I’m not ready for that conversation yet. “I… uh.” I trail off, finding it difficult coming up with a plausible excuse.

She steps up to me. “You look like you’ve been utterly ravished by a madman.”

A strained laugh slips out before I can stop it. She has no idea how close to the truth she is.

My devilisa psychopathic madman. He gives a whole new meaning to “touch her and die.”

“Oh, God,” she whispers, her eyes rounding in shock. “You were!”

Tomas comes to a stop beside her, his narrowed gaze taking in my appearance.

“What in the hell happened? Did someone hurt you?”

Unlike Emersyn, whose lips are currently forming a slow smile, Tomas looks pissed. I love that he’s protective of me, but in this instant, there’s no need for it.

His eyes slide to Marcelo, still at my side, and he takes a step toward him. “Who did that to her?” he asks in a harsh tone.

Marcelo stiffens beside me. “You better step back, boy,” he warns.

Instead of doing what he’s told, Tomas moves closer. The look in his eyes isn’t anything I’ve seen on his face before. He looks seconds away from killing my bodyguard.

I let go of Marcelo’s arm and step between the two men. “Calm down, both of you.”

Tomas looks at me with fire in his eyes. “Did he do this?”

I turn to face him fully and press a hand against his chest, giving him a light push. He steps back a foot.

“What happened was nothing I didn’t willingly allow. And no, it wasn’t Marcelo.”

He looks down, and I internally cringe when he notices the red marks on my arms. He grabs my wrist and lifts my arm until a beam of light from the lamp highlights the marks.

“Tell me who did this,” he demands, lifting his eyes to meet mine.

I shake my head. “I won’t. It’s none of your business, Tomas. Now, I want you and Emersyn to go back inside. Marcelo is taking me home.”

“Savina—,” he starts, but I cut him off.

“Please, Tomas. It’s not what it looks like. I promise, I’m okay.” I give him a smile to show my words are true.

I can tell he wants to argue from the tic in his jaw, but after a moment, he just jerks his chin up in a nod. “We’re going to talk about this later.”

I acknowledge his request with a nod of my own. Sure, we’ll talk about it, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give him all of the facts.

“Thank you,” I say. “And keep this between us. I don’t want my parents or brothers to know.” I look at Emersyn. “And that goes for you, too.”

She gives me a cheeky grin. “Sure thing. But you’re giving me all of the dirty details.”

Some of the tension fades from my muscles, and I return her grin. Like Tomas, I’ll give her just enough to satisfy her curiosity, but nothing more. No one can know about my devil and all the things we do together.

---