Page 14 of Tales of a Deadly Devotion
‘Who changed me?’ I demanded, watching them closely for any hint of a lie. Refusing to be relieved the reeking leather coat was gone.
‘Me.’ They crossed one ankle over the other with relaxed ease, that smile softening. ‘Don’t worry, darling. I’m too old to get any enjoyment out ofvoyeurism.’
‘Really?’ I mocked. It didn’t bother me. I’d learnt long ago this skin was nothing but another mask, one of many.
In a moment the voyav was up, across the room and before me again. Breath sweetened with brandy as it stirred the loosedark strands of my hair. That wild thing inside of me rising to the challenge of them. Delighting in it.
‘I can slit a man’s throat without a shed of moonlight to guide the blade.’ That feminine voice was soft with seduction despite the cruelty lacing the words. ‘I think I can manage putting you in a robe without looking.’
There was nothing but truth burning in those amber eyes. A smugness about it. As if knowing I wanted them to lie so then I’d have a reason for my anger. Instead, it simmered uselessly inside of me.
For the first time in my life … the beasts beneath my skin felt torn. Undecided if they should bite or play. Drawn in by the heady scent of the voyav and the taunting flutter of their pulse, the strong line of their throat.
I retreated before that fucking scent could draw me closer. Could make me stupider. Retreating to Kat’s desk. Wanting to put her things back. Wanting to fix one small part of this mess. Needing to move. To be useful.
‘No more colourful threats?’ The voyav followed. Their soft laughter like a caress down my spine.
‘I’m certain Blackthorn has given you enough.’ I doubted even they could avoid the darkness of Emrys’s moods.
I gathered up Kat’s bandages and healing kit. Moving to put it all back in her bag. Only to pause when a small metal tin caught my eye. Her healing salve – her favourite one.
How often she’d dab it onto my kitchen burns. The peppery scent of it stinging my nose as she rambled about some cursed book she’d been reading.
My thumb dragged over the rough paper label, singed at the edges with more evidence of her carelessness with a flame. A knot of emotion threatened to seal my throat as I curled the tin in my fist, nails scraping against the metal.
‘He’s not as vicious as you, darling,’ Thean continued. Making me turn to see where they peered over my shoulder, spying to see what had caught my attention. There was gentle curiosity hidden in their eyes. There were darker specks of amber there too. Like a cluster of autumnal stars. ‘You had no chance of hiding that.’
‘Alma!’
William’s voice echoed down the hall and into the room. Making me jerk back from the voyav’s lure. Cursing as I darted towards the door on unsteady legs, grabbing onto the frame to propel myself into the hallway only to almost collide with the boy. His eyes were wide, freckled face flushed and a bright beaming smile on his lips as his dishevelled hair knotted around his horns.
‘Go and see.’ He grabbed my sleeve, tugging me up the first three steps. ‘Gideon wants you.’
I didn’t allow myself to think. Bunching up my robe and taking the stairs two at a time, leaving the boy behind, I rounded the corner at the top. Only to skid to a halt as I found Emrys standing in the doorway of his room. Arm braced against the frame perhaps to stop himself from entering, a taut tension in his shoulders as if it took everything within him not to.
He pulled back at my arrival, the angles of his face sharper in the shadow of the hallway. An oddness clung to him, making me and the beasts beneath my skin wary once more.
Curse Kat. The one time she decided to take an interest in anything other than a bloody book and he was darkness incarnate.Verr– and probably a hundred other forsaken fucking things besides.
‘Let me see,’ he ordered quietly, moving towards me. His hand extended politely for my bandaged arm, fingers still black-tipped and veined with the evidence of what he was.
That thing I shouldn’t trust.
‘It’ll be better soon enough,’ I offered instead, tucking my arm carefully close to my side as he came to a stop in front of me. He didn’t lower his hand. Just waited patiently. It was then I remembered something else, as I saw those horrid, bruised marks on his face I’d made.
Hate is a poisonous thing, Kat had said once, reminding herself of it after another cruel examination by the Council. Another attack she had no defence against. Another piece of proof of why this world wasn’t worth saving.
I didn’t hate him. Couldn’t when I knew Kat trusted him. When she felt things so deeply for him.Stupidlyperhaps.
But right now, I didn’t like him. Nor the secrets he kept. Yet, if he was responsible for this then so was I. We both should have taken better care of her.
I gave him my arm. Pretending I didn’t care how strange and beastly it was.
A thousand excuses cluttered my tongue but none could escape the tightness of my lips. ‘Did it work?’
He gave the barest nod, his jaw tense as his eyes moved reluctantly back to the doorway he’d left watch of. ‘Gideon sees an improvement but there is too much we don’t know about the venom.’
‘She’ll make it.’ The words felt childish from my lips. Impossible.
