Page 54

Seeing her bared, white hair sweeping her back just above the curve of her ass already has my cock going half-hard. That’s… going to be a problem. I told her I wouldn’t look if she didn’t, but the back of her doesn’t count, I decide. Or, at least, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. But based on my intense reaction, this agreement is probably a good thing for the both of us.

I flex my thighs a couple of times to coax the blood further down. She’s so nervous, shoulders tense, and body stiff. Despite my insistence that this is no big deal, I find myself wishing I didn’t have to bring her here, maybe more adamantly than she had. She deserves so much more than this fucked up role she has to play with me. I don’t want to parade her around for everyone to gawk at, especially when I haven’t even….

Jealousy. So thick, hot, and brittle it overwhelms me for a moment, and then I’m annoyed that she manages to evoke such extreme emotions in me. There’s really no end to this… punishment.

My fists flex at my sides as I stalk over to her, and she totters, swiping the pad of her foot across her other ankle. She tenses as I part her hair in the middle and sweep it over her shoulders to cover her chest. I can at least cover this part of her. Another satisfied thrum expands in my chest at the sight of my marks across her back, compelling my cock to begin swelling again.

Shit. I avert my eyes as I recite a complicated ward spell I haven’t yet managed to nail down. Once I’ve gained some composure I turn back, and all desire is vanquished as my eyes trace down the scars marring her back that weren’t visible from the distance but are very visible now. My anger flashes hot again when I see that they get exceptionally worse the lower they go. My blood boils. Focus.

“I’m going to glamour your marks,” I snap out a little roughly.

“Oh. Why?”

“Don’t need the gossip.” I definitely don’t need Morin finding out what I’ve given her. She tremors slightly as my magic fades the marks until there’s only the smooth milk pale of her skin. I hesitate, considering glamouring the scars too…but I wouldn’t ever want her to feel like I want her to hide them.

But then in a hoarse voice she squeaks out, “Will you do the scars too?”

I stiffen, fighting myself over what I can say, what I can’t say. She fidgets with mortification. She doesn’t want to speak with me about this at all. I place the glamour, fading the marred skin to perfection. “Done.”

I remain behind her as I carefully reach around and pull her clothing out of her hands. Stashing them in a nearby tree, so I can summon them as soon as we’re finished with this God’s forsaken Rite.

“Come on, let’s get this over with.” Coaxing her forward with one hand on her shoulder, I’m careful to keep my gaze pointed over her head. She’s silent as the thundering drum beats grow louder, along with the chatter and hoots and howls of Magi. I stop her just at the edge of the clearing. Two large fires are positioned on each side of the field, embers licking the star-strewn sky. Magi have already started lining up on each side.

Her shoulders rise and fall rapidly with the heaving of her chest. The sea of bodies parts as the men cluster to the huge fire on the right and the women to the left. “It’s time. You’re going to have to get in line. The Priestess will give you the henbane and you’ll throw it in the fire. That’s all you have to do.”

“Wait—“ She starts to turn and must think better of it because she stops. The mark on my hand thumps with the pulse of her heart. “We’re not going to be together?” Her voice is panicked and I reach down and squeeze her shoulder. “It’s divided by gender. Listen, I have to look like I’m participating,” I say bitterly. “I’m going to exit right here.”

She steps clumsily as I ease her forward. I draw a symbol, indenting the bark of the tree at the border of the Wood. “Right by this tree. I need for you to watch and follow me out. If for some reason, you don’t see me, just come straight here and I’ll find you.”

“But…what if…someone tries to—“

“They won’t. It’s not even a concern of mine tonight. They’ll all be too distracted. But watch for me, follow me out. Understand?” She doesn’t respond. “Understand, pet?”

The thump of her heart pulses harder, faster against the back of my hand. She’s afraid. Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump. She’s really afraid.

“Pandora,” I sigh. I can’t send her out there like this. My eyes dart around the area and land on three trees wrapped tightly around each other, creating a perfect nook in which I can... “Come here.” I pull her back and shove her in between them so that we’re mostly hidden from view. It’s still a risk but if anyone happens by, they’ll only see me and not who I’m with. Scanning the area one last time before I herd her forward pressing her body to the tree so that it allows me to prop one elbow against it to lean down and look at her without being tempted to look at the rest of her.

“What’re yo—“

“Look at me.”

She glances up for a brief second before quickly dipping her head, color blooming across her cheeks. “You do enjoy that, don’t you?” she grumbles.

“Enjoy what?”

“Leering over me all intimi--dat--ing--ly.”

“I’m not leering. I’m standing. You just happen to be down there and I just happen to be up here. And I’m not trying to be intimidating. I’m trying to make you feel safe because you look like you’re about to jump out of your skin.”

She merely chews the side of her lip. A startled gasp puffs out of her as I flick my hand, levitating her off the ground until her face is level with my own. “Better?”

“U—unnecessary.” She turns her head the opposite way, refusing to face me as she snatches a hold of my wrist, clinging to it for dear life.

“Do you think I would drop you?”

“Accidents happen.”

“Do I seem concerned to you?”

“N—not particularly but you wouldn’t be the one falling to your death.”

“Your death?” I snort. “Says the girl that literally dangled several stories high from a rope that she crafted out of a blanket.”

“How many times are we going to go over this?” she groans and I laugh.

I lean forward, dropping my voice to a murmur. “I didn’t mean about that. I meant, do I look concerned about this? Tonight? Any of them?”

She works a swallow. “Last time…”

I inch closer, mouth almost grazing her ear. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I swear.”

She finally turns back to meet my gaze, her eyes cautious and bottom lip slightly extended. I have the most delinquent urge to take that pouting lip between my teeth until she forgets why she was so afraid in the first place. Which is the last thing I should be doing here in this place. I’m too aware of the close proximity of our naked bodies. Based on the blooming blood in her cheeks, so is she. I throw another surreptitious glance around the clearing. “Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, of course,” she says working a swallow. “I trust you with my life.”

I hear the distinction in those words. She trusts me with her life. It doesn’t mean she trusts me with anything else. I already knew that though. I wrack my brain trying to think of something I can say that will make all of this easier for her. “Who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy seeing all of this… variety .”

“There’s nothing I will enjoy about this,” she hisses snapping her head back to glare at me.

“Nothing?” I tease. “Not even seeing me?”

“I will not be looking at you.”

“I think it’ll be more tempting than you want to admit.”

“You just can’t imagine that anyone wouldn’t want to see you .”

“Not anyone, pet, just you. You do seem to enjoy a certain book I have stashed under my bed.”

She stiffens, and I let out a quiet laugh, lowering my voice as I say, “Though, I think I’ll vastly prefer what I see tonight than anything in that.”

She turns away again, shoulders tensing. Her tone is flat and distant as she says, “Strange thing to say about your punishment.”

My face scrunches as I glare at the side of her head. “I think we’ve established that I’m a glutton for punishment.”

“Right,” she huffs.

My brows pinch in vexation. “Haven’t I made that clear?” I don’t know how I can make it any clearer.

“It’s not much of a punishment unless you actually have to be seen with me. Isn’t that what you said? Careful, Sitri, wouldn’t want anyone to gossip.”

I tense, finally seeing the error of my words. “If gossip were my only fear, I wouldn’t bat an eye, but—“ The sound of footsteps lights up the clearing as a group of Magi passes by us, much too close. I break off—repositioning myself to keep her hidden from view. One of them howls obnoxiously when he sees me.

She lets out a quiet scoff as if it’s some sort of proof and my frustration riles. “We’re going to talk about this, but this isn’t the time or place.”

“Of course,” she chirps. “Wouldn’t want anyone to overhear now, would we?”

My jaw flexes with my growing irritation. “It’s not like that.”

“What is it like then, Sitri?”

“I want to keep you safe,” I say adamantly.

She snorts.

How have we come so far from where we were this morning? Always one step forward and three steps back and I’m so fucking tired of stepping. “I don’t just want to keep you safe, Pandora. I want…” I want her to step out there with confidence in herself. And when she looks at me and I look at her I want her to know what it means.

She stiffens as I lean down close to her ear. “You have no idea how fucking angry it makes me that other men are going to see you like this.”

“Sorry you can’t keep me as hidden away as you’d like,” she snaps.

I let out a low growl. “You really have no fucking clue, what--I’d— like , do you?” I’m so over the confusion between us, the wondering, the waiting. I don’t have any more patience for this. “Do you?”

I reach forward and graze my fingers down the smooth, warm skin of her side. “Know what I’d like?” She goes rigidly still and I wonder once again if I’ve been wildly misreading things and she’s not nearly as interested as I assumed but then her breath catches and her hand tightens around my wrist. “Pandora?”

“I..I don’t know.”

I lean forward, sweeping my face down the side of her head, sucking in deep lung-fulls of her scent as my fingers trace down to the dip of her hip bone to make myself very, very, undeniably fucking clear.

Her hips sway, ass almost grazing my once again erect cock and I dart back, hand tightening around her to keep her from doing that again.

Fuck, that .

Her head tilts back to meet my chest and I lean forward, grazing my bottom lip up the slope of her neck.

“We really need to go,” I murmur. “I just needed you to understand this.”

“There you two are.”

The awful yet familiar voice rings out. Shit, Valik.

I immediately step back, and lower her to the ground, dropping my magic around her a little too hastily. She lands on her feet but staggers back, ass hitting the ground. I just dropped her, exactly what she was afraid of. The only good it does is immediately kill my boner. She scrambles to her feet, face furious as she wheels on me. I don’t have time for apologies. I snap and point back with a warning glare. No! Not in front of Valik. She opens her mouth to object and suddenly remembers her nakedness as Valik stalks forward. She spins on her heel to hide herself.

“I’ve been looking for you two. Lines dwindling and you haven’t performed the ceremony, Nightshade. Morin wanted me to ensure you didn’t try to skip out. Imagine my surprise when I find you already cozy with the nought.”

“Just making sure the nought knows how to handle herself tonight. We’re heading that way.”

“Well, I don’t think she’ll have to handle much. No one will be called to a nought, thank the Gods,” he spits in disgust. “Unless of course you are.”

I snort. “Even the Gods don’t hate me that much, Valik.”

My eyes creep over to Pandora. Her back is turned to me so I can’t see her response but her shoulders are stiff. I know she’s livid. I’m currently validating all of her beliefs. My stomach turns. All the progress I’ve made with her…When I glance back at Valik his eyes have wandered over to her too, scrutinizing the faint scars that mar her back. A sharp bite of anger hits me.

“Go, pet,” I snap. “Do as I’ve told you,” I say, more sternly when she doesn’t make to move. She readjusts her hair and stomps forward. She doesn’t look back as she braves the tree line nor as she proudly stomps across the field like her nakedness doesn’t phase her in the slightest. Pissing her off had effectively aided in her confidence…just not the way I intended to. I hang back, not wanting to give Valik an excuse to be anywhere near her, to even look in her direction.

“Are you participating?”

“Can’t. I’m on a job.”

I snort. “Are you going to come watch me fuck someone too like a peeping tom?”

Valik’s expression vacillates. He doesn’t want to do this either. “I won’t tell, Valik, if you want to play,” I say, as I break off toward my designated fire.

There’s a whole lot of skin on display. Most of the men in line before the Priestess are chatting amicably, throwing furtive glances toward the other side of the field where the women are clustered. I notice the moment they spot her because the atmosphere changes. Some sneer, others raise their brows in surprise, clapping their hands against each other’s shoulder as they make some stupid joke.

I spot Mag, Draven, people I used to call friends. They behave similarly, and I know it’s Pandora they’re pointing at when their eyes find me next, and swiftly veer away. Afraid of me, as they should be. Magic swells under the tips of my fingers. How easy it would be to let it loose. Just a couple sharp snips at their eyes, and they’ll never see her again. I squeeze my fists closed. That won’t help anything. Hopefully…Pandora doesn’t notice them.

I take my place in line and scan the line of women, searching for her. Making a point to keep my gaze leveled on their faces as I promised. She’s not hard to find because the women around her have cleaved several feet of distance between her and them. Her gaze is deliberately diverted, eyes skirting the festivities. They veer to me and I put the most apologetic face on I can muster. It only lasts a heartbeat before she sharply turns her head, a murderous expression on her face. So damned angry with me. I loose a disgruntled sigh.

The women outnumber the men by a long shot. The numbers hadn’t seem so slanted the last time I came to this thing. Before I know it my eyes are making their way back over to her of their own accord.

This time she’s looking at me.

Blatantly staring more like.

Not at my face.

That didn’t take long, pet.