Page 171 of Devil's Deal

But it doesn’t make any sense.

“Can you please stop stroking my back?” I ask evenly, surprising myself with how calm I sound.

Inside me, a fire rises, but it builds slowly. I still don’t know everything, only that he did this without telling me first and I never saw it coming.

But it’s so obvious now. The timeline he gave me, for one. Wanting to have sex. I gasp in sudden understanding, because it never occurred to me before, but now it seems so clear. He almost fucked me that night by the river, but ever since then, even when we were intimate, he didn’t try.

Until now. Because I’m fertile. He planned for this.

“Of course,” Woland answers my request, his perfectly polite tone matching mine.

He settles that hand behind my back, still holding me close, but at least he doesn’t pretend to caress me. I hate to be so near him right now, but I believe him when he says we’re stuck for good and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I don’t even try to push him away.

Instead, I lock all my sensations down, trying my best to make it not matter that he’s inside me. I detach from my own body until every inch he touches grows numb. When I have a good handle on my feelings, everything hidden and forced into tight little nooks in my mind, I take a deep breath and get ready for the truth.

“Why do you want to get me pregnant?”

He answers directly, no riddles, no vague comments. I can’t help but believe his explanation, because it’s so straightforward and so in line with what I’ve always known of him.

He’s a deceitful, selfish monster. And I forgot it long enough to let him betray me.

“I told you multiple times I found a way to claim you,” he says without shame or regret. “This is it. If a male god begets a child upon a mortal woman, that woman belongs to him, as does the offspring. Truly, Jaga, I didn’t want to do it. I have enough children and never wanted more, let alone half-mortal ones. But you left me no choice.”

I nod. I knew this, of course. His end goal always mattered more than me. Maybe I didn’t even matter at all. He only made me think he cared to bring me to this very moment.

I think about the mesmerized look on his face when he saw my hair loose for the first time. About all the darlings and other affectionate words that seemingly slipped out without him meaning to say them. I think about the time he soothed and cradled me when I bled under the tree. They were all lies, of course.

I shudder when I remember all the words he spewed when he fucked me—more lies that I believed like a complete idiot.

If I could yank that memory from my mind like a weed, I would.

“So you counted the days,” I say numbly. “And used venom to make sure it takes. What else did you do?”

He laughs sharply, and the sound hurts me, it’s so cold. I try to cringe away but he won’t let me. His claws dig into my skin where he presses me to his chest.

“I fed you,” he says. “You were getting too thin. I was afraid it would interfere with your fertility.”

“I see.” And I really do.

For a moment there, I thought the food meant he was making amends. But of course, that wouldn’t be him. It hits me all over again like lightning—how well he deceived me. And how stupidly attached I grew to the idea of him feeling something for me.

So pathetic.

“And you have children? I thought you said you did this for the first time just now. The thorns,” I say, clarifying. My voice doesn’t even tremble. Remarkable. I have some dignity, after all.

Woland tenses, his breath rushing out. I try to pull back to see the full extent of his indifference on his face, but he restrains me with a furious growl. So he’s not as calm as he pretends. That’s a consolation, if ever a small one.

“Well?” I prompt when he doesn’t answer.

“I said many things,” he scoffs dismissively. “Do you believe them all?”

It’s my turn to tense and growl.

“Point taken,” I bite out.

He laughs mockingly, and my skin crawls with the need to pull away. His touch feels slimy now, his presence suffocating.

“Darling, you know I’m a liar,” he says, and I grit my teeth.

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