Page 30 of Devil's Deal

“Is that another secret?” he asks, his voice pleasant, yet taunting. “Or is your future so bleak, you have nothing to say?”

I grit my teeth and look away from his knowing gaze. He’s close to the mark, and that frustrates me more than I care to admit. I look around to calm the rage and humiliation humming under my skin.

We’re close to the far edge of the circle, most of the creatures dancing closer to the river, which gives us some privacy. Outside the circle, there is a stretch of empty grass until another bonfire. In the light of it, the maidens dance.

I blink and then shiver as a loud moan makes me look more closely. Ida is there among other girls, their breasts bared, the remains of their dresses barely staying around their hips. A young man drops his mouth to Ida’s throat and kisses a clumsy, eager path down to her nipple. She moans again.

I look away, an unpleasant flush creeping up my neck. I hate that I am so affected by the sight of it. Normally, talk of sex and breeding, or even the sight of naked bodies, doesn’t daunt me, but this is different.

This is the Kupala queen being worshiped by a man the way I never was and never will be.

“What if I told you I can fill your future with adventure and bliss?” Woland’s quiet, tempting voice slithers in my ear. I gasp, his words pushing right through my defenses and landing dangerously close to my biggest vulnerabilities. “What if I said you could have power and glory at my side? All the magic you desire, immortal life, and pleasure beyond imagining?”

I wait for him to say I can have it if only I offer myself to him. Then, I will laugh in his face. No matter how brittle I feel, I’ll never belong to the devil.

But he doesn’t. He stops dancing, one hand on my waist, one cradling my palm. I glance at him in surprise and flinch when I find his keen eyes studying my face with intense curiosity. Gone is his arrogance, gone is impatience. He watches me with fascination, as if I am the most interesting thing in the world.

As if he tries to penetrate into the deepest parts of me with his gaze alone.

I swallow nervously, pleasure and unease rising in my belly. This is too much. Somehow, his interest feeds a starving, neglected piece of me, and it clamors for more. I can’t bring myself to look away. I don’t want him to stop.

“I see you,” he says quietly, making shivers break down my nape. “I see the longing. Oh, Jaga, you could have it all.”

Look away, I tell myself, but my eyes won’t budge. I am completely mesmerized. “Have what?” I ask, and my throat is so tight, my voice comes out croaky.

“Men at your feet, begging for a touch or a smile,” he says in a low voice, smooth like honey. Another blissful moan comes from nearby, and I shiver. “People and beings of all kinds begging for your favor. Those who despised and hated you, cowering at your feet in terror. Those who rejected you, begging for your company. You could be queen in her place, Jaga. It’s so easy. Just reach out and pluck what you want.”

His eyes hold mine trapped, the gold highlights dancing in his irises like a promise of magic. The image he painted for me is perfect. I want all those things, crave them with a force so great, it claws at my insides with longing.

I want them so much, I am ready to believe him.

Ida moans again, and my mesmerized thoughts briefly flit to her. There she is, the queen taking her due. Taking pleasure and worship tonight, only to be trapped tomorrow in a marriage to a violent, demanding man, her honeyed pussy itching and hurting for weeks to come.

I blink. That is not what I want. It’s stupid to be jealous of a joy so fleeting.

“I’ll give it to you all.” Woland’s voice drops an octave, a tantalizing, masculine purr that shakes me to my core. “If you say you’re mine.”

There it is.

I release a long, regretful sigh. For a moment there, I thought I could have the world. I thought I held the interest of the most powerful being I know. But it was all an illusion. Just another way he manipulates me.

“So you can’t just claim me if you want,” I say softly, looking into his demonic eyes. Somehow, they are no longer yellow, but gold like jewels in his gray face. “You need my verbal consent. Tell me, devil. Will you kill me when you realize I’ll never say those words to you?”

His eyes widen and then flare with anger. I swallow tightly, preparing for the worst. Because surely, I finally did it. He’ll kill me for my obstinacy.

To be fair, Wiosna said it might happen. I still remember her warning. “You stubborn girl. One day, you will meet your match. I pity you, because you’ll suffer greatly.”

I gasp when Woland’s arms go around me, pressing me close to his body. His chin rests on the top of my head, the front of my chaplet squished against his throat. When something sharp prickles my skin next to my navel, I hiss and jerk, but he holds me closer.

Yet, I blush, knowing what it is. The thorns.

“Maybe one day,” he answers my question, sounding surprisingly calm. “Well, then. You hated being disrespected, so you will be pleased to know I hold you in esteem now. No mortal has ever resisted me for so long.”

I blink a few times and say nothing while his chest rises and falls with deep, calm breaths. He holds me like… No, I won’t even go there. I don’t understand him. His moods change so rapidly. And I’m sure this is just another way he’s trying to get under my skin.

I haven’t been held in so long, and by a man, never.

But I can’t let myself enjoy it. He’s the devil and everything he does is calculated. He’s plotting my doom.

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