Page 91 of Devil's Deal

Tears of joy shine in her eyes, and I decide to give her one more reason to be merry while also making Swietko squirm.

“Will you be trying to get pregnant?” I ask.

Swietko looks up, shooting me a glare, but Alina nods enthusiastically.

“I hope so! It will be a few years before the kids can help around the house, but I think we can manage. I’ve always wanted babies and I really hope it will finally happen.”

“Mhm. And the medicine Czeslawa gave you didn’t work, is that correct? How long have you used it?”

Swietko stares daggers at me, and I send him a quelling look. He owes me his life, and I’m trying to help him and his wife. He has no room to complain, even if accepting my help humiliates him.

“Over a year,” Alina says, shaking her head. “And I was actually going to ask you for some other solution. People keep talking, you know. How her remedies don’t always work because she wants us to keep coming back.”

I give a noncommittal shrug, making sure to convey I agree with everything people say without actually agreeing. Now that Czeslawa badmouths me on every occasion, I must be above it so people see the contrast between us.

“Well, some impotence treatments actually affect the quality of male seed,” I say. “So even if the spear will rise, so to speak, it won’t hit the target.”

I’m proud of myself for this hunting analogy and glance at Swietko to gauge his reaction. A muscle jumps in his jaw, and he watches me with pure hate, but stays silent.

Good boy, I mouth.

He stands up, wobbling from the sudden movement because his balance is off, and stalks out without a backward glance. Alina gives me an apologetic look.

“He’s very fragile,” she says. “But I’d like the medicine. He wants heirs, too, just like I do. What will it cost? I can bring you more furs if that’s…”

“Keep your furs,” I interrupt her, shaking my head. “You already brought me plenty, and you’ll need to save your wealth now. I’ll serve you for free, and when you get pregnant, too. You both deserve happiness after that ordeal.”

Swietko’s discomfort is payment enough, I add in the privacy of my mind.

Alina thanks me profusely, and I wave her to the door, wondering for a moment if something is wrong with me, because making Swietko suffer brings me so much more joy than doing a good deed for Alina.

Then again, it’s not like I’m making a huge sacrifice by not having them pay. I don’t need to drive a tough bargain because my popularity surges higher than ever. Yesterday, Czeslawa told anyone who’d listen that I was the one who destroyed her patient shed, so today, people come by to hear my side of the story.

“Do you have something to protect against a poludnica?” Maja, Ida’s older sister, asks after coming in. She’s flushed, her pregnant belly big and taut. “I worked in the fields yesterday and felt faint, so today I’m home, but we need all hands hard at work. I thought it might have been a poludnica’s fault.”

“If she actually saw a poludnica, she wouldn’t have to guess. She’d know,” Wiosna says. “It’s just the heat.”

I study Maja critically, noting she must be about eight months along. Wiosna is right, of course, and that heat is deadly not just to pregnant women. Ideally, she shouldn’t be out in the fields until the weather breaks, but reality is never ideal.

Women often give birth in the fields because they work until the very last moment. It’s just how it is.

“The best protection from the heat is wearing a hat or a kerchief at all times and drinking often. But don’t drink water. Have a strong chicory brew with honey. Take small sips throughout the day, as often as you can. That will make you sweat less and feel stronger. As for the poludnica, run away if one should appear. Get indoors or in the shade. They are very powerful in the sunlight and there’s little you can do to protect yourself if you don’t hide.”

She gives me a spooked look but nods. “I have another question. How does one recognize a witch?”

Even though she wrings her hands in a nervous gesture, there’s that spark of excitement in her eyes. She looks so similar to Ida right now, her face animated, her eyes bright, though Maja’s cheeks are fuller, her posture tired due to the pregnancy.

I tell her the truth. “The easiest way to reveal a witch is the Kupala fire,” I say with a nod. “That’s why all women have to stand close to it at least once every year, you know? Sometimes I wonder why men aren’t required to do that, because a man can absolutely do foul magic spells, as well.”

Her eyes grow big with surprise. “Really? I never thought it possible!”

“Yes, men can do magic, too. So the easiest way to recognize a witch is to look for those who didn’t approach the Kupala fire. Because everyone who avoids it surely has something to hide.”

“That was rather clever,” Wiosna says after Maja goes home. “Now the entire village will be busy trying to remember who went up to the fire and who didn’t.”

“And everyone saw me do it, of course,” I say with a smile. “But I don’t think Czeslawa actually did. I never saw her near the fire, not once, and I suspect she felt too proud and untouchable to undergo the trial. Well, we’ll see what the gossip mill comes up with.”

Around dusk, I am tired and finally hungry, so I drink a few cups of goat milk and devour a thick slice of bread with honey, all courtesy to my clients. But as I reach for my pins to let my hair down before bed, Wiosna clicks her tongue in disapproval.

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