Page 31 of Devil's Deal

So I make my body hard, even though all it wants is to melt into the embrace and just allow myself to be held. I can’t fall for his tricks. They are all lies, anyway.

Next thing I know, Woland is out of reach, swathed in black smoke and hidden from everyone. For a bitter moment of disappointment and relief, I wonder if he’s finally given up. If I can go home, back to my life of a scorned outcast.

But then, the laughing, half-naked maidens and their boys walk by. No longer afraid of the circle containing the gods, they come close, some of the girls shooting me contemptuous looks. Woland is hidden, half-melted into the dark where the light of the closest fire doesn’t reach. It looks like I stand alone.

Ida stops just outside the circle, watching me with a sneer.

“Your chaplet may be pretty, Jaga,” she says, her lip curling. “But when they all float down the river, you know what will happen? Everyone will chase after mine while yours will drown. Because nobody wants you here. Witch.”

I shrug, swallowing my anger and the flare of humiliation at her words. I hate that I feel this way but I’m helpless to stop it. What she says is true. If I let my chaplet float with theirs, no one would catch it, and I want to be indifferent to that knowledge, but I’m not.

It hurts. I’m good at hiding it, though.

“Have fun,” I tell her, letting my body and face relax into indifference. “And when it starts to itch, I recommend yarrow brew.”

Ida scoffs and walks away, throwing me a triumphant smirk over her shoulder when Janek puts his arm around her. I know he’s the one she wants to catch her chaplet. Tall and strong, he’s also going to inherit the best fields in the area. All the girls pine after him.

“I finally see why you reject the eternity at my side,” Woland says, appearing close as the smoke blows away. “A life of humiliation among peasants is so far more appealing than ruling alongside a god.”

“You’re not a god,” I say at once, doing my best to ignore his amusement at my expense and the uncomfortable sting of truth in his voice.

He’s right. My current life isn’t worth shit, and until tonight, I thought it was my only option of survival.

But can I trust him? Is he truly offering me a future as the queen at his side? No, of course not. He’s a liar. Besides, a queen is not owned, and that’s what he wants from me. He wants to be my master, and I will never bow to him.

I’d rather die.

“Am I not?” he asks, coming closer. “I surely am not mortal, so what would you call me?”

He puts his arm around my shoulders, turning us both so we look at the maidens and young men by the river. The maidens stand in a row, chattering excitedly while the men strip to nothing in preparation for the race.

“I don’t know,” I say, a weight of despondence growing in my chest. “I want to go home.”

When Woland presses me closer with a quiet laugh, I know he will not let me. But that’s fine. I’ll survive, like I always do.

Only a few hours are left until dawn. Whatever he has in store, I can take it.

I’m sure of it.

Chapter eleven

River

I brace to endure until the sun comes out and the gods are forced to leave. There is nothing left for me here, and Ida was right. Even if I do let my chaplet float down the river, no one will want it. It might be the prettiest and the costliest of all, bought dearly with my blood. And yet, it will be scorned and ignored. It will drown, sealing my fate.

Death.

“Home?” Woland asks, turning so he can look at my face.

When I ignore him, looking stubbornly aside, he sighs with impatience and grabs the back of my head, forcing me to look up.

“So you’re going to let that mortal humiliate you,” he says, scorn in his eyes. “And I was just starting to respect you.”

His words cut deep, and I growl, grabbing his forearm to make him let go. His muscles bunch under my fingers, hard and unyielding. He’s so much stronger than me.

“Let go,” I bite out. “I don’t care what Ida thinks about me. And I don’t care whether you respect me or not. I don’t need anyone but myself, so fucking let go.”

He doesn’t, rubbing his forehead with his other hand as he sighs again. Suddenly, he seems tired.

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