Page 73 of Devil's Deal

I wonder what game she’s playing, but when my outrage at her words tries to rise to the surface, I tell myself to calm down. She’s baiting me, and I won’t react.

“Alina!” I shout instead. “It’s safe to come out. Bring a sheet if you can!”

A moment later, I hear my front door open. Alina rounds the corner, bearing my linen towel she must have taken from a peg on the wall. The crowd parts, and she gasps when she sees the body.

“It was him? Oh Perun, Jaga, how did you do it? I thought the werewolf would tear you to pieces!”

“You saw the werewolf?” Darobor asks just as Czeslawa scoffs, feigning disbelief.

What is she trying to gain by making it look like I killed a man and not the beast everyone was terrified of?

“Yes!” Alina says, too loud in her excitement. “Oh Perun, it was so scary! I hid in the cottage with Swietko, but Jaga stayed outside. I thought she would die, that beast was so horrible!”

“Are you sure that’s what you saw?” Czeslawa cuts in, her voice acidic. “Or maybe Jaga only told you the werewolf was coming?”

Alina is a simple, direct woman, and Czeslawa’s insinuation flies right over her head. She frowns, shaking her head and looking at the whisperer like she’s daft.

“I know what I saw. Fur, teeth, claws, and it was so… so, I don’t know, mangled. Like it was sick. I shut the door when it came through the gate. Gods, Jaga! You’re covered in blood. Are you all right?”

I nod, feigning a wince, even though I couldn’t feel any better if I tried. It’s a wonder my skin doesn’t glow. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

“Aha!” Czeslawa shouts triumphantly. “So it came here? And you admit your protections failed?”

I stare at her rabid smile, finally seeing why she’s doing this. She wants to discredit me, because I steadily get more and more of her business. The villagers regard me as a whisperer, too, and Czeslawa hates competition. Not to mention, yesterday I practically forced her to treat people for free.

I see how she might hold a grudge over that.

“Someone tampered with them,” I say, looking her right in the eye, curious how she’ll react. “I buried the lamb bones Waclaw gave me across my gate. Somebody dug them out, risking not only my life, but Alina’s and Swietko’s, too.”

There. A slight flinch, a tightening around her eyes. Czeslawa draws herself up, trying to shoot me an icy look, but I see the emotion underneath. It’s almost like I feel the way temperature distributes in her body, sensing blood rushing to her cheeks as they redden in shame. My new magical senses make her deception obvious.

“What do you mean by that?” she asks through clenched teeth, voice belligerent.

“Nothing,” I answer cooly, staring right into her eyes to make sure she knows that I know. “I’m only explaining what happened. Someone in our village knowingly endangered the lives of three people by removing my protection. It disturbs me to think such a vile person lives among us.”

She flinches as if struck, and I give her a small nod. I see you, it says. I’ll get you.

Because I will. It’s clear I can’t accuse her without proof of her guilt. She would deny it. But there are other ways to deal with such a treacherous vixen. Whispering ways.

She tried to get me killed. Torn to shreds, and all because she envied me the small headway I made with my community. There is no forgiving such a thing, and I don’t intend to even try. By the time I’m done with her, Czeslawa will run back to her home village, and the position of whisperer will be mine.

“Thank you, Alina.” I turn to take the towel from her hands and drape it over Przemyslaw as well as I can. His legs stick out, but his face and nakedness are covered, at least. And with that, my knife, too.

As I straighten, I home in on the disturbed, scared looks people give me. Darobor and Alina look at me with clear concern, but others are visibly mistrustful. Czeslawa is silent, at least, still shaken that she was discovered.

“It happened fast,” I say, letting my terror from just minutes ago shine through as I speak, but not too much. A whisperer can’t be fearful. “The beast came in. For some time, it just growled and stalked me, just like it did yesterday in the road. I tried to speak to it like Darobor did.”

I give him a grateful look, and he nods.

“But I couldn’t control my voice. The beast got angry and jumped at me. I had my herb-cutting knife in my hand, and that was what saved me. That, and pure luck. Because I raised my hand with the knife to shield my face, and somehow, the knife found the werewolf’s neck. I would be dead otherwise.”

In the end, it’s Alina who earns me everyone’s trust, and then, even awe. She runs to my side and hugs me, careless of my blood and sweat. She sobs and whispers, “I’m sorry,” and I know it’s for shutting the door. She feels guilty, but then, she doesn’t know Woland wouldn’t have let me go inside, anyway.

It’s not her fault. So I pat her back and try not to be too stiff in her embrace, even though it feels strange and intrusive. Hugs from anyone but Bogna are alien to me.

When Alina pulls back, tears shine in her eyes.

“Thank you,” she says in a loud, thick voice, swallowing sobs. “First, you saved my husband, and tonight, you risked your life to save both of us. You are such a good, courageous woman. Thank you, Jaga! I owe you my life.”

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