Page 91 of Twisted Sins

Nandini felt relieved. “I’m so happy that the execution was stopped.”

Uma looked confused. “What execution?”

“The execution that I interrupted yesterday morning.”

Uma frowned. “You interrupted a punishment. Kabali clan doesn’t kill young boys who aren’t warriors. The boy was receiving the punishment of bearing the Kabali marks on his chest. His clan and everyone else would now know the Kabali clan caught him.”

Shock ripped through Nandini. “What! But… but… I thought… and the demon let me think…, and I promised… and last night I… and then he…”

She finally realized the demon tricked her.

Her face flamed as she recalled how the demon watched her strip naked and let her kiss him, touch him, and seduce him. And the things he did to her in return. All the while, the savage bastard knew there was never a threat to the teenage spy’s life, and she didn’t have to make the deal.

How dare he! I will kill that dirty bastard!

Uma and Rumi frowned.

“Are you all right?” Uma asked, not understanding the anger on her face.

“Yes,” Nandini gritted.

I will be fine after I kill that demon leader of yours tonight.

***

Nandini spent the rest of the day in the stables and near the cooking area.

But no amount of physical labor helped reduce her anger and outrage. The Kabali women’s knowing smiles only increased her anger and embarrassment.

“You need to save your energy,” one of the Kabali women said with a cheeky smile. “Or you’ll get too tired for tonight.”

Nandini’s face burned, which the women mistook for shyness, and they laughed.

“We are so glad that the war between you and Rudra is over,” another woman said with a smile. “And Rudra has opened his heart to you.”

At Nandini’s puzzled frown, Uma smiled. “When a Kabali warrior gets married, he stops applying ash on his face at night, only when he is ready to accept his wife into his heart. It means he is no longer fighting a war. Rudra didn’t apply ash last night as he accepts you into his heart.”

Nandini was shocked. She didn’t think there would be a meaning behind applying ash for a Kabali man.

Of course, the demon wasn’t accepting her into his heart. His people thought he was, but she knew the truth. The bastard was using his handsome face to seduce and trick her.

I will kill him!

For the rest of the evening, she simmered in anger, thinking of ways to torture and get back at the demon. Meanwhile, the Kabali women laughed and teased her.

The only good thing that came out of the demon’s trickery was that the Kabali women seemed to have dropped all hostility against her and embraced her as their own.

Soon, the sun began to set. She took a quick bath in the pond, washing off the day’s sweat and grime.

Just as she was about to walk towards the encampment fire, Uma and Rumi met her midway with food trays in hand.

“Oh, I was going to join you near the fire,” she said.

Uma shook her head with a smile. “Rudra asked for his and your evening meals to be brought into the tent from now on.”

Anger spiked that the demon made such an order.

The savage bastard probably expected her to once again feed him dates with her mouth and seduce him like a trained courtesan.

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