Page 131 of The Harbinger

I sat and pictured Sacha’s face, and warmth filled my chest with little swirls of happiness fluttering in my belly. Sacha wasn’t all that bad, and he may not love me, but he cared for me. Why else would he make a vow to protect me and keep me safe from his father?

But there was still this niggling at the forefront every time… Nina. The unspoken ‘other woman.’ Did Sacha give her a ring, a tattoo, or branding? Not a branding. Katya said he hadn’t done that before. What was so special about her then? How was she his future, but not me?

Curiosity burned the tip of my tongue. “What did Nina have?”

“A tattoo. But she was different.”

A cold chill slipped down my spine. “Different, how?”

“Nina was set apart from the rest. She knew her place and where she belonged. She didn’tneeda mark to seal her space.”

My cheeks heated as if she’d backhanded me with her words, and the need to converse with her any longer bled away.

“I see.”

“My mama has herbs that will heal this faster. Ask her for them,” she said as she strode out on her heel.

There was that moment again where Nina’s significance to Sacha was thrown in my face without any explanation for their relationship. It was as if it didn’t need explaining. It just was. And there was no competing with that.

Once Katya was out of view, I pulled my shirt to the side and stared at the dead white skin, then sighed.

He’d taken the branding with me, something I hadn’t expected in all my days. It drew us closer, pulling me into his dark sticky threads until I’d become entangled in everything Sacha and he was all I could think about.

I’d waited every day with raptured excitement for him to walk through the door after being in town. I’d begged him to take me with him, even if I had to kneel beside his desk all day, but he’d refused. With all the freedom in my days, curiosity stitched my mind like a pesky demon on my shoulder, telling me all the things I shouldn’t do.

Like finding my parents…

Or the man called Fuego.

I still hadn’t confided in him after all these days.

Peeing myself in the middle of his foyer wasn’t exactly a moment in time I wanted to relive, especially when Fuego revealed himself to me—his name etched on my mind.

Fuego, Fuego, Fuego.

Would Sacha be interested in hearing about it? I’d wanted to tell him, but things were so good, I didn’t want the damning reality of my tortured past to come back and rip everything in two.

Besides, how would one name get me anywhere?

I stood from my vanity and walked into my bedroom. The door closed the split second my foot crossed the threshold with a hushed snick.

“Hello? Katya?”

Rushing to the door, I kicked an object in my path. My footsteps faltered as my body turned to the side, my hands crashing into the creamy yellow painted wall.

“What the hell,” I gasped, my heart zooming in my chest, escaping the alarm racing up my throat. I turned and stood with my mouth hanging open. “How the…”

The pair of sneakers I’d worn when I’d met Sacha now lay sprawled across the floor, the soul of the shoe split down the middle, standing it upright in an unnatural position.

Why would Katya put these here?

I turned, pulled the door wide, rushed to the banister, and peered over. I’d half expected the demon, Asmodeus, to turn his stone head up to me with a smile on his face, but he sat still as he should in reality.

The foyer sat quietly except for a clicking in the hall.

Tap.

Tap, tap.

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