Page 80 of Sinful

“Give it a minute. It’ll get better,” he said.

He removed his underwear and stepped into the bath too. I pointedly kept my eyes away from his muscular body, hating how attractive I found him.

When he was submerged in the water, he grabbed one of the wine glasses and passed it over to me, lips pressed in a sympathetic half-smile. “This will help with the pain too.”

I murmured my gratitude and took a sip of the bubbly liquid, mind still mired in confusion. Perhaps this wasn’t a test after all. Perhaps Sebastian really did feel bad about how poorly he’d treated me, and—

Oh, no.

You scoundrel.

Something had just clicked into place in my muddled brain. I had a good idea of what his game was now. He was probably pretending to be kind and sympathetic so that I’d begin to trust him and like him again, just like I did when he first arrived in my village. He’d fooled me then, embarrassingly easily, and I wouldn’t let him do it again. No way.

My mind whirled, and a dark seed of an idea took root, rapidly growing and spreading. I could take advantage of this situation. Sebastian obviously thought of me as an ignorant, naïve little girl, and I could use that against him. Make him think I’d fallen for his vile trickery.

What followed would be a terrible sin, but it would set me free and stop him from hurting me—or anyone else from the Covenant—ever again. A necessary evil. The Entity would forgive me.

I took another sip of the wine and reached for a strawberry. “Mmm. Delicious,” I said after I’d chewed and swallowed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I, um… I think…” I trailed off and shook my head. “No, never mind,” I added in a low voice.

Sebastian straightened in the tub. “Tell me what you were going to say.”

“I don’t know if I can.” I widened my eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible. “How can I trust that you won’t hurt me again?”

“I won’t. I promise,” he said. “I want us to get along.”

The glint that had suddenly appeared in his eyes told me I was completely correct in my assessment of his scheme. He’d realized torture wouldn’t work, so he’d decided to play with my head by pretending to be my friend until I finally shared the information he wanted.

You want to trick and manipulate me, outsider? Two can play at that game.

I swallowed hard and shifted nervously in the water. “Well, you see… I know you want to know who killed your mother, but I really cannot tell you anything about that, because my people aren’t responsible for what happened,” I said softly. “But… theforbidden cave. You said she was researching it before she died, didn’t you?”

Sebastian leaned forward, eyes flickering with interest. “Yes. Why?”

“I can understand why you’d want to know where it is, if it was one of the last things she ever researched. It must play on your mind endlessly. Always wondering what she saw and experienced out there. But the thing is…” I trailed off and looked down, gnawing at the inside of my cheek. I had to draw this out so it didn’t appear as if I were giving in easily. That would be suspicious. “The cave is extremely dangerous. If you go inside and pierce the veil, you could release the Darkness.”

“I know.”

“I’m willing to tell you where it is,” I said, eyes snapping back upward to meet his gaze. “Butonlyif you promise me that you won’t go beyond the first three feet. Any farther than that, and the veil will be pierced.”

“I promise.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You must swear it, Sebastian. If you pierce the veil, you risk the safety of the world.”

“I swear on my life. I won’t go that far in. I just want to see what my mother was researching.”

Liar, liar…

I let out a heavy sigh and looked down, shaking my head as if I were disappointed in myself for even considering this. Then I took a deep breath and spoke up again. “Do you remember when I took you to my berry-picking spot?”

“Yes.”

“Do you recall the offshoot path I showed to you along the way? The one I seemed afraid of?”

“Yes.”

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