Page 32 of Villainous Greed

“Will you hush?” I muttered.

“You’re so beautiful with your venom, but I wished you’d stop using it on me.”

My body didn’t feel like mine whenever he spoke.

When I seethed in silence, glaring, he asked, “Is the bands spelled to kill the one who takes them off?”

“It will explode the second it’s taken off by anyone other than Harvest. And since I’m immortal because of you, he made sure it would hurt me, too.”

August nodded. “Do you know how bigger radius the explosion will cause?”

I shook my head.

“I guess we’ll find out.” He stepped closer. “If only you’d allow me to do this a long time ago, I would have been the only one to suffer from this spell.”

I scoffed. “Do you remember that day?”

“I would never forget it.” The blackness of his pupils stretched out, covering the whites of his eyes. “I buried you that same day.”

I froze, blinking. “You’re the reason I was in the ground? Why would you do that?”

“It’s a human custom. A way of giving respect to those who passed.”

“That is a strange custom,” I said. “I nearly suffocated when I woke.”

“If I had known you’d come back to life, I wouldn’t have buried you. I’m glad you did, though.”

“I wished I’d stayed dead.”

“Strange, isn’t it? I wished for death too until I heard you were alive.”

What?August, a man who had everything, wished for what I did?

“Whatever Harvest has put you through, I’ll make him pay.” August grabbed the bar on my arm. “Are you ready?”

It felt like ice engulfed my lungs. I kept waiting for him to say, ‘Hah! I fooled you again.’ Until that moment, I believed he was being cruel again. “You’re actually serious?”

“You’re getting out of Harvest’s hold today. And we’re going to work through our past.Together.”

I gritted my teeth. The temptation of freedom was great. Why should I stop him? Retribution would be within reach if he gotthose shackles off me. Not only August, but I could also hurt Harvest and Derrick.

“Wait.” I placed my hand over his on my wrist, then immediately pulled away. He was warm to the touch and skin on skin… I didn’t know why, but it flustered me.

“What’s wrong?” His eyes crinkled at the edges, and so did his forehead.

“If you’re serious, then we have to be quick,” I whispered, suddenly fearful that the trees had ears. “The second you take off one binding, Harvest will sense it. He’ll send demons. He may even come himself.”

“Anything else?”

“What do you mean ‘anything else’? That’s dangerous enough. We could die every time you take one off. They could find us and chain us up before we revive.”

He grabbed my shoulder, squeezing lightly. “It’s going to be all right.”

I closed my hands when I felt the first tremble. “If you don’t think you can do this, tell me. I’d rather not risk it at all than suffer Harvest’s wrath when he discovered I tried to break free.”

August searched my face. “What has Harvest done to you?”

I ignored the question. “Are we doing this or not? Otherwise, I can go back to waiting to kill you.”

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