Page 31 of Villainous Greed

“What do you mean by lies? You’re the liar, not me.” My head felt like it might burst from the fury I felt. “I trusted you. If you had… they might have—” I silenced myself when my voice cracked.

“I should have stolen you the very day I saw you,” he said as he stalked toward me. “That way, you would have never gotten the chance to be so foolish.”

“I’m so tired of people thinking they can own me!” I screamed at August, throwing a wave of power at him. The force of my energy made him stagger backward. He shook his shoulders, then walked forward. There was a dark glint in his gaze and a tightened jawline, making him seem harsher.

“So, Harvest has you trapped,” August muttered. “Tell me, little star, how many bars are on those arms? Take off the cloak and show me.”

There was no reason I shouldn’t. August knew it was me, saw my face. Unhooking the snap by my neck, I yanked off the cloak. Six magical bands were on each wrist, one on my neck, and three on each ankle. I lifted the dress I wore enough to reveal them.

He glared. “Fuck, Nova. Why are there so many?”

August should know the answer. My power never stopped growing. I was a proxy. Witches especially continued to flourish in power the longer they lived. Just most of us didn’t survive childhood due to how trafficked we were by demons.

When I said nothing, he asked, “How do we take them off?”

What? “Take them off?” I repeated in a daze as he stopped in front of me.

“Yes,off.” His gaze flickered over my face before staring into my eyes. “I see it now.Youare the curse, not greed. Silence my body for a century and the moment I see you, I feel everything. You have been a bad girl, Nova.”

In a move so quick, he gripped my ponytail and tilted my head back. Even as I tore into his shoulder with an explosion spell, he slanted his lips over mine. Heat coiled inside my stomach. My body felt like a spring being stretched. He flicked his tongue across my lower lip right as I shoved him away. He yanked off his cloak and blood poured from his shoulder, even as it mended itself.

My chest rose and fell with my pants. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

August smirked. “I’m most certainly going to do it again.”

He disappeared. I spun around, only for his powerful essence to hit my back right as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. All I could smell was his blood as he lowered his lips to my neck and gave me a kiss there. A shudder rolled through me as he ground himself into me. Something hard and foreign pressed into my back. He groaned. “It’s not fucking broken after all!”

My face felt like it caught on fire when I realized what I felt and jerked away. “You—”

“Kill me if you want, but I want you to tell me what spells are on the shackles when I wake.”

“Why? Do you plan to take them off?”

“Yeah.” He adjusted himself in his pants with another groan. “I shouldn’t have done that. Just kill me, so it will go down.”

I scowled. “Is everything a joke? You realize I’m going to kill you the second your powers disappear, right?”

He stopped, jaws hardening. “I know the risks every time I let you attack me, knowing I can become mortal any second. It’s the risk you should have taken with me back then. I don’t know what they said to make you lie, but I would have protected you—”

“Why do you keep saying I lied? You were the one playing tricks, then refused to help!”

His mouth dropped before he scoffed. “I would have done anything you asked of me.”

“Hades, I can’t stand to listen to you.”

“Finally, something we can agree on,” he fired back. “You are infuriating, witch!”

“Me infuriating? You’re the liar.”

“You…” His forehead wrinkled as he sighed and lowered his head. “I am at your disposal, witch, so tell me, how do we free you?”

“So now you want to help me?” I asked as I glared. “What about back then?”

“Are you kidding me?” He rubbed his forehead.

August might not have killed me and the others back then, but if he had done as he promised, things might have been different. The cruelty he showed me that day gutted me more than any wound inflicted upon my flesh. I couldn’t let it go along with the fact that he tried to say I lied back then. How so? Messing with my emotions must be a pleasure for him, because that’s what he was doing. Confusing my body and heart because when he looked at me… I swore it felt like he actually cared.

He lowered his arms and stared before smiling ruefully. “You’ve only smiled at me once, you know.”

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