Page 13 of Sinful Curses
It was true, but he still didn’t like her thinking that. It’s who he was, who he’d always been and always planned to be.
She should accept and embrace it instead of wanting him to change. He accepted her for who she was, a sometimes uptight pain in the ass who could infuriate him and make him mad with lust.
She fought him at every turn when it wasn’t necessary. If she would stop and have sex with him again, they’d both be a lot happier.
Did she think he enjoyed her annoying combination? No, he didn’t, but he accepted it.
He wouldn’t change, and anyone who didn’t like it could die for all he cared… except for her.
For some reason—and he didn’t plan to figure out what it was—he didn’t like her low opinion of him.
However, that didn’t matter as much as what she’d revealed. Shehadn’tslept with the demon. She hadn’t moved on to someone else.
Which meant he didn’t owe her the punishment he’d planned to unleash on her.She did plot with the demon and witch to leave you behind while they ventured into the Barren Lands together.
That was true, and it still aggravated him, but he’d also sought to push her buttons with the nymph and other women he’d paraded in front of her after they had sex. She still should have returned to him to feed.
The fact she hadn’t didn’t bother him as much as it did when he believed she screwed the demon. He’d still make her pay in the most wonderful of ways for her betrayal when she caved and screwed him again—and she would—but he wouldn’t seek to destroy her anymore.
Rubbing his hands together, his smile widened in anticipation of this more enjoyable game. Of course, he’d have to verify she was telling him the truth first.
Sahira wasn’t a liar, but there were few he trusted to tell him the complete truth, and she wasn’t one of them.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Over the next three days,they made their way deeper into the Barren Lands and toward whatever lay beyond, which Sahira was beginning to fear might be absolutely nothing.
She had no idea where they were anymore. They’d tried to stay straight so they could find Belda’s town again if forced to turn back, but with all the shifting sand, it was impossible to know if they were heading straight anymore.
For all she knew, they could be going in circles in this forsaken land. Zeth remained confident they were heading the right way and could easily return if necessary. Sahira was glad he was so sure.
She trusted Zeth’s judgment; he’d traversed the Barren Lands before and always managed to find his way back. She had to have faith that he could do so now too.
If he didn’t, they would die out here. They’d all already lost weight.
Orin had lost the most as his high cheekbones were more pronounced. Even after only six days in this desert, the lack of sex and his inability to feed on it, along with their smaller food portions, was wearing on him, but that wasn’t her problem.
Then why did she feel compassion for him when she shouldn’t? He’d decided to come out here without someone to sate his needs. The obstinate jerk had assumed it would be her, but he’d been completely wrong.
That would not happen. Still, she didn’t like seeing the toll it was taking on him, even if he would have flaunted his blood to get her into bed again if their roles were reversed. And she was thirsty for blood too, but she could make it a little longer; she wasn’t sure about Orin.
She didn’t worry he’d try to assault one of them to feed; he wouldn’t. He was many things, but a rapist wasn’t one of them.
But he might get so weak he couldn’t defend himself against an attack. She shoved aside the annoying part of her rebelling against the possibility.
On their sixth day in the Barren Lands, Zeth announced he’d never made it this far. Apprehension churned in her belly as she tried not to think about what that could mean.
Turning back now meant certain failure, and she didn’t want to turn back. She assumed they felt the same way since no one else suggested it.
They could only continue onward. It was what they’d planned when they started this, and they’d prepared for it to be bad, but she couldn’t shake her growing anxiety.
At lunchtime, or at least it was probably lunch, as their stomachs rumbled, they halted their progression. They settled onto the sand to eat.
Orin leaned against a rock as he chewed a piece of bread. The son of a bitch had been in a better mood since her revelation to him.
“Do you have any family, Zeth?” Orin inquired as he picked at his bread.
Sahira’s eyes narrowed on him. She’d expected him to ask Zeth, he didn’t trust anyone outside his family, but it still irked her that he didn’t take her word for it.
