Page 6 of Sinful Curses
She much preferred that to the truth… where he stomped all over her heart while fucking his way through the women in the Cursed Realm. When his hand moved away from hers, an inexplicable feeling of emptiness descended over her, but she shoved it back into the deep, dark recesses where it belonged.
Trying to bury her longing for him and cursing herself for it, she kept her face set in stone while he finished with the flint, handed it back, and she stashed it away. Inwardly, her heart raced as her body yearned for more of him.
She had no idea how she could still be so attracted to him after everything he’d done and how heartless he could be. However, no matter how much she opposed it, she couldn’t deny there was something between them… or at least there was onherend.
He’d already proven he could have sex with her and bounce on to the next woman without hesitation, like all the dark fae. She’d never expected him to be different, but she was disappointed when he proved her right.
Yet, he was enraged with her when he accused her of having sex with Zeth. Even now, days later and in the middle of this endless desert, she could still see his face, hovering only inches from hers as he confronted her in Belda’s pub.
His black eyes had shone with fury while wrath twisted his handsome features into something malevolent. She hadn’t worried he’d attack her, but she’d never seen him so incensed.
Until then, she hadn’t believed he could exhibit so much emotion. He was pure dark fae, a species renowned for their control and lack of emotion. Orin had always been the perfect example of his kind until that morning in the pub.
And now she had no idea what to make of him. He’d been so emotional and angry that morning, and now he was nothing but the ice-cold man she’d always known. He was such a contradiction, and she hated him for it.
Or at least that’s what she repeatedly told herself, but she couldn’t fully buy the lie. And soon after, he’d returned to being the dark fae who kept her at a distance.
She still didn’t understand what had upset him so much that morning. Yes, he believed she had sex with Zeth when she hadn’t, but why would that bother him? Did he really expect her to sit around and pine for him?
He certainly hadn’t expected it out of any of his other conquests. When she first arrived in the Cursed Realm, she’d walked in on him having sex with three other women. Those three women had traipsed through the pub with numerous other men, and Orin hadn’t so much as blinked.
Why did he care what she did orwhoshe did, especially when he’d hopped right into someone else’s bedthe next day? None of it made any sense to her.
Maybe he wouldn’t be so distant if she told him the truth about what happened between her and Zeth, but she didn’t owe it to him. She didn’t owe himanything.
Still, she hated this strange distance between them. She never would have considered them friends, but they’d beensomething. A weird, messed-up something, but still something more thanthis.
She hadn’t thought it possible, and Hecate knew she’d done everything to fight it, but they’d become allies. She couldn’t trust him enough to consider him a friend, and Orin didn’t have friends, but they’d worked together.
He’d been there when she needed him with Radagast and the scarog beetles, but now he’d erected a wall around himself, and she had no idea why. She was better off with things being like this between them, but she missed him, even if she hated admitting it and would only do so to herself.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Orin heldthe candle before him as he crawled into the crevice the giant rocks had created. The flame flickering off the walls cast shadows around the space but didn’t illuminate much.
With his excellent vision, he saw that the cave went ten feet back before ending in a rock wall. He didn’t look back at the others as he crawled into the space.
They would either come inside or stay out there. He’d had enough of the sand and was glad to be out of it. Some of it had blown inside, creating a pile near the entrance, but the small cavern was refreshingly empty of the insidious debris.
Sahira followed him inside. He let some candle wax drip onto the rocks before sticking the candle into it and rising to wipe his hands together. Sand fell off and settled on the floor around him as he stomped his feet.
Elsa and the demon followed her into the cavern, making it feel smaller, but he couldn’t do anything about that. They all removed their cloaks and outer layers of clothing before draping them over some rocks.
By the time they finished, he wore a loose-fitting pair of brown fae pants that hung low on his waist. He tried to stop it, but his gaze wandered to Sahira as she neatly folded her clothes and set them on the floor.
He couldn’t see her legs under the green fae pants she wore, but the short sleeves of her tunic revealed the welts and bruises on her arms from where the creatures grabbed her. Blood and holes marred her pants, but from what he could see of her injury, it was mostly healed.
He buried his anger over those marks.Nothingshould have marred her skin in such a way or hurt her like that, but those things had managed to get by him toher. In the process, they nearly killed her.
And what do you care if she dies?She was little more than another game for him to play and a way to pass the time. That’s all she’d ever be.
But as he told himself this, he couldn’t deny that a part of him rebelled against the idea of her dying. He told himself it was because she was practically family, and he had a duty to bring her home. He wasn’t sure he bought that.
He also intended to get her in bed again and make her forget about the demon before making her pay for what she’d done. But those things still weren’t enough to explain his rage over what that thing did to her.
Refusing to think about it anymore, Orin swept away some of the sand they’d dragged into the small space before sitting with his back against the wall. The others did the same while he removed some food and water from his pack.
He packed enough to last two weeks, but after these last three days in the Barren Lands, he’d started rationing his food. They said nothing, but he noticed the others doing the same after their first night here.
