Page 3 of Sinful Curses
She kept herself as hidden from the sun as possible, but the tip of her nose had turned red. As a half vamp, she could expose herself to the sun without it killing her. However, it burned her more easily than them.
That reddened nose was cute, but it meant she was suffering through one more injustice in this bleak realm, and he didn’t like it.Why do you care if she’s suffering?
He had no idea, considering she’d gone and screwed the demon instead of coming back to him like he’d planned—a fact he’d make her pay for.
Few immortals ever did something he’d never seen coming, and she was one of them. She was supposed to have been pining for him; instead, she’d turned to the demon to fulfill her needs.
Despite deciding to play by a different set of rules with the demon and screwing uphisgame with her, he wouldn’t let her die out here. He’d be the one to make her pay for her choices, not this realm.
His teeth ground together at the recollection of what she’d done with the demon. It wasn’t jealousy that caused his body to thrum with anger; no, it was because she’d surprised him by turning to the demon, and he didn’t like surprises.
Now, they would play a new game; this one would make her days a living nightmare. She’d regret turning to the demon and plotting with Zeth and the other witch to enter this landwithout him.
She’d plotted to leave him behind while she left with them to explore the Barren Lands. It was another betrayal he wouldn’t allow to slide.
She had alotto make up to him, and once she did, he’d happily toss her aside for the next woman to cross his path. He’d made the mistake of not moving on after her, as she had; he wouldn’t repeat it. First, he had to get out of this realm so he could find a woman to bury his cock in.
Sensing his attention, her thick lashes lifted, and her amber-colored eyes met his. He rarely saw any apprehension in those beautiful eyes, but it was there now, and, for a change, it had nothing to do with him.
He didn’t have to ask; heknewhe wasn’t the only one thinking something wasn’t right here. They were all waiting for the trap to spring.
When she looked away, Orin shifted his attention back to the endless, red, sandy landscape that had become a nightmare that haunted his waking moments. Even asleep, he dreamt of sand and creatures moving through it.
He’d fought in countless battles and wars, slept in some of the most uncomfortable and disgusting places in the realms, and experienced things he would far prefer to forget, but this place was hell. He’d rather go back to sleeping on muddy, bloody battlefields than spend one more night with sand creeping into every crevice of his body.
He now understood why so many who ventured into the Barren Lands returned without answers. The place was a psychological war zone with no respite in sight.
But he wouldn’t turn back. There was nothing for him back there, and he wouldn’t die out here either. He’d find answers; there were no other options.
The wind blew over the sand again to create waves that turned the landscape into a red sea, but there was no water here. There was only the sand, wind, and the sun above.
Thankfully, the sun was nowhere near as hot as their desolate surroundings suggested it should be. The temperature remained steady and pleasant; it was the only good thing about this forsaken land.
From the corner of his eye, he caught an unnatural shift in one of the waves. No breeze created it. Orin froze and held up his hand to halt the others. They stopped a few feet behind him.
He focused on where he’d seen that strange movement and waved a finger toward it as Sahira came to stand beside him. She gripped her spear in both hands while surveying the landscape.
“What is it?” she whispered.
“I’m not sure.”
When the sand shifted again, something rolled beneath it before dropping lower into the earth. Orin braced his feet apart as he pulled his sword from the scabbard on his back.
If this new threat was anything like the last creature, his sword wouldn’t be much use against it, but he suspected this rolling, unnatural wave wasn’t the same. Zeth came to stand beside Sahira while Elsa fell in at Orin’s other side.
“What did you see?” Elsa asked.
“I don’t know,” Orin said, “but it’s hunting us.”
CHAPTERFOUR
Orin’s wordscaused the hair on Sahira’s nape to rise. They’d mostly encountered sand, bones, and a few small critters since leaving Belda’s town, but she didn’t doubt Orin’s words.
She glanced at Zeth, whose seven-foot-tall stature towered a good foot and a half above her. The red horns coming out of the sides of his bald head curved toward the middle of it.
His yellow eyes, clawed hands, and broad shoulders with their sharp, bony hooks coming out the top of them all combined to give him a menacing, intimidating aura, but the man was far kinder than his lethal facade suggested.
With his broad nose, strong cheekbones, chiseled jawline, and deep-black skin, he was handsome, but she felt no sexual attraction to him. And he felt none for her either as, outside of the Cursed Realm, he had a wife and child waiting for him.
