another tub for the other two. You’re going to just get them dirtier if I put you all in together.” When I don’t move, she scowls, turning her beautiful face into something hard. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get in!” she snaps.
I know I shouldn’t feel humiliated. I know I shouldn’t care what someone like Shateel thinks of my physical state. But the balloon I was riding high on from Toreon calling me exquisite is now shriveled and skimming the floor.
Cringing under her cold watchfulness, I walk over to the tub, but the guards’ eyes follow me. My wings lift protectively, but there’s no way I can completely hide my body from them once I strip and get into the water.
Satisfied that I’m doing as I’m told, Shateel turns to my sisters. “You two wait right there while I have another tub brought. Don’t move.” Delta and Medley nod at her order, staying by the vanity.
Looking like she’s horribly put out, Shateel sashays her way to the back of the room, past the scary red demons. “Watch them,” she snaps to the guards as she walks out.
The one on the left licks his thin lips and smiles at me. “Gladly.”
Disgust and embarrassment war through me as I stand by the tub with my arms and wings wrapped around me.
“You heard her,” the other guard says. “Strip. Nice and slow.”
The second one laughs. “Yeah, and move the wings, or we’ll have to hold them back. Can’t be letting you do anything secret out of our sight now, can we?” he sneers.
Tears bloom in my eyes, but I shove them away.
I will not cry. If I can withstand torture, I can withstand this.
I can see Medley and Delta out of the corner of my eye, biting their lips with worried eyes, but I can’t let them break character to come help me. I have to suck it up.
“I think she wants help,” one of the guards says, and I freeze in fear as he starts striding toward me.
Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t—
“What’s going on here?” Vudu demands as he suddenly strides inside.
He takes one look at me, standing in wide-eyed fear, and the guard a pace away from me, and somehow, Vudu’s already massive bulk seems to grow even larger. His bat wings tense as his muscles bulge, and he shoots a menacing look at the guard. “Get back in position. These three aren’t to be touched, or have you forgotten the Ophidian’s orders?” he demands, his huge hands balled into fists at his sides, like he’s a second away from knocking the guard’s head off.
The guard blanches slightly under Vudu’s anger, but then his expression morphs into petulance. “Whatever. I wasn’t doing anything,” the red demon mumbles before marching back to his spot next to the door.
Vudu gives him a look that says he doesn’t buy it at all, and then his eyes land on me. He must realize what I’ve been ordered to do, because his lips press into a thin line at the sight of the open tub with zero privacy.
He walks forward, but instead of cringing away from him like I did the other demon, my body instantly relaxes, like it knows it’s safe with him. He stands in front of me, his wings flared out slightly, completely blocking me from the guards. “Go on, little mate,” he murmurs, so quietly that even I almost didn’t hear him. “I’ll be your shield.”
The gentle look in this giant’s eye and the soft affirmation of his words makes a tear slip out of my eye. I try to get a hold of myself. Now’s not the time to break, but my heart doesn’t seem to get the memo as another tear tracks down my face, and then another.
Vudu looks distraught, but I mouth a quick, “Thank you,” with tears dripping silently down my face. He has no choice but to give me a simple nod, and then he turns around to give me his back, flaring his veined, dark bat wings out even more.
Behind the shadow of his presence, I quickly strip off the disgusting underwear and bra that I’ve been forced to be in for so long. I toss them in the fire next to the tub, feeling oddly victorious as I watch them blacken and burn. I’ll never have to wear those things ever again.
Wasting no time, I step into the tub and sit down, only to immediately flush with chills. The water is cold.