a smile as Deyva’s eyes widened. Her hair was wet, soaking into the t-shirt she’d been wearing all week, and one of her bare feet was pressed over the other ankle.
“Put these on,” I said, pushing the clothes through the open door to her.
Her nose wrinkled as she caught the bundle. “Why?”
“It’s cool today and I’m taking you out.”
Her lips parted and it was a miracle I didn’t lean in just to nibble on the lower one. She’d healed already, but I’d left that one swollen and a little bruised before slipping out this morning.
The door snapped shut and I turned back to watch the hall as she shuffled inside. When it opened again, I had to look twice.
Deyva looked...almost human. Or she did until you got to the horns, and the preternatural beauty of her features. Her smile was sly and she batted feathery black lashes tipped with gold at me. “Stavros, is this a date?”
I grinned but double checked the hall over my shoulder, making sure Kais didn’t catch me. “It’s...more like a visitation with the outside world,” I said.
I expected to find Deyva grinning with the same mischievous feeling I had, but she only looked thoughtful and a little wary. “But inside the gate?”
My chest tightened at the reminder that Deyva wasn’t quite the woman I’d been dreaming of for weeks. She had shadows at her back and I regretted stumbling into them.
“Yup, just a little reward for good behavior. Come on.” I jerked my head toward the hall and grinned as her smile finally appeared, sly and toothy. “Stay on my left as we pass Kai’s office?”
“Ohh he doesn’t know?”
“I mean, we’re all responsible for you. He doesn’t need to,” I said, winking at her.
“Naughty boy,” Deyva purred.
Fuck. I weighed the idea of tackling her into the nearest room, but I didn’t think either of us could manage to be quiet enough to keep from attracting attention. If I’d been addicted to the dreams Deyva had sent, it was nothing in comparison to the actual release and relief of real life. A week ago I couldn’t wait to fall asleep. Now I was afraid to, afraid that I might not wake up and go to her.
You’re doing this so others don’t have to, remember? I thought. It was meant to be a sacrifice.
I was starting to realize that I was doing it because I didn’t want anyone else but me to be this fucking lucky.
“Where are you going?”
I startled and spun and Deyva shifted smoothly behind me. Kais was sitting under his window in a beat up old armchair that had been scorched in a house fire ages ago. He had a map open on his lap, probably marked with the route we’d take to the windmill tomorrow.
“I’m...going to the diner,” I said shrugging and pointing to the clock up on the wall in his office. “Lunch.”
“And where is she going?” Kais said, eyes narrowing and a small smirk on his lips as he glanced down at my feet.
I tried not to look so guilty, stepping aside and revealing Deyva, as if I’d never meant to hide her. “She’s coming with me.”
“No.”
“Kai—”
“We promised them.”
“We promised them they’d be safe, Kais. They are safe.” I looked around the hall and then caught Deyva’s elbow, ushering her inside with me. “Are you really thinking that long term she’ll just...exist in here? Hiding? That’s not feasible, man. Think of it like...exposure therapy,” I said, shrugging.
“She doesn’t need to eat,” Kais said, hands tight on the arm of the chair.
“I like to eat,” Deyva said, stepping forward. “Food. I like to eat food.”
“I can think of a hundred objections they’ll have, and I can guarantee you there’d still be more,” Kais said.
“It has to start somewhere, Kais.”
Kais narrowed his eyes at Deyva, flicking them briefly in my direction and then right back on her. “For starters, everyone who eats in this community, contributes to the community. Farming, cleaning, cooking.”
“I don’t know how to… do much of that, but I can learn,” Devya said quickly, nodding.
She always brightened when I showed up in the night, and I hadn’t caught her in another nightmare, but I could see the way the captivity in the church made her shift restlessly. It wasn’t just for her sake either. The best way to protect the community from Deyva, and vice versa, would be to make her a part of it. Everyone was always suspicious of newcomers. This was just a heightened version of that.