Of Thorn and Thread (Daughters of Eville #4) - Chanda Hahn Page 0,43
seemed too good to be true. Was I truly going to be rescued?
We laid in the dark, shoulder to shoulder, and I wasn’t afraid because Devin was near me. He reached out and placed his hand over mine comfortingly. A few candle marks later we heard footsteps rushing down the hall. Devin rolled on top of me, using his forearms to keep himself elevated inches above me. He leaned down and his breath felt like little kisses across my neck.
“It’s okay. I suspected they might do this. If you can, wrap your arms around my neck. All we have to do is fool them if they slide the spy hatch open and look in. Then maybe they will leave us alone.”
I heard the footsteps stop in front of our door. Terrified that Esme or her men would suspect something was amiss, I did more than wrap my hands around Devin. I pulled him down on top of me and painfully smashed my lips against his.
I caught Devin off guard, and at first, he pulled away, but then he remembered who we were trying to fool. He kept still. His lips pressed against mine and we stayed frozen like that. Immobile. Then his lips parted, and he kissed me for real. A soft nibble on my bottom lip, and I gasped. My fingers digging into the back of his hair. He took it for consent and kissed me deeper. But then he pulled back and looked at me.
“I’m so sorry. I want to, but I shouldn’t.”
And all I remembered was his verbal desire for me to kiss him. I reached up and pulled his mouth down on mine and we kissed again, the heat building between us because of my drugged state.
The deadbolt slid open, and someone entered.
“Devin, what in the world is going on here?” a familiar male voice yelled. A lantern swung our way, illuminating Devin and I, our bodies entwined together.
Standing over us, his face a stony mask, was Liam.
Devin rolled away and stood at attention. “Sorry, Liam, I was just doing my part to protect her virtue.”
“Protect it,” Liam snarled. “It seems like you were destroying it.”
I had never seen Liam so angry, so unsettled. He was a different person. Nothing like my gentle shield. Here was a man undone.
“Aura,” he called my name, the lantern swung toward my dilated eyes.
I cried out as the light was painful. He lowered the lantern to the floor and moved to sit on the bed. I watched as he took in my hair, my skimpy clothes, and he glanced away in shame. It was the biggest rejection by far.
His astute eyes picked out the bruise on my cheek that the makeup couldn’t hide. He ran a finger along my yellowed eye. He scanned the rest of my body and saw the minor burns and bruises.
“This is all my fault.” His voice filled with regret. “I couldn’t find you. I could not protect you.”
“You found me,” I whispered.
“Just too late,” he groaned.
I wanted him to wrap those arms around me the way he used to, to shield me, but after what he saw with Devin, I knew he wouldn’t touch me again.
He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands, and even though I shouldn’t have, I cried.
Chapter Thirteen
When I stepped out into the fresh air, I winced as the sunlight burned my eyes. I wasn’t the only one affected by the change. A cry of pain from my right as Tamara and a young woman with olive skin covered their eyes and released sobs of joy.
Devin handed me his cloak and buttoned it around my neck, covering my silk outfit
“Thank you,” I said.
Devin held my elbow and guided me to a wagon. Lowering the backboard, he lifted me up and set me down with care.
“Let me go!” Smitty screamed as he was dragged out of the tunnels by a guard, his wrists bound in chains.
“I charge you and your accomplice with kidnapping and trafficking of women,” Liam declared.
“We only done what we were paid to,” Bart whined. On his knees, hands bound, he didn’t seem that threatening.
“You will be imprisoned and await your sentencing at Highbridge Tower,” Liam snapped his fingers and they chained Smitty and Bart to a wagon, put under guard along with all the other men captured in the illegal brothel.
Liam paced in front of the hideout as he waited for Madam Esme to appear.
“Commander, she’s gone!” A soldier came running out of the cave.