“So, uh,” she visibly swallowed hard before stammering, “what, uh, then? Will I be sent to prison?”
Dev covered the twitch in the corner of his mouth with his hand, shook his head. “Nay. You would have to stand trial first.”
He studied her as the fear of the unknown and the possibility of lengthy incarceration rippled across her thin and still bruised, but lovely face, her thin shoulders trembled.
“However, your bráthair, uh, that is your brother, Principé Krystian Ritrova, has forwarded a warrant for your return.” His brows drew down low at the strike of deeper thudding fear that rushed her expression.
She blinked rapidly as if to hold back tears, the tiny bit of color that she had, left her skin again. Dev wondered what she feared more, him, prison, or her brother.
Her weak voice shook, “W-” she took a breath and swallowed, “when will I go?”
He rubbed his brows with fingers and thumb. “When you are completely healed we will procure a ship to take you to your planet. My flashjet is too small to go the entire way. I think tomorrow you should be well enough to be moved to your suite. There will be a guard posted outside of your room. You will not be allowed to leave, unless you are with me.”
Watching her as she struggled to control her anxiety, he said, “Do you have any questions?”
Long curly lashes swept down her cheeks where they paused before rising. Her gaze direct at him did not waver. “No, sir.”
He waited, staring silently at her until she lowered her eyes as if it hurt to look at him. “Fine then. I will be back tomorrow to move you.”
Her lids flew up and she blanched again. Oh aye, she feared desperately being alone with him. As she should. She said nothing.
Without another word he left the room.
Dev waited until the noon hour had passed the next day before he went to retrieve her. His friends had twittered at him all last night to not be so hard on her. She was frail, fragile, really a sweet little thing.
Bah. She was a felon who had them all fooled with her beauty and soft ways. Well, she wouldn’t be pulling the wool over his eyes again, goddammit.
His prideful rage rose as he neared the infirmary, infuriated that he’d let a tiny slip of a girl, a human, get over on him.
When he reached the lobby, she was sitting in a chair in a medical green smock top and pants with her hands folded in her lap. Geffry was speaking quietly, almost fatherly to her. Great. She’s taken another male hostage with those big, sorrowful blues. “Are you ready?” he snapped.
Geffry turned to him with a frown.
The woman blinked hard and started to get to her feet. Her knees buckled, Geffry threw an arm around her.
“There, there, Sveti, honey, remember I told you to take it slow. You move fast like that and you will get dizzy, lightheaded, having had more than one concussion incurred, you might pass out.”
Dev watched them through narrowed lids.
When she was standing more steadily, Geffry patted her on her shoulder. He said, “There you go, honey, easy now. Take your medicine as I instructed you,” he nodded to the small bag she clutched in one hand, “and-”
“Let’s go,” Dev snapped again, leveling a look at Geffry that shut the salt and pepper-haired doctor’s mouth.
With a weak but friendly smile, Sveti said politely to Jamez, “Thank you, so much, Dr. Geffry. I will do everything you said. I am sorry you’ve had to go to such trouble to save my life when he is only going to take it.” Her gaze flashed to Dev. His brows rose. The doctor sputtered.
She spoke softly, “Thank you for being so kind to me, doctor.” Before the doctor could respond she started for the door. She didn’t wait for Dev, just started down the hall.
“Dev,” Geffry said, “she is not really recovered, you shouldn’t-”
Without a word, Devilos trod out of the room. In only a few steps he reached her. The strain of walking turned her face red, her jaw clenched, crinkles tightened in the corners of her eyes.
He strode silently beside her, keeping to her slow pace until she put her palm against the wall and used it to brace herself as she struggled to keep putting one foot in front of the other, but she was slowing with each step, her breathing labored, tears of pain blurred her eyes.
With a beleaguered sigh, Dev shoved both hands under her and lifted her up in his arms.
“What- what are you doing?” she cried in surprise.
“I don’t have all day,” he muttered striding quickly down the corridor.
“But- but I think your other men offered to take me-”
She held herself so rigid in his arms he thought she would shatter. He murmured quietly, “Lay your head on my shoulder, Prințesă, rest.”
When she didn’t move, her body shaking from the effort to keep herself away from his chest, he growled roughly, “I said lay your head on my shoulder, do it.”
Sveti gingerly set her head against his shoulder. It took a few minutes before he could feel her relax. Long flaming locks strew over his arm and fluttered behind them as he headed down a wide staircase.
When they passed people, Dev glared so blackly at them they averted their eyes and hurried away down corridors. As bone-thin as she was, she was still soft in his arms, her hair tickled his chin and the arm it tumbled over.
Her natural fresh feminine scent rolled over him, he made an effort to keep from inhaling it.
Without lifting her head, she said quietly, “I’m sorry to be such a burden, I can walk, please put me down, you must be weary.”
In fact, he held her high and tight to his chest and wasn’t even breathing hard or slowing his pace. He carried her as if she was made of paper.
He didn’t reply or set her down, just kept going until twenty minutes passed and he reached a suite amongst an endless row of suites. A guard stood at stolid attention to the side of the door.
Dev nodded at him. The guard opened the door with a sly sneak peek at Sveti’s chest.
Dev carried her in and the guard closed the door behind him. Dev went straight through the living room, down a carpeted hall and into the bedroom. Everything was unadorned white. Floor, walls, furniture. He set her down on the bed.
Setting her medication on the blanket, she wriggled to sit on the edge of the mattress. Her head turned slightly away from him, her eyes closed as if prepared for him to strike her.
He stepped a few feet from her, his attention on her face still pale from her ordeal and losing even more color as she held her breath waiting for the beating she clearly thought he was about to initiate.
A corner of his mouth quirked, he towered over her in height, weighed 100 plus pounds more than her and was stronger than ten bulls. If he struck her once with his fist she would be dead.
He crossed his arms over his powerful chest and remembered he had planned to smack her butt until she couldn’t sit for a month, humiliate her like she’d humiliated him. But, right now, she looked so frail that a slight breeze would knock her over.
His voice coldly dispassionate, he said, “You know how to work the controls to decorate the chamber any way you desire. There is a kitchen supplied with a week’s worth of food. The maid will see to the cleaning of the suite and your,” he took a breath, she had no clothes.
“I will have the maid bring you whatever incidentals you need and some clothes.”
He swiveled heading for the door then paused. “Doctor Jamez will be by tomorrow to check on you. Otherwise, as I said before, you will not leave this suite unless you are with me. And, only the maid will be allowed in. Do you have any questions?”
She faintly shook her head, warily watching the angry beastlike man. His threatening dark eyes under a low ridged brow raked over her, huge biceps bulged under the tight shirt when he moved his hands to his hips. With a flick of his head he tossed back the long braids that were all over his head.
“All right. You need anything, you intercom Keldon the guard, or call me. My number along with Dr. Jamez’s is in t
he wall cell-com.” He waited. Her lips stayed closed, she just stared at him.
He turned and walked out of the room, down the short hall, through the stark living room and out the door, where he let out his held breath.
Chapter Seven
Dev attended a variety of meetings, reviewed research on some outlaws he was going to hunt, and hung with his lieutenants in the evenings. When any of them tried to bring up Sveti, he shut them down.
He waited a week before going to see her. The guard, the maid and the doctor reported back to him daily. She was healing, eating a bit more, she caused no trouble and was sweet and kind to them. Sure, he thought, and Adam thought Eve and her pet snake were sweet too.
When he reached her chambers, the guard was planted against the wall. Dev nodded to him, the guard did not blink or respond. Dev knocked on the door and waited. Nothing.
He knocked again, then again.
She didn’t open the door.
What the hell- He had the guard open the door and close it behind him.
Inside, soft music played. He glanced around. She had decorated the suite. It was filled with verdant leafy plants, vibrant with flowers of pinks and purples.
The entryway was soft neon shades of greens, blues, tiny tiles made up the lower half of the walls. In the living room, soft blue lighting illuminated the pastel lavender walls. Hearing sounds coming from the kitchen, he made his way there.
The kitchen was done in pastel yellow and corals, and ochre. Herbs in small pots clustered on a shelf over the sink.
Sveti was standing on a crate that was on a chair and she appeared to be trying to get a knee up onto the counter. The cupboard above her was open, and she was reaching for something way above her head on the top shelf- she started teetering, then her arms flailed as the crate shifted, then the chair-
Dev rushed over and slapped his big hand on her bottom to hold her steady. At her yelp, he barked, “What the hell are you doing? What the fuck is the matter with you? Why didn’t you ask Keldon the guard-”
He broke off recalling the leer the guard had slipped her when he thought no one was looking. Picturing the guard with his hand on her ass like Dev’s was, for some crazy reason made his blood smolder.
“I couldn’t reach-” The crate shifted, she jerked her feet trying to keep her balance, her arms flailed and she toppled from his hand, yelped again and dropped in his arms with an, “oof!”
Blue eyes pinned wide collided with his rich black orbs. He quickly lowered his lids shuttering his eyes. When she landed she threw her arms around his neck, her breasts pressed against his strapping chest. His already smoldering blood ignited, flooding his groin with heat.
He quickly set her on her feet and took a step back. She’d put her hair up on top of her head in a messy bun but much of the tresses had tumbled out and curled around and down her shoulders.
“What were you thinking climbing up there like that?” He reprimanded her like she was a child. “Standing on a fucking crate on top of a chair? How stupid-”
“I- I didn’t want to bother Keldon, the uh, guard. I just needed to put the-”
His voice grated through his clenched jaw, “You need something you call me. No one else. And no more goddamned boxes on top of chairs. You got that?”
Sveti took in his skin darkening with his eyes, his hair was not in braids, it hung straight down his back past his shoulder blades. Her gaze rose to the top of his head and she blanched. The horns on his head were growing bigger, thicker.
Seeing her looking to the top of his head, Dev ran his hands over the horns as if trying to flatten them like he would an erection. Her eyes glued to his horns, she inched away from him.
“Knock it off,” he groused annoyed, “if I was going to harm you right now, I would have let you fall.”
“Um, that was probably reflexive,” said Sveti inching a bit further from the dark glower like a black laser cutting at her.
His gaze flickered down the front of her body. If possible, his glower hardened more, the dark orbs heated with flames of white. He barked, “What the fuck are you wearing?”
“What?” She crossed her arms in an X over her front with her hands on her shoulders.
His gaze shot down her clothes to her bare feet and back up, brows knifed between his eyes.
The top she wore was just a bit of a cropped t-shirt that fit very snuggly to her breasts. He could see her nipples poking through the thin material before she crossed her arms over them. She was so skinny from being starved her breasts looked swollen compared to her tiny waist and slight frame.
She had on a miniscule pair of shorts that showed brief flashes of the bottom rounds of her butt.
He looked at the slender legs that were shapely but thin and childlike showing she was only recently out of her youth. His groin burned and swelled more, he resisted tugging at his pants to loosen them.
Raking her with angry scrutiny, brows down hard over his surly eyes aimed at her chest, he ground out, “You look like a slut. Your tits show right through that shirt and your ass is hanging out.”
Dumbfounded, her mouth fell open, arms dropped. Then her brows lowered, lids narrowed, she responded with her own anger, “First of all, Sire, you are aware I have nothing to wear. The maid is washing the one gown she brought me.”
Setting one arm around her waist and resting her elbow on the forearm, she tapped a finger on her lip, “And two, I am here alone. I see no one but Mara the maid, it’s not like I’m parading around in front of an audience.”
Her hands moved down, curled on her hips and one lid lowered further over an eye in a squint of reproof. “I sure didn’t expect you to come barging in unannounced. That was rude, so you deserve to see the ignominious me. Suffer it. I’m sorry I disgust you, so don’t look at me.” She moved her arms to cross under her bosom with a huff.
His gaze still on her breasts, pupils dilating, he growled, “You aren’t even wearing a bra?”
Uncomfortable, she moved her arms back up over the front of her. Licking her lips, she said, “You are very vulgar and too familiar to talk to me like this, and it is none of your business what I do or don’t wear. Besides, I have only one and it’s in the laundry. Again, I was not expecting to see anyone.” His huge intimidating body looming over her, she backed away.
Following the trail of her tongue, his teeth grit. “I knocked. You didn’t answer. I thought you might be ill or injured,” the corner of his mouth curled. “As it happens, if I hadn’t come in you would have fallen. You were up high enough you could have broken your foolish neck.
“Which brings me back to, don’t let me see you do that shit again. When you’re pulling a chair over to climb on it, think twice and call me. You need something fetched that you can’t reach or lift, or a lid you can’t twist off, you call me. Only me. I don’t want the guard in here. Do you understand?”
She backed from him wrapping her arms tighter around her body. Even though she spoke to him with rebuke, clearly her fear of him hadn’t lessened a whit. Which wasn’t surprising considering beings like him were rarely seen.
Plus, he realized his skin had darkened, shoulders inflated, he was so much taller than her and she knew he was infuriated over her illegal stunt. His pointed ears twitched with irritation.
“No,” she replied, shaking her head, “I don’t understand. You should have let me fall, that would have solved your problem of punishing me or having to take the time to take me to my,” a catch in her throat, “anyway, if I broke my neck all our problems would be solved, and it would save you a lengthy trip. Right?”
His attention was on her lips. The remembrance of their kiss came unbidden to his mind. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time. Or the second or third, the kiss had plagued him since it happened. He didn’t know the fuck why.
He blinked away the thought. “What was it you were trying to reach? I will get it for you.”
A slim smile softened some of her angst. “Actually, I was putting a bowl ba
ck up. I had used it to make pasta fungiello. You know, mushrooms, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, other stuff in a light, slightly spicy saffron sauce.”
His raven brows rose, gaze still on her lips. “That sounds…good. You can cook?” He sounded disbelieving. “A princess cooking?” He shook his head as if the idea was ludicrous.
The plush lips pushed out. “I happen to be a very good co-”
Someone was knocking on the door. His eyes in a stupor on her mouth, Dev didn’t move but Sveti hurried out of the kitchen and into the living room.
Her hand was on the button when he came from behind her and threw his arm across the front of her jerking her back against his chest. His palm slid over the top swell of her breasts before it got across to her arm. Her nipples instantly popped from the contact.
He fought looking at them. “You never open the damned door without seeing who it is first. What’s the matter with you?” he scolded harshly.
His arm over the front of her held her petite soft body taut against his hard chest, her little round bottom pushed into his already hardened groin, her hair sprawled over his arm. Thinking, soft as Earthly pussy willows, he quickly released her.
Moving her behind him, he peered through the peephole then opened the door.
Sveti stepped from behind Dev to stand beside him. The maid was there with some clothes for her. Next to her, Keldon was blatantly leering at Sveti’s breasts, his gaze delved to between her legs and back to her tits.
Dev gave him such a threatening look the man withered and quickly turned his head. With a deep scowl at Sveti, Dev moved her back to stand behind him, and waved the maid in.
Once she came into the room, Dev closed the door and said to Sveti, “Mara will bring you more clothes and a case to put them in. We’re leaving day after tomorrow to go to, ah” his ebony eyes flicked to hers then dropped, “to take you home.”
Again, she looked even more horrified than she did when gaping at his fierce face. Her skin paled, she bit her lips to stop them from trembling.
Observing her obvious anxiety about returning home, he said, “I will come for you in the next morning. It’s a very long way to your planet. There will be others on the large airship we’re taking to visit their relatives and friends at stops along the way.”
Devil's Prince (Satan's Brood Book 1) Page 5