Free Darkness Captured by Delilah Devlin Page B

pussy.
    Disgusted with herself, she sat up. “You mentioned I could dress.”
    “After she bathes you.”
    And since she was sticky and smelled of sex, she nodded. “But only if the plants in your little bathtub leave me alone.”
    His smile wasn’t reassuring, but rather than lose another battle, she rose from the bed, following Xalia to the pool. The water felt like heaven as it enclosed her body. The plants remained deceptively still.
    She sat on a lower step and let the water lap beneath her breasts while the green-skinned woman gathered towels and jars of soft soap. When Xalia lathered up a cloth and began to stroke her back, Gabriella gave herself over to the soothing motions, her eyelids dipping. “You can’t keep me here forever,” she said softly. “I will escape.”
    “You will try.” Marduk lowered himself to the top step. “But only once. I would spare you even that.”
    “Spare me?” Her smile was a grimace. “You sound as though you care.”
    His expression softened. “Despite what I am and where we are, I am not a monster.”
    She opened her eyes and gave him a baleful glance. “Please, spare me. You dragged me here against my will.”
    “Your despair called to me.”
    “Don’t even try to wrap it all up like you were doing me a favor. I don’t belong here.”
    One dark brow arched. “You are so certain? Did you not conspire to commit murder?”
    She stilled, her gaze flashing back to him and locking for a long charged moment. “That was long ago. And I suffered for that mistake. Besides, the attempt failed. He’s forgiven me, and I made amends. I gave him aid.”
    “You gave him aid, thinking you would win his favor, that you would win concessions and perhaps become his wife.”
    Gabriella didn’t like that he knew her motives. “How do you know all that? Can you see into my world?”
    “We have a new resident—someone eager to complain about her treatment in the other realm and tell stories to entertain us. Even now, she’ll be lobbying to have you turned over to her to punish you.”
    Gabriella shivered. “Inanna.”
    “Do not worry. She has no status here except what her sister confers. Thus far, Irkalla has been content to see Inanna suffer. Inanna’s husband, Dumuzi, was given her leash.”
    Mention of the demon they’d expelled, the Devourer, sent a chill shivering down her spine. “They both know I’m here?”
    “Of course,” he said, shrugging as though he didn’t care. “Although I have been with you since you arrived, I am sure Irkalla’s spies have been busy. She will ensure that her sister and her brother-in-law know.”
    “Is that why you think I’ll stay here? Because I fear them?”
    “Of course not. You are a fierce warrior in your own right. But they are not your greatest fear.”
    All this talk of fear filled her with an uneasy impatience. She didn’t dwell on her fears, had never allowed herself to dwell too deeply on them. “Is it you? Are you the one I should fear?”
    “No, my love, but you will discover it,” he said matter-of-factly. “And I will be there to soothe you afterward. Then you will be content to remain with me.”
    Xalia’s hands replaced the cloth and slid over the tight muscles of her shoulders, massaging them.
    Gabriella didn’t want to enjoy the other woman’s touch, but couldn’t stop the deep sigh of pleasure that eased from her. Her eyes closed as the long, spindly fingers curved over her shoulders and slid down to massage her breasts. “I don’t understand this place,” Gabriella said, ignoring her body’s reaction to the soft, slick fingers sliding over her nipples. “The people in the hall where I arrived—they sat with demons.”
    “They are the dead,” he murmured. “And they entertain the demons, who feed on them. They pay for their sins for eternity … unless they earn favor.”
    “That hall is so different from the rest of the fortress. It appears stuck in the Middle Ages, and yet this feels more