Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Forty

Panic drove me backward.

The back of my head hit the glass hard before I dropped low, using my lack of height to swiftly rotate away from the spot. Scrambling, I managed to avoid the initial swing of the shears—or so I thought.

Pain raked hot over my left shoulder blade as my feet were abruptly knocked out from underneath me. I found myself belly down on the greenhouse floor, eating a face full of dirt with the air knocked from my lungs.

"My, my." A bare foot came down on my back to squash my shaky attempt to stand. "How very easy you are to cut," the she-devvi crooned.

Her long, uneven hair brushed my shoulders when she bent over me, her breath visibly sinking like vapor coming off dry ice to linger among the crushed flowers. Her heel twisted to widen the wound. I could feel the warmth of blood. I let out a whimper when she eased up and the bleeding gap pulsed.

"Hush, little rabbit. It won't hurt for much longer," Bettihemae soothed, bending close. "I promise." Her mouth lowered to where the red stained my back, her breath cold. "Though it'll hurt a hell of a lot more before it stops."

Oh my god! Her saliva burns! My scream came out strangled when her tongue met with my back, licking the wound.

"Mmm, tastes like Pixy Stix," she said through my scream. "The salt enzyme in my saliva that heals isn't as soothing as a freshwater's, is it? Though I imagine Alexander was a gentleman the evening he took care of you. Probably healed your injuries with swabs and injections when he could have simply licked your wounds away."

Her long fingers tugged on the silk scarf.

"Although the other has gotten a taste of you already. Hasn't he?" The knot loosened with a rough tug, and she chuckled when the material fell away, exposing the pink marks. "I'll have to place my bet on him being the one that fucks you first."

With a sudden blur of color and air, I was on top of Bettihemae, my teeth bared and a hand about her throat as I pushed her to the ground. I couldn't remember the moment I moved, nor did I know where the tremendous strength pulsing iron-hot through my limbs had come from, but it made no difference. I was pissed. I didn't care if she was having "hormonal issues." The foul language was just plain rude.

She had no right to talk to me like that. Especially when I'd never done anything to deserve it. Well, except maybe bring disgrace upon her head, however inadvertently. It was hardly my fault that her betrothed's interest had turned toward me, a female of questionable blood, making him choose to ignore her, the full blood.

I let out a gasp when the room blurred again, and I was no longer kneeling over Bettihemae. Rather, we were now on the other side of the greenhouse, pressed to the wall beside the portico entrance. The glass here was a mirrored wall of black. I was bleeding from a new spot, the soft area between my collarbone and my throat, clawed where she'd grabbed on to me.

"Don't even think you can best me, half-breed." She spat down from her grander height, a hand on my chest pinning me to the glass. The building let out a low groan and the glass wall to our right shook. My gaze focused on the portico, my eyes somehow still transformed this entire time.

Oh so not good! I despaired as yellow fog oozed inside. Sheeshoe! My cloak was on the other side, leaving my aura exposed.

"My goodness! How brightly your aura blazes whenever you are in pain," Bettihemae cooed. She turned to watch the yellow fog while it gathered, taking on a bulky, hazy shape.

And I was glowing.

Shocked, I blinked away from the slowly forming Sheeshoe to stare down at myself with my spectral sight. The bright haze coming from my skin was making it hard to see. My heart was hammering so hard that my chest ached. Was it possible to get so worked up that my aura would become visible to me? No. I remembered. A devvi wasn't supposed to be able to see their own aura. Micah said as much during my sight lesson.