He couldn’t make that promise. Because she wasn’t safe. She hadn’t been safe since she’d been snatched from her farm and she was never going to be safe again as long as she lived. And certainly not with a demon waiting to steal her soul.
She didn’t want to lose her soul. At least what little she had left after Aleth. It was the sole chance she ever had to see her Papa ever again. And even that was beginning to seem farfetched. If there was a god, he sure was doing a bad job of being god.
“Please come out,” Pratik called softly, a feeling in his gut telling him he was close. She didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. He took a deep breath and sighed. “Look, I can find you. But it’s going to feel horribly invasive if I sniff you out rather than you just coming out voluntarily. Please don’t make me.”
He was bluffing… he had to be. She swallowed hard.
“There are only so many trees close enough to the one you scaled that you could have jumped to…” He really didn’t want to have to drag her out or hiding by force.
She hesitated, moving her head a few inches to glance around with her eyes. He was right. Crap. If he was bluffing, he was doing a good job of it.
And if he wasn’t… well… it was probably best not to tick him off. He didn’t seem the type to have a short temper, but when you were used to Aleth, nothing seemed out of the realm of possibilities; and she certainly didn’t want him to pitch her off the branch once he found her.
She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes, taking a moment to brace her nerves, then reluctantly pushed herself up to a sitting position.
Pratik spotted her instantly and offered a gentle smile. “Hey… thank you.”
Ky couldn’t find the wherewithal to offer even half a fake smile. Instead she looked at him miserably, trembling slightly, waiting to see what he was going to do to her. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“Oh, gods, no!” Pratik shook his head quickly. “I’d never hurt you, Ky. I swear it.”
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