I shook my head; not sure I’d heard her right. “Devina… the Motlander Wilma has been writing with?”
“Yes.”
“But how… I mean… the wall…” I was stumbling over all the questions I wanted to ask her at the same time. “How did you get over the wall?"
“I didn’t.”
“Did you dig a tunnel under the wall?”
“No.” It was clear that she was still scared of me and I felt awful.
“Devina, listen. I thought you were an intruder and that my family was in danger. I would never hit a woman… if I’d known who you were.”
She lifted a hand to her jaw but didn’t speak.
“Why are you here in the middle of the night?”
“I need to talk to Wilma.”
“About what?”
“That’s between her and me.”
“I’m her protector so you can tell me.”
With a stubborn expression, she looked away, indicating that she wasn’t willing to share anything with me.
“Okay. I guess I can fetch Wilma so you can talk to her, but I hope you can see how weird this all seems to me.” I scratched my naked chest and her eyes followed my movement.
“Come with me.” I nodded to the stairs leading up the back entrance to my apartment. “It’s much nicer upstairs.” I was halfway up the stairs when I stopped and looked at her. She still hadn’t moved. “How about I make you a cup of tea and then I bring Wilma over to talk to you? Would that work?”
One nod was all the answer I got.
CHAPTER 9
Tea with Wilma
Devina
If that devil thought I was going upstairs with him, he was wrong. For all I knew he might have a cage up there.
My plan had failed, and I’d been caught by one of the brutal and savage Nmen. My jaw still hurt from his violent attack and my heart was beating so fast that I worried it might never calm down again. The sheer size of Tyton was terrifying and when he ordered me to look up at him, I’d seen nothing but crazy eyes, naked skin, and bulging muscles. With his jaw-length tousled hair and short beard, he looked like something out of a historical movie.
What now?
I was still on the bale of hay when he descended the stairs again. This time, he was wearing gray soft pants, a pale blue t-shirt, and shoes.
“The tea will be ready soon. Just stay here while I get Wilma.” His calmness felt like a ploy and I suspected that at any time he would turn back into the aggressive attacker I’d faced only ten minutes ago.
For a moment he watched me with deep frown lines on his forehead. “When you talk to her, do you think you could leave out that… ehh… that I hit you?”
“What?”
Scratching his neck, he looked to the side. “It was a misunderstanding. I’d never hit a woman.”
My shoulders eased a little with all the remorse oozing from him. He sounded so genuine.
I nodded because I had no plans to tell anyone anything. All I wanted was to find a way to free poor Wilma from the tyranny of these awful and violent men.
