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“Lucky girl,” I say, pushing away from the wall and him along with it. I feel Des’s eyes on me as I cross through his room. “No,” he corrects. “She won’t be the lucky one. I’ll be.”
“For you, no less.”
The yearning 😍
The lantern perched on my shelf is from Morocco.
Hmmm. Like the Moroccon architecture at the palace? 🤔
His stares into my eyes. “I am the scariest thing out here. And if anything tries to touch you, they will reckon with me.”
The next sketch is of me sitting on the floor, my back against my dorm room bed, giving a petulant look to the artist drawing me. Scrawled beneath the picture is a note: Callie wants me to stop drawing her. This is how she looks when I tell her no.
Those evenings were what made me realize I loved the Bargainer. That it wasn’t just infatuation but something I could feel on my skin and in my bones. Something that couldn’t be extinguished.
“I didn’t know,” he says.
What's this now?! 😳
“Now you do.”
I feel like Jennifer Lawrence "what do you mean?!"
“Fairies only do this with their betrotheds.”
AYYYE!!!!
There is a God and he loves me, I think as I drink Des in. I’ve never been particularly fond of men in tuxedoes, but then, I’d never seen Des in one.
It’s a dress a celebrity should wear, or a queen—or a fairy. Not me.
A queen you say 😏
Trish looks moonstruck as she takes his hand. I seriously hope I don’t wear that expression around Des. I probably do.
I brought a fae king to my supernatural prom. Jesus. All I need is the “Monster Mash” playing in the background to round this out.
He runs a finger along my collarbone. “I haven’t been wholly honest with you.”
OMG SAY IT. I'm losing my mind.
“A fairy doesn’t show his wings to his betrothed.” He slides his hand behind my neck, his thumb stroking my skin. “A fairy shows them to his soul mate.”
😍😍😍
For once, Des is the one with his emotions laid bare, and he’s staring at me like he’s been waiting for me his entire life.
Omg he has 😭
he’s the moon in my dark sky. My dark king. My best friend.
Hell couldn’t give me a more wicked man; heaven couldn’t give me a more perfect moment.
“From flame to ashes, dawn to dusk, for the rest of our lives, be mine always, Desmond Flynn.”
“Finally, after the longest seven years of my life, I was able to come back to my love, my mate. The sweet siren who loved my darkness and my bargains and my company when I was no one and nothing more than Desmond Flynn. The woman who took fate into her own hands when she spoke those ancient vows and declared herself mine.”
“Callie, I love you. I’ve loved you from the beginning. And I will love you long after the last star dies. I will love you until the end of darkness itself.”
It’s all laid bare, his love, his excitement, his yearning.
Three cheers for men who yearn 😍
“And mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and the sea claim the land and swallow the sky. But you will always be mine.” He runs his knuckles over my cheekbone. “And the stars might fall from the heavens, and night might cloak the earth, but until darkness dies, I will always be yours.”
“Ah, I would give my kingdom for that smile alone.”
“Callypso Lillis, I’ve been looking for you.”
NOOOOOO
He wants an enchantress, let’s give him an enchantress, she whispers. Let him think we are willing right up to the last second. Then we’ll stand over his body and laugh as he takes his own life. Foolish to cross us.
“Precious bird,” he says, “you are dying.”
Wait. is she actually a phoenix or something??
My back is on fire!
Phoenix?!
Two sticky, wet protrusions push out from my ripped flesh, unfolding down my back.
Ok those are wings...
As I lie there, I catch sight of my hands. Where once were nails, now I have sharp, black claws. And my forearms…delicate, semitransparent scales cover them, glittering gold where blood spatter doesn’t cover them.
Wait. What?!
Claws and scales and wings. I’m now more beast than woman.
Wtf.
Now a keening noise makes its way out of me. Everything. Everything is broken.
💔💔💔💔
“Tell me, how do you like your mate now?” Karnon says mockingly. “She’s improved, no?”
This motherfucker...
The darkness recedes, and when it does, the first thing I see under the dim twilight sky is…meat. Meat—and bits of bone smeared across the room. That’s all that’s left of Karnon.
👏👏👏
My metamorphosis.
What does this mean?!
So weak.
💔😭💔😭
And while those few additions—claws, scales, and wings—are painful to look at, I’m not the monster I thought I might be.
In fact, if anything, I look a little fae.
WAIT. WAIT WHAT
He cups the side of my face. “Let our enemies come, and I will kill them all. So long as you’re at my side, cherub, I have something to fight for.”
