Dark Harmony (The Bargainer, #4)

by Laura Thalassa

“My pretty fairy tricks are what you like best about me,” he says, his lips skimming my mouth as he talks. His gaze drops to my lips. “Well, that and my di—” “Des.”

Lol

“I lost you once, Callie,” he says, “and those seven years nearly killed me. I don’t intend to lose you again.”

💜

Just ask Mara.”

That’s low!

At least, the women were sleeping. I’m pretty goddamn sure they’re awake now.

Oh damn!

“If I can’t hide you, I will simply have to unleash you.”

“In case you missed it,” Des says, “those soldiers who slept beneath my castle are now awake, and they mean to overthrow me.” My heart pounds a little faster as Des essentially confirms what I feared: the soldiers Karnon imprisoned and abused are now our enemies.

An entire army awoken against them!

“You know I trust you, respect you, and above all else, love you. But gods give me grace, Callie, I will have a reckoning with you if you go rogue on me.”

“Check the sorceress’s rooms,” I say. Temper undoubtedly has Des’s general chained to her bed. I’m not the only one with a taste for fairies.

Lol

Before my eyes, her wound begins to close. Are you fucking serious? I mean, I know that only seconds ago, I was horrified at her death, but now the broad just needs to go.

Oh shit! How do you kill them?!

This shadow is a two-dimensional, paper-thin thing that moves.

A bony shadow hand reaches from the depths of the container, its fingers gripping the edge of the box one by one. It pulls itself out, slithers down the side, then drips from a corner onto the floor. My breath stutters. I’ve seen this creature before in Des’s throne room. A bog.

So creepy!

“Look at the Night Queen again, and you’ll find out why your comrades fear me.” Night Queen?

“STOP!” I shriek like a madwoman. To my wonder, they do exactly that.

I can fucking glamour fairies. Hold on to your tits, world. Callie. Is. Back.

I can freaking glamour fairies.

“So that’s how it feels to be glamoured by a siren,” he says, the corner of his mouth curving up just the slightest bit. “Like I’ve been caught by my balls.” He comes in close, his smirk growing. “The whole thing was horribly invasive. I rather enjoyed it.”

Lol

Let’s eviscerate her slowly, my siren says. It will be fun.

Lol I love crazy Callie

“Do you want to know why that didn’t work?” Des asks. He doesn’t wait for me to answer. “The darkness is loyal to its own—it won’t hurt another fairy that wields its power.” I feel the first thread of unease at his words. “That means the Thief is one of my kind—he’s a Night fae.” My knees go a little weak. A Night fae? One who’s impervious to Des’s magic?

“Careful I don’t glamour you to tell Malaki how you really feel about him.”

Lol

“The Kingdom of Flora fell,”

“I’ve never seen anything more beautiful or fearsome than you beguiling those fae. You are a force of nature.” I swallow. “You’re no longer immune to it.” I saw firsthand what my glamour can now do to Des. “I’m delightfully terrified of the prospect. Our sex life has just gotten ten times kinkier.” He has no idea.

Oooh 😏

“The Banished Lands,” Des says, squinting at our surroundings. “It’s a section of land that divides the Flora and Fauna Kingdoms. This is where exiled fae go.”

“There are only three types of souls whose bodies can resist returning to the earth: those too powerful for it, those too pure for it, and those too corrupted for it.”

“You get the pleasure of avoiding my siren’s wrath. She wants you to spank yourself.” The appropriate reaction is to be horrified at the thought. Too bad the Bargainer is decidedly inappropriate. His face fills with gleeful surprise. “Naughty thing,” he chastises. “And right here in my father’s grave too.” Now he does give me a quick kiss. “Maybe later I’ll appease your dirty thoughts.” In the dim light cast by my skin, I see him wink at me.

There’s no rotting corpse, nor is there a perfectly preserved body. There’s nothing here at all. Galleghar Nyx might’ve once rested here, but he no longer does.

“There’s a reason we banish fae here. This place is devoid of magic. A long-ago battle reaped every drop from the land. And magic, cherub, is a fairy’s lifeblood.”

“You’re not bait, love. The fire is the bait. You’re an iron-manacled trap set to crush willful fairies.”

and even a fairy as strong and capable and old (and I mean old) as Des sometimes needs to be weak.

Old! Lol

“I want to fuck you until you’re mindless with want. I want to feel you squeeze my dick as you come around me. I want to die buried inside you.”

“Oh my God.” Des leans in close. “Leave God out of this, cherub. He has nothing to do with it.”

“It’s not enough,” Des eventually says, his hand rubbing up and down my arm. “Having you. I always assumed that once you warmed my bed, it would be.” He cups my pussy as he speaks, and I swear to God, I am this close to jumping him all over again. “But I’m a greedy bastard, and I want more. Always more.”

“Secrets are meant for one soul to keep.” I tense at his words. “My mother used to say that all the time,” he explains. “It’s one of those formative lessons of hers I’ve carried with me since childhood.” My brows furrow. Some of my sex-induced haze is slipping away. “And now the formerly sleeping soldiers say it.”

“I broke with tradition when I sent them all away.” His eyes move to me. “I knew about you even then,” he admits, a soft smile spreading across his face. But then it disappears. “As did my father,” he adds.

“Cuff her with iron, and you’ll lose your balls,” Des says, pulling me back into the present.

Since descending into the Otherworld’s butt crack—a.k.a. the crevice in the ground—I’ve

Lol girl!!!

Don’t piss off my boyfriend, yo.

“Oh, and a word of warning: look at my mate again with anything other than respect and benevolence, and you’ll lose your eyes.” Damn.

“Got to threaten every damn grain of sand in this place…” Des mutters under his breath.

Lol

“Look at that,” I breathe. “The human you wanted to shackle is now your queen.”

“On the night the dead man rose—the night Galleghar rose,” he clarifies, making it clear he knows exactly who lay buried in that grave, “it was a shadow that retrieved him.”

“My reports said he walked out of the tomb alongside a shadow.”

I glance over at Des, who’s beginning to pose frozen fairies like they’re Christmas reindeer, each position a little more compromising than the last.

Wow 😂

“I…I…” Typhus tries to stall, until the confession is yanked from his lips. “I spent the last century and a half coming up with ways to manipulate fairies out of their powers, using whatever means I could. I—I did this so I could stay healthy and strong in this place. I trade magic for my protection even though I’m the worst thing fae have to fear out here.” He takes a breath. “I’ve killed hundreds, maybe thousands of fairies—some outright, and some indirectly after I drained them of too much magic. I have a hidden room filled with countless fairies who are all but dead.” An unbidden shiver moves through me. Sounds like the Thief of Souls.

“Only the really bad ones,” I say. “The ones who like to break people.” They’re the ones I enjoy twisting to my every whim. “I take mementos from them.” Back at my house, I have a box full of mementos I’ve lifted over the years. On particularly bad days, days when not even Johnnie or Jack or Jose could numb my pain away, I’d steal away to my guest room, where I kept that box, and I’d sit there for hours, taking out item after item, holding each in my palm. And I would remember how I broke a few of the great villains of the world.

Ah ok Joe 😅

“I love you so much. You’ll never really know.” His features sharpen, and the look in his eyes intensifies. “The way fairies love… It’s the same way we live. It’s immortal, violent, irrational, and unbendable. “I understand your words, cherub, because there are aspects of my love for you that are, simply put, unfathomable.”

“This is safe to drink, right?” I ask. “It isn’t like the rosé version of lilac wine?” “You caught me, love. I’m hoping to grow you a set of pointy ears,” Des says, taking his own glass.

Lol

“Ugh, you’re like a mind reader tonight.”

Ah is he reading her mind?! Cause the bond is stronger?

“The process is called co-binding, and though Typhus made it sound cavalier and impersonal, it’s not like that,” Des says. I stare down at my fae wine. “Then how is it?” “Remember those horcruxes in Harry Potter?”

Lol

“Are you seriously dropping an HP reference right here, right now?” I ask, glancing over at Des. “I have your undivided attention, don’t I?” “And all my love.” I mean, I knew he was soul mate material before, but this pretty much just sealed the deal.

Same girl!!

“Essentially, when you exchange magic, you’re transferring more than raw energy. You’re moving a piece of yourself as well.” That’s massively creepy. “It’s not to be taken lightly. Most fairies, if they decide to do to such a thing, spend centuries picking out the right individual—even then, it’s a tricky business.