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“Have you ever done it?” I ask. “Have you ever…co-bound yourself to someone?” The Bargainer gives me a look that should melt the panties from my body. “I bound myself to my soul mate. Would you say that counts?” I smile into my drink. “Are you admitting I have a piece of your soul?” His eyes dip to my curving lips. “More than a piece, cherub.”
Malaki comes in right then, his imposing frame filling the doorway. Immediately, my eyes home in on the hickeys ringing his neck. He could’ve removed them—it would only take a pinch of magic—and yet there they are. In fact, not only did Malaki not remove the hickeys, he’s also pulled his hair into one of those little buns, further displaying them.
Lol at Malaki’s hickey necklace 🤣
“Wait,” I say, “I haven’t agreed to be queen.” “Yeah,” Temper agrees, “Callie hasn’t agreed—what?” She turns on me. “Have you lost your mind? Take that crown, then wear it like it’s your birthright.”
Yes Temper! Tell her
I narrow my eyes at my mate. I might not have jumped on board with this whole queen business, but I sure as hell don’t want to be known simply as someone else’s consort.
“There are certain things in life that fade with time,” he says, his gaze locked on mine. “What we have, Callie, isn’t one of those things. Our bond will only strengthen over the years.”
Aww ❤️
“Don’t forget three thousand,” I say. “If you defy the odds and live until then, then so will I.” He gives my hand a squeeze, his face getting serious. “I will be with you on your best day, and I will be with you on your worst day. I will be there to hold our children—” I raise an eyebrow at that. “We’re going to have many children,” he informs me. “Oh, are we now?” “And I will be there for them all. I will be there when the last of your mortal friends draws their final breath. I will be there through it all, and I will tease you and infuriate you and lavish you with whatever it is your heart
...more
Swoon!
To be fair, I have been entertained. Des has spent most of the past hour plaiting one guard’s hair into at least fifty braids—he hasn’t yet noticed—and moving branches into another guard’s way. “Motherfucking trees,” the fairy mutters under his breath. “I swear they’re moving in my way.” “Lay off the spirits, Sythus,” another says.
He makes me giggle 😂
“The Thief of Souls can wear the faces of the dead.”
“It’s called The Banishment of Euribios,” Janus says, handing me a glass filled with emerald liquid. He hands another to Des. “It depicts the fight between Brennus, the God of Light and Order, and Euribios, the God of Darkness and Chaos.”
“Fierion and Nyxos came later, after the Otherworld was formed. These were protogods—the ones creation was born from,” he says, turning his gaze to the wall. “This captures the moment Brennus defeated his foe and banished him to the far corner of the universe. This is the moment the Otherworld came to be.”
“What about the Mother and the Father?” “They too came later. They were the children of these first gods.”
“What I do,” I say. I step in close as he flashes me a hateful look. “I am a siren. I glamour people—and now, thanks to the lilac wine Des gave me, I can glamour fairies as well. “I can glamour you.” My eyes drop to his lips. “It doesn’t matter that you’re a king or a powerful fairy. Even you can fall under my thrall.”
“How do you even live with such a creature?” Janus asks, his gaze sliding back to me. Despite how shaken he is, he looks halfway interested. I smile, baring my teeth at him. “I try not to piss her off.” I guffaw at that, my skin dimming. “All right,” the Bargainer concedes, “I do try to piss her off, but only because she has especially twisted ideas of revenge.” Janus shakes his head. “You two are a fucked-up pair.”
“I wouldn’t mind having little mini Deses running around. Someday, that is. Not today, but you know, in the future—hey, if I’m cherub, what would you call our kids? Is there a name for baby-baby angels?”
“Okay, face the door,” I say, while I move to the toilet. “I don’t want you to see anything.” “Heaven forbid I catch sight of my mate’s pussy—” “Des!”
Lol
“I’m so embarrassed.” The Bargainer removes my hands, kissing my knuckles. “At least you didn’t start peeing.” I might’ve. “Oh. Comment redacted then.”
“The shadows speak to me.”
Your shadow talks. Mine, not so much.
“Do you want to know a secret?” “Hmm?” He takes my lips in a kiss. “Sometimes I hold out on you simply because I enjoy driving you mad with need. It makes me feel less out of control from being in love with you.”
“The Thief of Souls?” I ask as a thought comes to me. “What do the shadows say about him?”
The Bargainer’s good mood withers away. “The shadows won’t speak of him.” “Not at all?” Des frowns. “Not a single thing. Whoever the Thief is, he has either their allegiance…or their fear.”
“Mara met me more than once. The first time, I was courting her sister.” Just like Janus, Mara once had a sibling. I almost forgot. I rack my brain, trying to remember her name. Thalia. That’s what it was. She was the Flora Kingdom’s heir apparent, only she died before her time, falling on a sword or something like that, after, after… My eyes snap to the Thief. “The traveling minstrel. That was you.”
“I fucked Mara then too. To this day, she has no idea I’ve been inside her as two separate men.”
My ears ring as I stare at that water. The longer I look, the more it seems as though it’s shifting, whispering. Save us… Save…us…
“But you know what we should talk about? The fact you got a king to swear his fealty to you.” I guffaw. “I apologized to him, that’s all.” “And in return he pledged you his loyalty—”
Is life but to wake And death but to sleep? I’d tell you, but then, This secret I’ll keep. I’m not real now, Nor was I last night, Or perhaps I’m wrong. Who’s to say what’s right?
Oh shit!
Are you having fun yet? This is our little game. You will lose soon enough. Then you’ll be mine to tame.
That’s what this is, a reminder that a dream is never just a dream.
“I’ve got a rhyme for you, fucker,” I say, my voice filling with glamour. “Stop hiding behind your puppets, you stupid piece of trash. Oh, and take your lame riddles and shove them up your a—” “Callie,”
Lol
Eventually, she simply grabs Des’s pointer finger and tugs, trying to rally him into action. It’s an adorably pitiful sight. I’m pretty sure my mate shares the sentiment because the corner of his mouth lifts.
“Sleep,” Des says, his voice amplified by his magic. I think he’s misheard me, but then he adds, “Fae consider the loss of consciousness—fainting, sleep, and so on—to be a brief taste of death. The individual is caught between worlds, and so we call this small death.”
“My beautiful nightmare,” Des whispers against my skin. “My beautiful, beautiful nightmare.”
“My father was going after you because we’re mated.”
“For most mated pairs, the death of one fairy means the death of both. In some cases, like Mara’s, one fairy can outlive the other, but that’s surprisingly rare. Most of the time, if you kill one, you kill both.” The Bargainer’s eyes rise to mine. “Galleghar attacked you because he rightfully believes ending you will end me.”
“No part of me has any intention of outliving you.”
“I will never keep you captive,” Des vows. “Better you happy and free than caged and safe. Besides”—he leans his forehead against mine—“Galleghar clearly hasn’t heard the stories about you if he thinks you’re an easier target.”
This is why I love him!
“Stop using that word.” Queen. “It’s going to happen one day or other, Queen Callypso.”
“And I’m sorry,” he continues, “but if you think I’m going to let you settle for normal, you’ve got a fight on your hands.”
“I love you, Callie, down to every feather and scale. I love your darkness, I love your mind, I love your humor and your most coveted dreams. And I love how you love me—wholly, deeply, passionately. “You’re not normal; you’ll never be normal. I’m so sorry to tell you that. You are so blindingly extraordinary that it physically hurts me sometimes, and I’ll never stop pushing you to believe this.”
“You don’t know who you are?” The Bargainer’s voice drops low. “You’re Callypso Lillis, plain and simple. You were her yesterday, you’ll be her tomorrow. It’s up to you to decide what being you actually means. No one else can do that for you. Not the man who gave you those wings, not the man who’s hunting you. Not your stepfather. Not even me. “But whatever you choose to be, cherub, make it count.”
I stretch as I pad over to the closet, feeling the Bargainer’s eyes on me the entire time. “Creep,” I say, not looking back. “I’d have to be dead to not enjoy your backside.”
Lol
“Are you going to read my fortune?” I tease. He pretends to peer at them. “You find your soul mate young. There’s love—and it looks like you have a handful of kids—they take after their father, unfortunately. Brats, the entire lot of them.” I laugh and pull my hands away. “Oh, and you live a long and happy life.”
“It’s warded, you know.” I glance at him. “Your house—my house too. They always have been, but after”—his voice catches—“after you were taken, I doubled down on the wards. I can’t promise you’ll be safe here,” he says, reminding me of our earlier conversation, “but you won’t be altogether defenseless either.”
“Where are all our things?” he asks. There’s that word again. Our.
All these things are testaments to our friendship. Because that’s what this has always been. Long before I knew Des was my mate, I knew he was my friend. And even though I wanted him in a distinctly un-friend-like way, that’s all the two of us were for the better part of a year.
“I imagined you taking me in just about every position possible. I imagined your weight settling on me, your hips between mine. I imagined your evil-boy body fucking mine over and over and over again. I imagined it sweet and nice, I imagined it rough and kinky. I imagined you when I was alone…and when I was with other men—I even called out your name once. I imagined it all, and it still didn’t hold a flame against the reality of you.”
“This is every wish, cherub, every dream of mine, actualized. I would give up all my secrets—I’d give up my very throne itself—if it meant being with you.”
“Marry me,” he says.
Ahhhh 😍
“It’s not enough to be mated to you,” he says, “I want it all, if only you’ll have me.”
“Marry me, and I will cherish you forever, cherub.” Marry me.
