Redemption Song (Daniel Faust #2)(86)

“My family is here.”

Ben swallowed hard. “No. No. I’m your family. I’m the one who loves you. I sacrificed—I did all of this—for you. All for you, Melanie. I’m the one who loves you!”

She took a deep breath and wiped her tears away. With her makeup smeared and her blue hair tangled, the teenager’s eyes still burned with ferocious dignity as she stared into her father’s face. She pushed her shoulders back and raised her chin.

“No, Dad. You only love half of me. And half just isn’t enough.”

Ben’s hands clenched and unclenched. His mouth moved soundlessly as his world came apart at the seams. He turned and pointed a trembling finger at Emma.

“This is your fault! You did this. You turned her against me.”

“Loath as I am to interrupt,” Sullivan said, leaning on his walking stick. “But I’m still failing to see the point of this little charade. What did you hope to accomplish?”

“Funny story,” I told him. “It all started the night I figured out Prince Sitri’s game—or thought I did. He’d sent me to kill Father Alvarez, you know that much, but I realized Alvarez wasn’t the point. Sitri knew I’d never do it. He just wanted to see if I’d give up and walk away, or if I’d come at him from a different angle. Surprise him. Show some fighting spirit. So I went to have a little heart-to-heart with the prince. And we made a deal.”

? ? ?

I had stood before the Conduit, bathed in the flickering glow of a half dozen candles. It wasn’t the Conduit anymore, though. Past the desiccated skin, the golden chains and excrement-caked robes, it was Prince Sitri pulling the creature’s strings now. It was his voice oozing from its bloodied throat, sleepy and sly.

“A deal?” he said. “Ooh, that sounds…dangerous. I do hope you’re not going to offer me your soul, Daniel Faust. While the literary allusion would be good for a chuckle, you are already damned. I don’t pay for what I can have for free.”

“No, just a friendly wager. I bet that I can give you something nobody else can. Something you want. If I fail, that’s the last of me. I’ll walk away, and neither you nor Caitlin will ever see me again. Hell, you can even kill me if you want. But if I succeed? You let Caitlin live her own life. She sees who she wants, when she wants, however she wants. You give her choices back. Because she works too f*cking hard for you to treat her like a prize in your stupid little game.”

“Stupid?” Sitri said, his tone suddenly colder.

“Yeah. Stupid. You want to get off on making me jump through hoops? Fine. You aren’t the first, and you won’t be the last. But dangling Caitlin in front of me like the prize in a Cracker-Jack box is just wrong. She’s loyal to you. She breaks her back for you every goddamn day. So you know what I want? I want you to start giving her the respect she f*cking deserves.”

“I’ve yanked out tongues,” Sitri said conversationally, “for less insolence.”

“I’m sure you have. Doesn’t change the fact that what I said is true, and you know it.”

The Conduit’s head bobbed slowly.

“And what if,” Sitri said, “that given freedom, her choice is to reject you? To abandon you, and take another lover?”

I shrugged.

“Then that’s her choice. That’s the point. This isn’t for me. It’s for her.”

“Well, then. You still have my attention. Tell me: what delightful little bauble will you offer me in exchange for this boon? What could you possibly have that a prince of hell, with legions at my command and golden wealth beyond the dreams of mortal kings, might desire?”

“That’s easy,” I said. “I’ll give you the Ring of Solomon.”





Forty-Two

“The Ring of Solomon,” Sitri mused, “is the most potent weapon against my kind ever created. Its wielder can compel and command, bind and banish, almost effortlessly. An infernal army would fall to its knees before the human who masters it.”

“Not to mention,” I said, “Lauren Carmichael planned to use it on you. That’s gotta sting a little.”

“Do you understand the consequences of what you’re offering me? No one with demonic blood can use the ring—it’ll work no mischief in my realm—but what happens when we move to claim your little world? You’re sacrificing the greatest advantage your species has.”

“I’m gambling that’s not happening anytime soon,” I said. “And in this world, the ring’s just as dangerous as it is helpful. Lauren proved that. In the wrong hands—”

“What about the right ones?” Sitri asked, a tinge of eagerness in his voice. “Given the right hands, couldn’t a mortal rise to greatness? He would be a champion of good. A savior of humanity and a beacon of light in a dark age. You could be such a champion. Aren’t you tempted, just a bit?”

I thought about that. I had thought about it most of the evening. I kept coming back to the same old conclusion.

“Nah,” I said. “I’m not that guy.”

Sitri chuckled. “No. You’ll betray your entire world, for the love of a woman.”

“Would you?” said the voice at my back.

I spun on my heel. Caitlin stood at the bottom of the steps. I hadn’t heard her come down.