The Kraken's Sacrifice (A Deal With a Demon #2)(20)

Up until this point, my outrage and adrenaline were getting me through, but it’s as if reaching this hallway has the reality of this situation hitting me all at once. I’m just as damp as this hallway, my torn dress clinging to my skin and not covering the essentials. My hair is still wet and hanging down my back, my body hurts, and I’m hungry.

I search through the rooms I find, but they’re all unoccupied. More than unoccupied. They give the feeling of being abandoned entirely. Just like me. With each room that I find empty of even furniture, the panicked feeling inside me grows. “Don’t do this to me, Thane.”

By the time I find a room that actually has furniture, I can’t draw a full breath. No people. No damned people. But at least there’s a bed. I slap the covers, and only a small cloud of dust rises. “Good enough.”

I collapse onto the bed and close my eyes. “I can do this. It’s just a little isolation. I’ve done this before. I can do it again.”

I’ve lied to myself plenty of times over the years. Nature of the beast. The lies have never filled me with such hopelessness as these ones do.

It’s entirely possible that I can’t do this.





9





THANE





It takes everything I have not to go to Catalina. Not because I seek her presence, of course. More that I want to ensure she’s settling in well. There may also be a generous helping of guilt caused by Embry’s words rattling about in my head.

It’s almost a relief when I surface inside the keep a week later to find Ramanu waiting for me. They stand with their arms crossed and a frown pulling their lips down. “Explain why your human is behind a ward I can’t cross.”

A mistake. Not that I am eager to key my wards so a bargainer demon can get in, but Ramanu’s checkins are part of the ongoing contract with Azazel.

I heft myself out of the water and stare them down. “I’ll rectify it by morning.”

“You’ll rectify it now,” they snap. “If I leave here without checking on her, you’re in violation of the contract.”

Damn the contract, damn this demon, and damn the woman I can’t stop thinking about.

I’ve successfully avoided going home for a week, but I can’t key the wards without being there in person. “Come along.”

“I’m not swimming, Thane.” Ramanu sneers delicately. “It’s beneath my dignity. I’ll meet you at the entrance.”

I could ask them to portal me as well, but I’ll need the trip to prepare myself. It would be strange if I didn’t escort Ramanu to Catalina, which means I’ll see her again. For the first time since I shoved her legs apart and tasted her pussy.

Desire shudders through me, and I do my best to mask the movement by slipping into the water. Goddess, her taste. The way she cried out my name when she came. If I didn’t know better, I’d think her a witch who put a spell on me.

In fact . . .

The longer I swim, the more it makes sense. Yes, that must be it. People of our realm and those of the human realm don’t interact overmuch. The realms used to be easier to cross, but that hasn’t been the case for generations. Still, there were those trapped on the human side when the realms closed to each other. Their bloodlines run through select humans to this day. It’s entirely possible that some ancestor of Catalina’s dallied with someone magic. A siren, perhaps. It’d certainly fit with the way she draws me.

I swim to the surface near my home’s entrance. As promised, Ramanu stands on the small rock outcropping near the edge of the ward. They look vaguely uneasy to be surrounded by so much water with no shelter, which only serves to reinforce that they’re not a fool.

The sea holds any manner of dangers, even without me or one of my people dragging an enemy into the deep.

I surge out of the water and move to the ward. “I’ll need your blood.”

“Naturally.” They press their palm to one of their eye horns and then offer it to me.

I drag my fingers through the blood and then paint the symbol in the air in front of the ward. It’s keyed to me, so it allows me to modify it so Ramanu can enter. A few seconds later, the symbol flares a deep blue. “You may come and go as you please.” I glance at them. “As long as you behave yourself.”

“Darling, I never behave myself.” They give me a wolfish grin, but it falls away as quickly as it appears. They turn to the tower of rock in front of us. “Lonely place you have here. Why isn’t she in the keep?”

Admitting I might not have my people in line is admitting weakness. It’s one thing to do it with Embry, my heir. I certainly won’t be sharing those details with a bargainer demon. “Privacy.”

They snort. “If you say so.” Without an invitation, Ramanu steps forward and through the doorway into the tower that makes up my home.

I almost turn around and leave. If not for the fact that I can’t, I certainly would. There’s absolutely no relief in the fact I must follow Ramanu through the door, that the choice is taken from my hands. I must follow Ramanu to ensure this checkin goes as it should.

We find Catalina in one of the bedrooms. She’s still wearing the torn dress from last week, though she’s obviously made some attempt to clean it. She’s lying on a bed and twirling her hair around one finger. “So. You came back.”