The Demon's Bargain (A Deal With a Demon #4)(10)

He took away her protection, and he used her trust to do it.

No wonder fear takes hold whenever she thinks about the amulet. It’s a powerful protection and given to her by her fathers. Still… My instincts say there’s more to the story. “Celestial made.”

“Yes. A distant ancestor of mine was beloved by a god. This was the gift. It doesn’t affect aging or anything like that, but it’s one of the most powerful protection items in existence.” Her voice is stiff. “I realize it was foolish to let him so close, but—”

“You don’t have to justify yourself to me, little witch.” I move past her and pull out the chair next to the desk. “Sit. Read over the contract.” With a flourish and a pull of my magic, it appears on the desk.

Suspicion takes root, but she finally does as I say and sinks into the chair. While she reads over the contract, I consider the fucked-up position I’m now in. If Lenora agrees to a bargain with me, it will be on the condition I retrieve the amulet for her.

That’s the problem, though.

If the amulet is celestial and around the neck of this particular witch, there’s a good chance I can’t retrieve it. I won’t be able to use magic against him, which means it will be a brute-force scenario. That leaves a lot more to chance than doing things my preferred way—using my magic to prevail. I can’t guarantee a win.

Fuck.





Chapter 5





Lenora





Color me shocked, but the language in the contract is exactly what Ramanu promised. The payment is seven years of service, yes, but it’s clearly spelled out that no harm can come to me and no one can force me to do anything I don’t want. There’s a horrifying little clause about children resulting from any sex I choose to have while in the demon realm, but I have no interest in procreating, so that’s a nonissue.

It doesn’t mean I’m going to agree to the bargain.

I shouldn’t have summoned Ramanu. It was a mistake to let fear take hold. I have three days to get the amulet back from Kristoff, and with the help of Jack and the others, I should be able to do it without sacrificing seven years.

Then why haven’t you banished Ramanu? You know how to do it.

I ignore the snide little voice inside me and read over the contract a second time.

Ramanu drifts around the room, taking up far too much space. It’s not even their size, though demons tend to be built larger than humans. It’s their energy. I can’t see magic the way they can, but I feel like I’m tuned to every move they make. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s distracting.

I slip my hand into my pocket for the slip of paper Jack left me when they hugged me close. There’s no point trying to hide what I’m doing from the demon, so I take it out and unfold it. There, in Jack’s messy scrawl, is a short list of times and places.

“What’s that?”

I don’t jump at Ramanu’s voice in my ear. They weren’t quiet with their approach. “This is where Kristoff will be during the next two and a half days.” The first time is tonight at midnight, which means we have time to kill. The market is an all-hours thing, but the night is when things truly get wild.

I’d joked about a nap, but it’s probably a good idea. I didn’t sleep much last night—too amped with plans and contingency plans and more contingency plans for my contingency plans. Nowhere in all that strategizing was I where I am now.

Sharing a room with a bargainer demon who wants to give me pleasure for the next seven years.

Yeah, right. Surely Ramanu doesn’t think I was born yesterday? They can offer pleasure all they want, but it’s not in the contract, which means it’s not guaranteed.

“Can the amulet be stolen?”

I blink and try to pull my mind back to the present. “Yes. It’s how Kristoff took it from me in the first place. I never would have given it to him or anyone else.” It’s been passed from parent to child in the Byrne family for generations. The connection to the bloodlines ensures the magic stays strong. Since I have no desire to procreate, I’ll have to find a distant cousin to pass it on to when I’m ready. There are plenty of them scattered across the globe.

But I won’t be able to pass on the amulet if I don’t have the amulet. I need it back. The sooner, the better. My fathers are hardly as plugged into the paranormal gossip circuit as they used to be, but even they’ll hear about this if Kristoff still has the amulet by the end of Samhain. Worse, at some point we’ll start feeling the effects of its absence. I don’t know if our magic will disappear completely, not with our varied lineage littered with paranormals, but I honestly can’t guarantee anything. I need to reclaim the amulet before we have a chance to find out.

The pressure and stress bear down on me, tighter and heavier, a blanket of suffocating fear that I can barely breathe past. This has to work. I have to get it back. I can’t be the one who ruined generations’ worth of safety because of a good fuck.

I’m a screwup.

I know that.

I’m not the kind of daughter my fathers had hoped for, and while they’ve never chastised me or wielded their disappointment as a weapon, I know it’s there beneath the surface.

This mistake might be the one that breaks the dam that’s been building since Da found me with that dead bird when I was twelve. I hadn’t killed it, but I’d found my great-grandmother’s grimoire at that stage, and there's plenty of magic in it that requires blood. I wanted to test a glamour spell.