I tugged on my McCrum’s sweatshirt and some shorts he’d brought back for me. They weren’t exactly clean, but they would do for now. “Okay, let’s also pretend for a second that youbelieve I can fix your eye without magic. If I do fix it, I have some conditions.”
The giant’s smoldering copper brows hiked toward his hairline. “Which are?”
“You can’t use your magic to grow big, at least not in Ireland. If you want to run around in your true size, you have to come here to do it. No crushing people, or making Ireland pay for driving magical beings to extinction or whatever.”
He rubbed his beard in mock thought. “Well now that ya mention it…”
“Balor.You have to give me your word or no deal.”
“Fine.” He huffed. “Ye have my word. What else?”
“No killing humans, except cultists. But you have to do it discreetly.”
His smile widened. “Now that I can agree to. What else does my queen command?”
“You don’t have tobethe shop anymore, but you have to use your magic to keep McCrum’s going. And you have to help me run the shop. No touching the customers though. I don’t need anyone mysteriously combusting. That would be bad for business.”
My chest tightened as I waited for his response. I prepared myself for him to turn me down. Why in the world would a magical being like him want to hang around a dusty antique shop that used to be his literal prison?
So my heart skipped a beat when he nodded in agreement. “Is that all?”
Was that all? It felt like I was asking the world of him. I shook my head, sucking my lower lip between my teeth. “There’s one last thing… once your eye is fixed, will you take me back here and…”
I trailed off. It was too embarrassing of a request.
“We’ve been over this. Ya can tell me anythin’ wee one. Tell me what devious thoughts are bloomin’ in that wicked head of yers.”
“When you have all your powers back, will you take me back here and do what you threatened to do when we first met?”
Balor blinked. Shock looked so out of place on his face. “You mean… You want me to take you in my hand and…”
“Drown me in your cum. Yes.” My entire body flushed with a blush. “Minus the actual drowning part.”
A slow, diabolical smirk stretched Balor’s mouth. “Ya’ve got yerself a deal, human.”
Chapter Twenty
Maeve - Three Weeks Later
“When you said you were gonna fix my eye, this wasn’ what I thought ya had in mind.” Balor was examining his reflection in an antique vanity mirror on the shop’s checkout counter for what had to be the dozenth time today.
He tapped his eye, growling when his nail didn’tclinkagainst the stone.
I’d placed a large piece of duct tape over the crack in his topaz. While it wasn’t exactly pretty, it got the job done. It was the brand they advertised on TV by slapping a large piece onto a broken pipe. Perfect for gushing pipesandmagical gemstones.
“Never promisedhowI would fix it.” I flashed him a grin as I finished balancing the register for the day.
“Yer the giant queen fer one week and yer already makin’ deals like a fae,” he said with a snort, a smile tucked at the corner of his mouth.
“I learned from the best.” I giggled and placed a kiss on his warm cheek. Sparks danced at the contact.
My line of sight slid to the wall behind the register where my “crown” was displayed on the bronze shield that the evil eye had once been affixed to.
Balor had put an illusion spell on it to look like the topaz, so if the cultists ever broke in while we weren’t home, they’d be making off with a cock ring and not his precious eye.
We were closing up shop for the day. Sales were slow, most people who came in were looky-loos. They wanted to see the place attached to my grandparents’ murder, as well as the recent disappearances. Without any proof, we didn’t have to worry about any official investigations. Just the occasional paranormal investigator looking to film content for their channel or tourists looking to buy my McCrum’s merch. It was weird seeing people walk around in the sweater I’d lived in for two weeks in the Otherworld wilderness.
The shop would be closed tomorrow. Tonight was our first official date night out since coming back to the human world.
