I knew that’s what he said. Just:isn’t that a pity?But somehow it sounded likewhy aren’t we having sex?
If Myra caught the subtext that was more like domtext going on, she didn’t so much as offer a flicker of interest or amusement.
She pressed the barrel of the gun against his head, then flipped the cuffs open and snapped them shut around his wrist, only pulling the gun away so she could cuff the second wrist.
Bathin grunted softly. It didn’t sound like pain.
“Walk.” She tugged him, then shoved him toward the kitchen.
He moved way too easily for a man with both hands tied behind his back. Myra paced him, her shoulders square, her jaw set.
I wondered if she was really going to shoot him.
Jame shifted on his feet, then silently followed.
“I probably should go make sure this doesn’t fall apart,” I said to Rossi.
He was still looking at me with that strange mix of kindness and sorrow. It made me uncomfortable, but the moment I thought that, the discomfort washed away.
Rossi sighed. “There are very few ways to force a demon to release a soul. But now, before his favor is served, before the contract is sealed with his action, will be our best chance.”
“No.”
He blinked and it was the eyes of a predator staring back at me. “You are not a part of this decision, Delaney. Not anymore. You’ve proved your inability to keep yourself out of harm’s way.”
Okay, that. That pissed me off. Nobody told me I wasn’t doing my job right or wasn’t making good decisions for myself or my town.
“Screw you, Rossi.”
But even as I said it, the anger that had built into a hot ball of rage in the middle of my chest sputtered out, faded and was gone, leaving the cold and numb and stillness.
“Do you feel it, Delaney? The hole where your soul belongs? The absence of that which holds you centered, makes you human? That hole isn’t going to heal. It is going to grow. Until it cannot be stitched over, cannot be closed, cannot be filled. And then you will hunger. Hunger for anything to put in its place. And the only things that can fill that hole are the things that will make you no longer human.”
I inhaled, exhaled, knowing I should be terrified by that description, but only feeling the distant flicker of fear.
“That’s grim.”
“The truth often is.”
“Is coffee one of the things I can fill the hole with?”
“Delaney.”
“Or sleep? No? Well, then I’ll just have to fill it with the satisfaction of freeing my father and saving Ben. How’s that sound? Good? Sounds good to me.”
“You aren’t listening to me and this is not the time to make jokes.”
“I am and it is. You know why? Because we win this one, Rossi. We get Ben back and we don’t have to give away the dark magic book,Rauðskinna. Lavius doesn’t get his hands on dark magic, doesn’t get to use it against us. Plus, we now know he was using demons, which means we can put protections in place. I can’t see how this isn’t winning.”
“It isn’t winning if we lose you.”
“I’m right here.”
He didn’t say anything.
I strode into the kitchen. “Please tell me none of you are naked.”
None of them were, but they all looked my way. Bathin was the only one who smiled. He was sitting in a chair that had been turned so the back of it was against the small table in the corner. Still handcuffed.
