“What can I do for you?” I asked, proud of my unwavering voice.
“You took a little of our bargain tonight, so I have come to claim what you promised.”
I raised a brow and folded my arms while he stalked around the vault, pausing to pick up some artefacts and study them. “I haven’t forgotten. I’ve just been busy. I can’t hop out on dates every night while trying to avoid an all-out war.”
He tsked. “Don’t try to renege on our agreement, Cora. You won’t enjoy the consequences.”
The sharp tug in my blood was a cruel reminder that this pact had been sealed in an unbreakable vow.
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
He pushed his hand through a glass case as if it were made of water and plucked a priceless and dangerous dagger from a stand. He twisted it in his palm, and the runes ignited and glowed red. Wisps of smoke curled around his hand. That particular weapon ran at a balmy two thousand degrees, but we had no idea what other power it held besides melting whoever touched it.
“Your collection is impressive. Logi would be interested in reclaiming his dagger.”
Logi?I racked my mind, but it gave me nothing. “Who?”
Donn placed it back inside and turned to face me, his eyes boring into mine. Having his full attention was disconcerting, and I fought the urge to squirm.
“The god of fire.”
I pressed my lips together. I had enough god problems without an elemental god declaring I’d stolen his weapon. “If it belongs to him, he can have it.”
Donn tilted his head, and tendrils of shadows billowed around the vault, closing in around me. “Learn to negotiate, Cora. When you have something valuable, don’t throw it away without first bartering for your wants.”
“Is that what I am? A barter for your wants?”
His smile was cruel, dangerous, and oh so seductive. I feared I might have been at risk of falling at his knees if I hadn’t already given my heart to a beast. “No, you are not a want.”
He closed the distance between us, and I tilted my head back to stare at him. “Then what am I?”
“A fascination, a prize, a puzzle.”
“Those all sound like wants to me,” I whispered.
He reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Wrong. You are a need.”
I huffed a shaky laugh. “You? A god? Need me? How so?”
His lips twitched. “Now, that would be revealing, wouldn’t it?”
I narrowed my eyes. I was missing something.
He stepped back to give me space to breathe and glanced over the family tree spread out before me. “Seeking answers in your bloodline?”
“We are all products of our ancestors.”
“Not true. Sometimes, cosmic forces intervene. You are living proof of that.”
My gaze dropped to the floor as I tried to make sense of his words. What I would give to be able to pick apart his brain and siphon the knowledge from it.
He tapped the bronze statue of a woman without legs holding down the right corner and ran his hand over the marble figure of two angels caught in flight while kissing. “Are you trying to flirt?” he drawled.
My face heated at the cupid’s kiss and fertility statues. “I wasn’t expecting company, so I just used what was handy.”
“Bringing us back around to the debt you owe.”
“We agreed you would remove your power from Eloise, not force it upon me.”
