What? I didn’t tell you that I was born a witch? Must’ve slipped my mind. I look better with horns, truthfully. Well, I did. Until he cut the other one off, leaving me with a thick pink scar where it used to be.
My deal with Damien is the very thing that caused Bastien to lock me in the Underworld, though history has a way of sanding down inconvenient details until only the villain remains. I wanted to bring back the lost goddesses. The covensdidn’t. Blah, blah, blah. I’m not here to reminisce. I’m far more interested in the near future.
The one where Bastien agrees to help me get what I want.
Just look at him. Strutting toward me in his vampire state. All black eyes and bad intentions. Come stand next to me, love. I don’t want you to miss a thing. Because if I get everything I want, you’re going to want a front row seat.
“I’d introduce you, but I hear you’re well acquainted,” Chastity says, crossing her legs and unnecessarily fixing her skirts.
I scratch my chin and smother a laugh. I love this woman. Chastity is a master of the subtle difference between power and performance.
She likes Bastien. She just doesn’t trust him to keep her people safe. Not since she was forced to retreat to her underground lair because of Shayla’s werewolves. Which is why she paid a pretty price to summon ol’ Gorrath.
Bastien stops just shy of where I stand beside Chastity’s chair and points his sword at me. “Hewas not part of our bargain,” Bastien says to Chastity.
She scoffs. “Neither was my hospitality. But here I am, extending it to you and your army.”
“You’re also givinghimyour hospitality. And I’d wager he took more from you than just room and board.” She holds his gaze, not giving an inch. But Bastien is still monologuing. He’s angry. “Release him from whatever bargain you made. Join me, just as you intended. You’ll retain autonomy over your lands?—”
Chastity presses her hands against the arms of the chair and slowly rises from her seat. “Under the watchful eye of a vampire, who would be building a castle for himself and his courton my land.”
I rub my hands together, knowing I’m about to get a show.Claire, on the other hand, has no idea this is all working out in her favor.
“I already told your niece and nephew, I don’t have time to dally about. And I’m a much wiser woman than the girl you met years ago who had assumed control of her coven.”
The black bleeds out of Bastien’s eyes, and his fangs retract, leaving nothing behind but the colder, sharper features of the man I once knew. The version he’s obsessed with maintaining because he doesn’t want anyone to call him reckless ever again.
Not after his Mama caught us that night.
“I don’t want to speak for Chastity,” I say, sauntering a few steps closer, enjoying the way his grip tightens on his weapons. I glance back at her, just to be polite. She gives me the barest nod. Permission granted. I wink. She flushes.
Don’t get jealous, love. There’s plenty of me to go around.
“But no one wants to be a part of the Blood Treaty,” I continue. “I know it doesn’t feel good to be irrelevant, but it’s time to let it go.” I gesture to Claire. “You’ve got more important things to worry about besides who signs a useless scrap of paper. Like, who is going to come to your baby shower?” Bastien’s lip curls. I grin. “Before you bake a cake and knit booties, your wife needs a spell to free herself from that collar.”
I let the words sit there, making everyone deliciously uncomfortable.
“Admit it. That’s why you really came here. Not to protect Chastity or preserve the balance of power.” I tilt my head, studying him. Gods, he hates being seen. “But because you’re selfish.”
“Shut up,” Bastien seethes.
“You want a spell, Bastien! Because you can’t do magick anymore. At least, not like you used to. You’ve traded your power for blood and eternity and a superiority complex.”
I wait while the truth lands. Soaking in the moment.
Now he’s ready to fight back. “You have broken free from the Underworld. You sought revenge on me through my wife. You have collected more sacrifices from me than I was ever willing to give you. I’m a tolerant man, but now, it is time for you to go back to where you came from. And this time, when I take your other horn, I’ll make sure you can’t come back.”
What a lovely speech. Very impassioned. Let’s clap for him. You can tell he’s been rehearsing it in his head since the moment he realized Claire had my power.
“Threatening me with magick you don’t have?”
“You—”
I’m laughing before he can finish. The way he looks like he’s getting ready to hit me with that cane until I yield is too funny.
I wipe an imaginary tear from my eye and smile. “Go on,” I say. “If it will make you feel better, hit me.”
Bastien is still clinging to the idea that this ends with a sword.
