"Sit," he said, gesturing to the empty seat across from him with his wine glass. "Eat. Death has a way of making one hungry. Or, at least, that’s what I hear."
Gorrath offered me his hand. “That’s the God of the Underworld. Damien himself. Best not to keep him waiting.”
My mouth fell open in shock. I couldn’t believethatwas Damien. He hardly looked like a god at all. With mousy brown hair and dark gray eyes, he looked very ordinary, save for the horns. In all of Mama’s stories about the God of the Underworld, he was a monster. With burning pits for eyes. And he ate only the blood of children.
But here he sat, sipping wine.
Hesitantly, I let Gorrath help me to my feet and shuffled over to the table. I took the seat directly across from Damien. I sat stiffly, barely touching the edge of the chair, every muscle in my body coiled. The food in front of me smelled delicious, but I had no appetite.
I was sitting across from a god. One I had only ever prayed to once before,when I asked him to make me unbreakable.
“What do you want with me?” I asked. Bowing my head. Folding my hands in my lap.
He considered me for a moment, then said, “You have performed an immortality spell. Have you not?”
Confused, I glanced at Gorrath, who had taken a seat in the chair beside Damien. He grabbed a knife and a fork and immediately began carving into a piece of rare beef. The way blood oozed from the center made my stomach flip.
“Yes,” I answered. “But it must not have worked.”
Damien’s mouth curled into a slow and knowing smile like he had been waiting for this moment. “Every immortal must sacrifice their life. Your husband did. Gorrath did. And so did every demon in my court and every star in Diana’s. It is how immortalitybegins.”
A slow, hopeful smile spread across my face. “Are you saying that it worked? That I broke the curse and became immortal?”
Damien nodded. “That’s what I’m saying.”
I nearly leapt out of my chair. I was going to go back home. To Bastien. To my life.
Damien watched me with a quiet, patient amusement as the excitement warmed every place that had gone numb and cold inside me. He propped one arm on the back of Gorrath’s chair. “I can see why she won you over. The want inside of her is endless.”
Gorrath nodded. “She is a true Dark Witch. Not one of those pretenders. Dressing in black and waving around relics like they know what darkness means.” He lifted his wine glass in appreciation. “She’s got a shard of darkness inside her.”
The way the two of them beamed back at me stoked the growing pride in my chest. After everything I’d been through… after all of it… I was finally going to keep him. I was going to spend eternity with Bastien.
“There is one thing you should know,” Damien said. “Immortality comes with a price.”
I stilled, the excitement slipping out of me. “What kind of price?”
“First of all,” Damien began, “you would no longer be a Witch of the Darkness.”
Absently, I twirled a few strands of hair around my fingers. I didn’t know what to say. I’d only just gotten my magick. I’d only just started figuring out my powers. The idea that they would just be gone left me feeling hollow all over again. “What would I be then?”
Silence settled around the table, and dread crept in. “Well, that’s the thing you could choose,” Damien continued. “You could become a demon of my court. You’d be more thanwelcome here. However, you’d no longer carry Gorrath’s power. We’d select something new for you.”
I knew I was sitting across from a god, so I tried to retain a bit of respect, but a demon? He was telling me that I’d done all this—collected Mama’s blood and jumped out of that carriage—just to become a demon?
“Is there another choice?” I asked.
Damien expelled a sigh, as if disappointed that I didn’t want to join him in the Underworld for eternity. “Your only other option would be to go back as a vampire. However, all the rules of vampirism would apply to you. Including drinking blood.”
I let out a breath of relief. There was another way.
“And you’d be subject to the matebond.”
“I already have a mate,” I said. “Bastien. You know this.”
He gave the barest shake of his head. “I’m afraid two vampires cannot be mated to one another. You see, they cannot bear children.”
I glowered at Gorrath, who was shoving a piece of raw meat in his mouth. “Did you know this would happen when you sold me the idea of becoming immortal? Did you know what I would have to give up?”
