Violet’s eyes widened in disbelief, her expression pained. Her pulse jumped. “What?”
Shame poured from every pore—I could smell it on myself, sharp and acrid, mixing with the cinder-wine air. I looked away from her, focusingon Damien. “Demon,” I said with malice, “that was not your secret to share.”
He set his coffee cup down and placed his hand over his chest in mock surprise. “Oh? Did I thoughtlessly share a secret of yours aloud? Did I carelessly let slip something you would have much preferred to keep quiet? I cannotbeginto fathom how that must feel.”
“It’s true?” Violet asked. The hurt in her voice matched the pain on her face.
I opened my mouth to answer her, but Damien spoke first. “Si, it’s true, he never told you, shame on him. Now you two handle it on your own time.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Let us return to the topic at hand—writing up a contract for how we are going to all help each other get what we want.”
My patience thinned like ice over deep water. I shifted forward in my chair. I could not stand idle while he toyed with her. “Violet, we can find another way.”
She turned on me, heat rising in her cheeks. “There is no other way. I’ve searched Oubliette for weeks and haven’t been able to find even a whisper about him.”
“But you cannot enter a contract with a High Demon.” A tang of fear rose beneath my ribs into my mouth.
“The contract was your idea! Why did you even bother bringing it up if we weren’t going to do it?”
I ran a hand through my hair and took a breath. “I suspected he planned to kill us to keep the secret of his hearts safe, andIwas the one who was going to enter a contract with him to prevent that. Not us. Not you.” I looked her in her eyes. “I have had some experience with this sort of thing.”
Violet’s eyes widened—betrayal hitting her like a physical blow. Her breathing went shallow. “Oh, so entering contracts with demons issomething elseon your resume? Is thatanothersecret you hid from me?”
“Violet, I did not hide—”
“Bullshit! When I told you about my previous life, you didn’t think to mention you’d gone through the same thing?”
“It is not thesame—”
“Do you know how alone and crazy I’ve felt ever since I was reborn?” Time seemed to slow. Guilt and fear tangled together within me as blood roared in my veins.
“Violet, please! Charlie and Levi refused—”
“Theyalready told you before I did? Are you serious?”
“What? No, listen.”
But she wasn’t listening, and I feared this miscommunication would be the death of her.
Her hands clutched into fists. She turned her furious gaze to Damien, and I heard her decision before she spoke it—heard it in the way her heartbeat steadied, in the way her breathing deepened with resolve. “I will give you anything,” she said.
My heart dropped. The fire hissed.
Damien’s grin widened, predatory and pleased. He leaned forward to pick his coffee cup back up. “But what if the thing I want is not yours to give?”
Confusion crossed Violet’s face for the briefest beat until Damien’s gaze slid past her and straight to me.This will not end well.
“The thing which I seek,” he purred, and I felt the words vibrate through me, “lies buried in your boyfriend’s chest right there.”
The words washed over me like ice water. Cold spread from my sternum outward, numbing my fingers and toes. I felt something shift within me: tightness shrinking around my ribs, pressure building behind my breastbone, as if my heart had suddenly grown twice its size.
“No,” Violet whispered, barely audible even to my enhanced hearing. My blood turned to ice as she spoke, her voice breaking. “You can’t have him.”
Damien laughed—dark and indulgent, like espresso poured over cream. The sound echoed strangely in the room, bouncing off leather-bound spines and polished wood. “Oh, I don’t want him,mi gatita.” His amber eyes gleamed in the firelight, pupils expanding and contracting like a cat’s. “No, not him. I seek what’s buriedwithinhim.”
Everything in me went taut, my muscles coiling and jaw clenching hard enough that my teeth ached. I tried—and most likely failed—to not let my terror show.
Damien’s voice was syrupy and slow, each word deliberate, as his attention moved back to Violet. “My offer is a simple one. You seek a man. I know where he is. I know how to get to him. I know the desires that drive him, the sins that sustain him. But. . .” he trailed off as his gaze shifted to me, raking me up and down—slow, appreciative, invasive. “But such knowledge requires payment.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “What is it youwantfrom me? From Rowan? What do you mean buriedinside of him?”
