Siobhan giggled in her trademark, tinkling laugh. Girlish, silly, innocent. It made men and women swoon at her feet, but I knew better. My handler always got her way. If I pushed back, she found a way to punish me. The targets kept growing more difficult to find. Almost impossible.
She would make sure to suddenly appear when I'd reached my lowest—waist-deep in a peat moss bog with an assassin’s blade biting into my jugular or when a rival bounty hunter captured my prize seconds before I arrived. She'd present an ultimatum, try to coerce me into giving up and ceding myself to her.
I’d not fallen prey to her yet, but I’d come close.
Catching me now, seconds after I’d finished with my mark, when the blood still crusted my fingertips, should not have come as a surprise. The timing was perfectly executed on her part.
“But my dear, you’ve been so successful, no?” She pushed a golden curl behind her ear, her latest color transformation designed to match today’s beauty standards. Once, she even modeled herself after me with snake-green eyes and wild brown hair. When that didn’t sway me, she shed that skin and moved on. She was ancient, of that I was certain. She hadn’t aged a month in the two decades I’d been bending to her will.
At the moment she emulated the romantic women from oil paintings. Voluptuous, sensuous, cherubic. She pouted rouged lips, fluttering her lashes at me.
“Your Collectors have been asking after you again. My dear Tam, I’m not sure how long I can keep them waiting. They must see you. They yearn for it. Can you not sense it?”
I kept the disgust far from my face, the memories chained down in the furthest recess of my mind. “I try not to hang around. I have a job to do.”
“Mhm, quite.” She tugged off the velvet gloves, biting the tips of her fingers one by one.
I sank back against the shadows of the forest, wishing they’d engulf me too.
She took her time, looking down at her polished nails, the color flickering from pink to green and back again. “If you really don’t want to be tied to them anymore, there is a way out. You only need to ask, my dear. Accept my invitation to join me. I’ve only offered this once in my lifetime, so you are honored, no?”
“And what happened to them?” I already knew the answer. Her constant flitting in and out of my life, learning my habits, molding my personality came at a cost to her too. A weakness, just one. It was all the leverage I had, so I kept it close to my chest, but it was all I needed.
“They were not as strong as you, my dear. You’re heartless, cold, manipulative, all the qualities I admire. Especially when that person is firmly under my control. Although, I do sometimes have my doubts. It is natural, I know. I was human once upon a time, but that’s why I check in on you so often.” She caressed her bare finger down my cheek. The touch was downy-soft, ticklish, sending warm chills snaking directly into my core.
I leaned away from her. “I’m fine. No need to come again.”
My stomach spasmed. Not now. Acid crept back into my throat, and I swallowed it down.
“You’re not wavering on me, are you? My protégé suddenly spouting a conscience?” She tsked, sucking air between her straight teeth.
The sound dragged me back to the fayre and the small boy sucking on the swirled lollipop. His messy hair flopped over his eyes as he glanced back and forth over the barrier between his mother’s hand and the doll. I shook the image away. It wasn’t like there hadn’t been people to witness before.
No, not people, a child. Not much older than I was when...
My stomach lurched. I forced my hand away from my belly and dug my nails into my palms. Why wouldn’t it settle?
“No. It’s the adrenaline, that’s all,” I said.
The come down always took a few days, especially when there were no outlets nearby—inns, ales, company. My thoughts idled back to Candyman. He could have made me forget everything by now.
“Mhm.” She leaned over me, wafting lily of the valley perfume, and my eyes dropped to her breasts before I could stop myself. Blush heated my chest and painted my cheeks despite my best efforts. She was toxic, and I should have known better.
She giggled again, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. “Well, my dear, as you are so keen to avoid distractions and return to work, I have come with a special assignment for you. A gift, if you will. For we all know, you are my favorite, yes?”
I groaned before I could stop myself. Favoritism. The time between hunts had been steadily diminishing over the past few years. Every time I turned down her advances, she reappeared in my life faster than before.
“Oh no,” she cooed. She lifted my chin, her fingers molding to my skin, leaving her mark. “You will love this one, I promise. I had to pull many, many strings to get this for you. In fact, if you fail, there is a whole queue of suitable candidates already waiting to take your place.” Her thumb circled under my jaw. “Shall we say six weeks to completion?”
I swallowed. The ball of saliva audibly scratched its way down my dry throat. If she was giving me a time frame, she suspected it would take at least double that amount to succeed. She would be there hovering, salivating, just waiting for me to extend the deadline, the favors dangling from her outstretched hands like iron shackles.
I managed to nod.
“Superb, my dear.” She withdrew from my face, her scent embossed upon my hot skin. “Of course, you must remember that such an important bounty comes with immeasurably high stakes. You’ve already used up your one failure, leaving me with no wiggle room. If you don’t succeed, Goddess forbid, then you will be moved along in your role. Promoted, if you will.” She blinked at me; her round blue eyes entrancing. “Sounds wonderful, no?”
No, it did not. It was a death sentence. For more than just me. I nodded, unable to force my lips to curve into a smile.
“A little warning to go alongside all I have given you so far, my dear. They are clamping down on magic, more so now than ever before. The perpetrators are being rounded up so those with your gifts can be cherry-picked out of the barrel. Due to this, blood magic is becoming increasingly rare.”
