“I want your body.” I say it plainly. “From now until sunrise. To do with as I please.”
Her cheeks turn pink but she doesn’t look away.
“And then you’ll let me go.”
“That’s right.”
“No.”
I raise an eyebrow. “No?”
“You’ve spent weeks humiliating me. You made me kneel beside your chair like a dog. You collared me. Youhurtme.” Her voice is shaking, but she doesn’t back down. “And you want me to give you my body?Willingly?So you can do whatever you want to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?So you can add one more humiliation to the list?” She’s gripping the arms of her chair so hard her knuckles have turned white. “So you can take the one thing I’ve never given to anyone, and use it against me later?”
“If I wanted totakeit, I wouldn’t be asking for your consent.”
That stops her. I watch as she processes my words.
“You could,” she says slowly. “You could just take what you want. You’re stronger than me. I couldn’t stop you.”
“No. You couldn’t.”
“Then why ask? Why offer me anything in return?”
Because I’ve had three hundred years of bodies using mine without my consent. Because I know exactly what it feels like to be used. Because watching you squirm through those confessions makes me want to know what else I can make you want … but only if you choose to let me.
I don’t say any of that, nor do I allow it to show on my face.
“Because I want you willing.”
She laughs, a short bitter sound. “Willing? You think I’d be willing?”
“I think you’ve been wet since I asked if you liked what you saw at the stream. I think you lie awake at night wondering what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped last night.”
Her face flames. “That’s not?—”
“You told me yourself less than an hour ago. The bargain wouldn’t let you lie.” I tilt my head. “So,yes,Moirthalen, I think you’d be willing. I think you want this more than you want to admit.”
Her pulse jumps visibly in her throat. “This is a trick. Some kind of trap. You’ll agree to let me go, but you’ll find a loophole.”
“Fae can’t lie.”
“Fae can twist words until they mean something else entirely.”
I hide a smile.Smart female.
“All right.” I lean forward, holding her gaze. “If you agree to this bargain, and see it through until sunrise, I will let you leave freely. I will not stop you. I will not try to change the terms of our bargain. One night where you consent to give me your body, and in return, I will free you once the sun has risen. No tricks. No twists. No conditions beyond what I have laid out.”
She stares at me. I can see her mind examining every word I’ve said, looking for a way for me to twist it. She won’t find any.
“What … What about Nella?”
“What about her?”
“If I leave, what happens to her?”
