“To create offspring.”
“Yes. A cambion.”
“What does that have to do with anything? You still haven’t told me what you want with me. Why you keep turning up, like the worst kind of bad penny.”
He’s talking in circles. Confusing me, making my head spin.
“I’m still not following.”
“I wanted Betsy because I wanted progeny from a natural-born witch. First, there was Betsy, who betrayed me. Then Deirdre, whotriedto betray me, and failed, poor thing. She never eventhoughtaboutyou.” He sighs wistfully. “Your grandmother was a beauty in her youth. I enjoyed our time together.
“Betsy and Deirdre were both special. In different ways.” Bellflower stalks toward me. “But you ... you are exceptional. Diluted a bit by your father’s inferior blood, but still remarkable.” He reaches out, his fingers grazing the jagged scar that Shep Doherty laid across my forehead when I was eight years old. “You don’t even know what you’re capable of. But I do. Together, we’ll do great things. Together, we’ll have everything we’ve ever wanted.”
“We? If it’s sex with me you’re after, you should know I don’t care for men. Never have. Never will. I ain’t having your demon babies, neither.”
Bellflower laughs. “I wouldn’t think of such a thing. It would be ... wrong. Even for my kind. I do have a moral compass of sorts, you know.”
“Well, compasses don’t work here. Not even the moral kind. Enough with talking in circles, Bellflower.”
He begins pacing again, his hands clasped behind his back. “We’ll get to the point, then. I’d like to make you an offer.”
“There’s not a thing you could offer me that I’d want.”
He cocks a brow at me. “Not even an immortally long life, with more power than you ever thought possible?” Eerie shadows dance across his face, sharpening his features. “Protection for your family? Your darling grandmother’s life? She made me a promise when she was young. A promise I’ve come to collect on.HowI do so is up to you.”
My guts plunge to my feet. “What are you talking about?”
An amused smirk spreads across his face. “Deirdre swore an oath to me many years ago, and offered you up as the binding, long before you were ever born.”
“Granny would never do such a thing.”
“Oh, but she would. In her youth, Deirdre was lustful. Wrathful. Driven by her own impulses. She poisoned a girl and the girl nearly died.Deirdre would have hanged for it if it weren’t for my help.” Bellflower shrugs. “I happened to be there in her time of need. Ihealedthe girl. She lived on, well into her golden years, because of the power I took from Deirdre’s blood oath. Best of all, it got me what I wanted most. You.”
“You’re lying,” I growl. “Granny doesn’t poison people and she’d never give me to you. Granny is good. The best person I’ve ever known.”
He laughs. “What is the difference between good and evil? Truly? It’s all a matter of perception. Every bit of it. Wars. Plagues. Famine. Saints and sinners. Angels and demons.”
Bellflower passes a hand over his face and his rangy good looks flicker once more. The ancient man I saw ravishing Val in the forest stares at me with dark, deep-set eyes.
“This Nathaniel vessel I inhabit has grown weak. Decrepit.” He passes his hand over his face once more and his glamour is restored. “I can still disguise myself—take on any form, any shape I please. But it’s no longer enough. I want an amplifier. A young, vital vessel—an ongoing source of power created by my own design. The daughter of a cambion is a rare thing.Youare a rare thing.”
“Daughter of a cambion?”
“Your mother. Ophelia.”
Something has shifted in Bellflower’s demeanor. He glowers at me darkly. Threateningly. My head starts to swim. The longer I’m around him, the weaker I get—like he’s draining me. I back away from him as a knife blade of pain pierces my temple. I wince and knot my hands in my hair. I’m suddenly as helpless as a newborn kitten. I cry out and collapse in a huddle on the metal floor, the pain shooting through me.
“You are as much mine as you are Deirdre’s. I don’t like hurting you.” Bellflower sighs.
“I will make the pain stop if you invite me in. Allow me to inhabit you, Gracie—let me use you as a vessel, just as I did with Nathaniel. I will protect you from death, from sickness. I will even restore Deirdre to health. No one you love need suffer, ever again.”
“No,” I say through clenched teeth. “Never.”
Bellflower scowls. “Your free will is beyond tedious. A flaw in the design.” He twists his wrist, and my back spasms and arches in response. Pain colors my vision red. I scream. The shadows flare around him. Tendrils of oily smoke surround me, stealing my breath. “Foolish girl. You choose to barter away your life?” His voice reverberates through me.
I pull myself to my feet, and sway shakily. There’s a flash of movement, and Bellflower shoves me to the lighthouse railing, his hand knotted in my hair. The ground swirls below me. “Think of your granny. Think of little Caro. She’s going to flower into a lovely young woman soon. Perhaps, when I’ve used up her mother, I’ll have my fun with her.”
A righteous anger surges through me. “No! Don’t you dare lay a hand on her.”
