Me
I hurt him too much when I ended things
Darius
The way he was eye fucking you for days said he's over it
Merrily
You won't know unless you ask
You must have something he wants badly enough to bargain for, after five years of living together
I did, actually.The paintings I'd hidden in the studio.
Giving them back would feel like a physical blow, but they technically did belong to him, and there was one he'd been offered a shitload of money for. Not that the offer was unique to him. He'd been extremely successful for a long time.
I should've returned the paintings years ago, or at least paid him for them, but I'd been feeling possessive and bitter and stubborn.
Me
Yeah
I'll think about it
Merrily sent a heart emoji, and Darius threw out a thumbs-up.
I put my earbuds in and smiled at the shitty fruit trees.
Life no longer looked quite as bleak.
When I madeit back to my car, sweaty and actually pretty calm for once, Gwen was waiting for me.
I'd had time to think after I talked to my family, and that time made me realize something.
I didn't owe the werewolves another bargain.
"I'm so glad you're doing this," she gushed. "Thank you so much. I know it's going to be difficult for you, but?—"
"I'm not growing you guys an entire orchard," I stated.
She blinked.
"I don't like making bargains, and I already bargained with Jonah. I'm not doing it again. I can agreewithouta bargain to regrow some of the trees in part of your orchard for the sake of the existing alliance between the fae and werewolves in the Cabinet. But I'm not involving magic," I added.
Gwen opened her mouth like she was going to disagree.
She must've seen the warning in my eyes, because after a pause, she changed gears quickly. "A third of the orchard would be great. I'll send you the information. If you could also include enough money to cover saplings for the rest of the trees in Jonah's deal, it would buy us time to get back on our feet and find some footing. We would really appreciate it."
"I can handle that." I held out a hand. "Allies?"
She took my hand. "Allies."
For once, I genuinely didn't want to kill her.
I could understand why Kat wasn't interested in becoming close to her again, though. I still couldn't believe they had played me so well.
But hey, at least Jonah wasn't my fated mate. That was worth getting playedandgrowing some trees.
