Despite my catching the loophole and him only demanding two hours of time, my stomach sank as the implications hit me. “Is that what happened to my family?” I whispered, sagging back in my chair. “Did they make a forever deal?”
Soren’s face didn’t give anything away. “As you continue to call them family, I wonder...” He tapped a finger on the table. “Brynn... Donovan?”
My stomach hollowed out. “This was a bad idea.” I stood on instinct, not really thinking, unless panic counted, as I moved toward the door. “I should go.”
“Please, Brynn Donovan,” he murmured. “Have a seat.”
A strange desire to obey enveloped me like a second skin. It had a sickly sweet aroma that tugged me back toward my chair, but I shook my head to clear the fog and caught myself before I actually sat down.
“Looks like I guessed correctly,” Soren purred. Nothing like a house cat though—more like a lion. “Naming magic can be powerful when used on humans.”
His words triggered a memory of Mom’s voice whispering in my ear.Names have power, she’d said as we lay outside years ago on a picnic blanket, staring up at the blue sky and puffy clouds.Don’t give them out to just anyone.
Um, okay.I’d rolled my eyes, thinking she was in one of her dramatic moods, but now, hearing her words line up with Soren’s, it was yet another sign she’d known about the fae all along.
Soren cocked his head, studying me. “It’s odd. Humans usually respond more strongly to naming magic. It draws you in but doesn’t control you.”
I shrugged and dropped back into my chair with a sigh. “I guess I’m just really stubborn. Always have been.”
His cheek dimpled slightly with a held-back smile. Reaching toward the cabinet behind him, he opened a drawer, pulling out thick cream paper and a fancy-looking pen. “Shall we discuss the terms?”
Instead of agreeing, I sat back, studying him as my mind raced.Just say it, I coached myself.Dad, Rissa, and Olive are counting on you. Mom too, if you can find a way to tell him about her.
“I think you need me more than you’re letting on—or, if not me exactly, a willing human. If you want me to make this deal, you need to give me a reason to trust you.”
This time, he didn’t laugh. He considered my words quietly. I’d started to think he was ignoring me when he finally said in a low tone, “I dislike the fae who took your family as much as you do. If possible, perhaps more. The details are not for you to know, but suffice it to say, our goals in this align.”
IfI believed him, that changed everything.
Well, at least, as long as he needed me.
I chose my words with intense care, speaking slowly. “I will help youtodayonly. For two continuous hours.”
He started writing as I spoke.
“Starting at seven o’clock, ending at nine o’clock on the dot. And,” I added hurriedly before he could say anything else, ticking the things I’d thought of back home off one by one, “I won’t do anything that crosses a moral line. Meaning I won’t hurt anyone. And I won’t do anything that gets me caught by other fae or stuck here longer.” I could only hope that short list covered anything sinister he might ask me to do. “In return, you will tell meeverythingyou know about my family so I can get them home.”
“Agreed,” he said more quickly than I’d have liked, as he finished writing down everything I’d said.
I held out my hand.
He blinked at it. “What are you doing?”
My palm wavered in the air. “Aren’t we going to shake on it?”
“Shake on it?” he repeated blankly.
“Yeah.” I wiggled my fingers. “Give me your hand. I’ll show you.”
He lifted his left hand with a look that said,Is this real, or are you messing with me?
“No,” I said, pressing my lips together so I wouldn’t smile. “The other one.”
With a frown, he switched hands, holding his out like mine across the table.
I slipped my fingers into his firm grip and shook once.
My hand tingled.
