Page 80 of The Bargain

You want me, I mouth, a smirk ghosting over my lips.

Desdemona lets out an impetuous breath.

“That didn’t count, by the way,” she says, stubborn pride flaring back to life. “Forced confession.”

“Hah.” Genuine laughter melts from me, and my cock twitches inside her. “Too late.”

Too late, yes.

My heart falters.

For both of us.

30

Event Horizon

Desdemona

My favourite part of the year, every year since I can remember, is the week before Christmas.

Every year our whole family—Mum, Dad, me and Ophelia, the twins, Aunt Willow and Luca—fly out of the US to England, to spend the winter holiday at Blackwood Manor. Blaise’s grandparents, Lord and Lady Blackwood, leave to celebrate Hogmanay in Scotland, and Blaise’s parents come to look after the house.

At first, all of Mum and Dad’s friends used to take turns going over to stay with them, but since Blaise, Dimitri and I were born, it’s become a yearly tradition for everyone to spend the holiday at the manor.

Over the years, the group’s become bigger and bigger. Dimitri, his parents, and his little sister Daria. Séverin Montcroix and his wife, Anaïs, and their daughter, Yuna. Us—the Sutton-Knight clan—and coming with us from the States, Aunt Willow and Uncle Luca.

Sometimes, other people join us, staying for a few days and adding to the chaos: like Mum’s best friends, Audrey, Araminta and Alice, or Yuna’s uncle, Noel, and his husband. Dimitri’s godfather, Anton, used to come every year, before—well. No wonder Dimitri is in such a weird dark place. Maybe he’ll bring his fiancée. I hope he does.

Because the truth is that it doesn’t matter how many of us there are: there’s always space in the Blackwood mansion.

And when we’re all together like this, I have this weird feeling inside my chest, like all the worry and stress is suddenly magicked away, as if stepping foot inside Blackwood Manor casts a spell of protection over me that banishes all my fear.

Sometimes, when I’m standing in the kitchen watching my uncles, Iakov and Luca, laughing with Dad, or when I see Yuna with her parents, her mum showing her a way to wash her paintbrushes while her dad stares at them like they are the moon and all of the stars squeezed into two human bodies, my chest feels like it’s going to burst with this sensation of invincibility. Like nothing bad could happen, ever.

And with the exams looming after the holidays, and Birnam likely to wake up any day now, and Ophelia still avoiding me, and Elias’s destiny held in the balance like a horribly precious and fragile thing, I’ve never been more afraid.

I’m supervising a detention in the last week before Christmas when Austen and William burst in through the study hall doors. I look up from the exam paper I’m working through with a glare and set aside my pen before stomping across the room towards the door. The Year 10 students, who are silently working on their reflection essays, must sense my annoyance because they don’t even dare to look up.

“What?” I hiss when I reach them.

The twins are both wearing the correct uniform, and William’s dark hair is actually combed. They’ve been on their best behaviour since the Halloween party, after receiving the most intense telling off of their lifetime, and narrowly avoiding being thrown into detention till the end of the year—clearly they don’t want a repeat of Year 8.

Since then, they’ve been staying out of trouble, attending all their classes on time, and even sending me occasional updates on Ophelia. This usually consists of a screenshot of a text where she’s calling them idiot losers, or blurry photos of the two of them trying to hug her while she cringes away with a disgusted expression. Even though those updates are better than nothing, it still hurts to see those pictures, because I would rather she be annoyed or disgusted with me than completely cut me off like she’s doing.

Still—whatever this is, it must be important enough for the twins to take the risk of displeasing me, so I cross my arms and wait.

“Is your boyfriend coming on holiday with us, yes or no?” Austen finally spits out. “You’ve not been answering our texts and Dad wants to know.”

My heart misses a beat. I blink twice, silent just long enough to recover.

“You’ve told Dad about Elias?” I say finally.

William lets out a half-stifled snort of laughter and Austen rolls his eyes.

“C’mon, Dess. Everyone and their grandma knows about you and Elias.”

“It made national news.”