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“Do you know where the Life Maiden is?”
“No.” Her shoulders shrank. “And he has demanded I find her. I have to search every day, but I don’t know what I’m looking for. Or who. I’m sorry.”
I took her hand. “And I’m sorry for Ezra. If this all goes to shit, just know that I never wanted any of this.”
Leaning her head to mine, she closed her eyes. “You’re forgiven. Just don’t fuck this up, or we’re all in trouble. What’s the plan?”
Stepping away from her, I shook my head. “He’s already looking for a loophole.”
We walked back into the room to find Quill waiting beside him.
Paesha reached out a hand. “Come on, Quilly, let’s go back downstairs.”
“Is this your wish?” the Maestro asked me, an eyebrow lifted.
I said nothing. He’d meant to trap me within the two-minute window. If I spoke to anyone but Paesha, I was his. Forever. So, I waited. And waited. Counting up in my mind until no less than five minutes had passed.
“They are not needed for you and me to bargain, are they?”
He glanced at his watch. “Clever girl.”
“Check your other wrist.” I smiled sweetly.
When he drew back the opposite sleeve, revealing the deep blue band, he nearly fell out of his chair. “What is this? What have you done? Your minutes are over.”
“Well, Drexy-poo, can I call you that? I feel like I can. You see, making deals is a tricky business. I was bound to your terms for two minutes, but you, sir, are bound to mine for life. Shall we revisit the conversation?”
His eyes doubled as he sank back, suit jacket still covered in blood. “No. I remember.”
“Should you ever ask about our conversation in the hallway, even trying to find a loophole verbally, which I’m sure is already spinning through that messy head of yours, you fail your part of the bargain, and you become bound to me for the rest of your life.”
“You don’t have the power to bind me.”
“No, Drexy. But you do. That’s your own magic turned against you. Pity.”
“Get out of my office.”
I lifted Chaos, picking the dirt from beneath my nails, feeling more myself than I had in ages. I’d forgotten who I was when my world had been swept away, but no more.
“Perhaps you didn’t hear me,” he said, standing, gripping the edges of his desk for balance. “Get. Out.”
“Don’t you want to know how to get rid of that band? I mean, if you want to keep it forever, that’s fine, but I’m willing to make a much more lucrative bargain with you.”
I knew he couldn’t resist the urge. An offer from Death’s Maiden sitting on the table. But I’d outsmarted him once, and he wouldn’t allow that a second time. I’d need to be very, very careful.
“Speak the terms and I will decide.”
“I will perform on your stage, in front of a normal audience one time. If I can earn a standing ovation, then you will let my friends, specifically, Paesha, Thea, Quill, Hollis, and Orin, free from their debt to you. And if I cannot do it, then I will fall in line and become your weapon. There’s not a person on the planet you cannot ask me to kill. And you cannot turn me over to Icharius Fern or his men. You can do nothing to prevent me from performing.”
His eyes glistened with mirth as his power began to fill the room, igniting with the spoken terms. “Five shows. I decide the performance, and you have ten minutes on stage each time. Should you fail, you are mine for life. There will be no loopholes, Maiden. And once this deal is struck, the other bargain is void.”
“No. I agree to these terms only. The prior bargain cannot be terminated until this one is. I will perform in three shows, and within ten minutes of the performance start, I must have a standing ovation. You cannot do anything to keep the people from coming or standing or clapping, and it must be a single act on the stage. You cannot ask me to do anything more than the rest of your performers do, nor can you ask me to kill anyone. I also will not fight Death’s hounds, so don’t even think about it.”
“Watch your words, Maiden. I won’t agree to bind my mind’s thoughts.”
I rolled my eyes. Magical deals were so nit-picky. “Fine. You can think about it, but you cannot ask it. I won’t fight them. And you can never speak of the details to Paesha, Quill, Orin, Thea, or Hollis.”
“No. Never is eternal, or have you forgotten the lesson you’ve just taught? I will not ask them a single question about this bargain until after the final grain of sand falls on your third day. And then I am free.”
