“It’s the same principle. If I magic up a pile of money, it has to already exist somewhere else, which means my spell would be taking that money from another person’s possession and transferring it here, into mine.”
“I’m… not seeing the issue.”
“It’s stealing!”
“Ah.” He drops onto the purple couch, feet propped up on the coffee table, hands behind his head like, just make yourself at home, Devil man. “So your problem isn’t magic. It’s morals.”
I smack his feet off the table. “Morals are only a problem for people who don’t have them.”
“For people who don’t haveyours, you mean.”
I swear Olivy snickers. Apparently, we’re top-notch entertainment tonight.
“If you’re so smart and upstanding and moral,” I huff, “why don’tyougive me the money and be done with it?”
“Firstly, I never said I was any of those things. Secondly, I don’t have a dime to my name.”
“Right. Even your bathrobe looks expensive.”
“Smoking jacket. And itwasexpensive.”
“How did you pay for it if you’re so broke?”
He flashes the textbook definition of a devilish grin, making my insides all hot and gooey. “I don’t trade in human currency, witch. Never have. The Devil trades in favors. So, in a very roundabout sort of way, yes, I suppose Icansolve your problem. The question is—what are you willing to give me in return?”
“Look around. Unless you want some tea and scones, I’m drawing a blank.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, mushroom. Even a hot-mess witch such as yourself has something to bargain with.”
“Quit instigating her,” Olivy snaps. “We all know the price for a Devil’s bargain, and my sister isnotpaying it.”
“You’ve summoned me to help you,” he says, as if he’s trying to reason with a small child throwing a tantrum. “Ergo, you must allow me to do just that. Using my influence is the shortest distance between two points—A, the witch losing her beloved shop, and B, the witch saving it.”
“Maybe he’s got a point, Olivy.”
“He doesn’t. Trust me.” She brings the laptop over and sits on the red couch across from him. “Anyway, the spell won’t allow it. This has to be a genuine, no-shortcuts effort to unlock her heart’s desire. Any attempts to circumvent it with magic or manipulation will only make things worse. For both of you.”
I drop onto the couch next to him, head in my hands. “As if anything could make this night any worse.”
“Is that a dare?” he asks. “I’ll give it my best shot, though I’m not sure I can compete with this grade-A cockup. Is there any more rum slushy? The night is only getting longer, and I’m not interested in being sober for it.”
“No one cares what you’re interested in,” I snap.
Olivy snickers again. “Let the record reflect that I called it first, but you two are totally gonna bone. As for the parameters of the spell, there’s—”
“You areliterallythe worst,” I say. “You know that?”
“I’m not the one who summoned the hellspawn.”
“Another point to the dark and creepy one,” says the hellspawn. “And excuse me—HellKing, if you please.”
“If you think I’m calling you highness,” I grumble, “you’re about to be disappointed again.”
“Says the woman who needs my help cleaning up her terrible credit. Which, by the way, I haven’t even agreed to yet.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Olivy says.
“The Devil always has a choice,” he huffs. “The Devilmakesthe choices.”
