Seconds from my planned attack, his eyes locked with mine. Taking hold of my hand, he placed the knife in it.
“Don’t underestimate me. I’m very efficient with this,” I warned, securing the knife.
His lips furled. “I’m sure you are,” he said, his voice lowering into an inviting and hauntingly deep rasp. Tilting his head, he bared the vulnerable curve of his neck to me. The gesture startled me into stillness. His warm hands closed over mine with ease. His eyes glazed over for a fraction of a second, and I saw something in them that could be considered intrigue. A cool mist curled around my skin. His expression morphed into cruel delight and there was an ominous twist to his lips as he guided the knife to his neck.
He pressed the blade into his skin; blood welled and trailed down it.
What the fuck.I wasn’t prepared to deal with a masochistic shadow god. How the hell does one prepare for that?
“Do you want to go deeper?” His voice was a husky thread of sound.
When I attempted to move my hand away, his hold tightened. His hard searching eyes probed mine.
“Kara,” he said in a manner that was too gentle and banal for the morbid situation. “You can’t kill me.”
“Does it hurt?” My voice was soft with horror. His jaw had clenched several times as if he was adjusting to the pain.
He nodded. “Pain doesn’t bother me. Over the years, I’ve developed an appreciation for it.”
A masochist and a psycho. Great. Can my day get worse?
“So, which one is it?” he asked in a rough whisper, releasing my hand. “Are you arrogant or naïve?”
“Desperate.” I shocked myself with the hasty response. It was an honest admission with all my emotions clinging to it.
“Desperate,” he repeated, a dark glint in his eyes and malice seeping into his expression. After giving me a long appraisal, his lips twisted in a mockery of a grin. “I can work with desperate. Before we get into details, will you entertain another question?”
My grip on the knife tightened, and I wasn’t surprised that the cut was quickly meshing, closing the wound. Even the traces of blood were gone.
I nodded.
“This isn’t your first time seeing me, is it?”
I shook my head. “I saw you earlier at Cloak and Dagger.”
A worried expression briefly settled before fading. His cold calculating expression returned, but the hints of unsatisfied curiosity remained.
“What bargains are you willing to make out of your desperation, Kara?”
His gaze dropped to the knife then traveled over my body in a considering look.
“I will not bargain with that,” I spat out. “You’re despicable for even suggesting it.” I was desperate enough to do anything to save my friend. Even that. He’d be aware of how vile and disgusting he was for making the request.
His brows drew together. He scoffed. “Ah, so there is a bit of arrogance. The arrogance is warranted. You are beautiful. But I can assure you that I am not impressed by it, nor have I ever made a decision with a woman’s beauty in mind. I’m consistently surrounded by gorgeous women, and it is never a temptation for me. Any invitation to fuck is made by them. I make sure to reward them for the invitation. Make it my utmost priority to give them pleasure they’re unlikely to forget. But we aren’t here to discuss how desirable women find me or how well I fuck?—”
“Then you could have kept that monologue down to ‘I don’t want your body as the bargain.’”
He leaned forward, placing his lips close to my ear. “Kara, I don’t want your body as the bargain,” he whispered then took several steps back. “But what I do want, my little ashinwa, is your help in exchange for the time needed to save your friend.”
What the hell’s an ashinwa?It better not be another way of him calling medarling. I didn’t particularly like it in English.
His eyes darkened, offering me a glimpse of the person who took magic and souls. Despite appearing to be in his mid-thirties, his magical aura seemed older.
I kept my composure as he presented something that even the kinborn witches couldn’t. Time.
I’d make a bargain with death, to save my friend.
He closed his eyes for a moment. “I need an answer, ashinwa,” he prompted. “She’ll go throughintersoon. I suspect by tomorrow, but I can give you three days to save her.”
