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“Santiago will help us capture the demon. I will keep it,” Cain announced.
Santiago groaned. “Madman. You don’t keep a demon, a demon keeps you. Send it back to the hell it came from, or you are begging for it to break free.”
Cain waved this warning off, drinking more of the wine. I could go for another sip myself. “I’m not worried about it,” he said. “And neither should you be.”
Santiago’s lip curled. “You have the freedom not to worry because other people do it for you.”
This was greeted with a serious stare from Cain. “If you knew what worried me, Santiago, you wouldn’t waste fear on a demon either.”
That slow, gnawing unease came over me again when I recalled the way Cain had looked when I saw him at The Dungeon. Fear chewed at my stomach, and I inched closer to Wilder to feed off the comfort he offered. Even wound up and full of rage, he could set me at ease.
I stood a couple inches in front of him but reached back and clutched his hand, squeezing it hard. He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles, and that was all it took to bring me back to myself.
“While you two squabble, there are girls who might be dying. If this is going to cost me, that’s fine. Tell me what you want, and let’s get this fucking show on the road.”
Cain and Santiago both stared at me like I’d been body swapped with someone worth paying attention to.
Good.
I pointed at Santiago with the same finger he had so recently sucked on. “You want something from me. What is it?”
“I want to taste your power.”
Oh, boy, maybe I should have tried the shallow end first before jumping off the highest platform. “Y-you… Excuse me?”
Wilder’s grip on my hand tightened until it was almost painful. I wasn’t sure if it was his anger at Santiago or if he was just trying to hold on to me. Either way I didn’t pull free. The pain kept me grounded.
“You have unbelievable potential inside you, Genie. Magic so pure I don’t think you even know it’s there. It’s something raw and primal, and I want to taste it.” His expression was earnest and full of excitement and longing, and I was deeply uneasy about the way it made me feel in parts of my body that weren’t controlled by logic or intelligence.
“Whatever that means,” I said cautiously.
“It wouldn’t be painful.”
Yeah, that’s really not what I was worried about.
“Fine, whatever. Catch the demon, free the girls, and you can taste my power.”
“Genie,” Wilder said in a voice not quite hushed enough to qualify as a whisper.
I faced him and placed one hand on each of his cheeks, tracing his stubble with my fingernail. “I can’t let those girls die, Wilder. I can’t leave them there. And we can’t fight that thing without help. Help comes with a cost.”
He stared at me, his expression hard but with genuine pain in his eyes. “Don’t do this.”
“It’s just magic.” I tried to smile, but I doubted it was believable. “Magic isn’t real life. This.” I placed one hand on his chest, then took his and covered mine with it. “This is real, okay? My power isn’t me. This is the cost, nothing more.”
Man, what a lie. But it was a kind lie. I doubted I could make Wilder understand how deep the magic went for a natural witch, and how magic was my real life, day in and day out, not a switch I could turn on and off. But I wasn’t lying when I told him what we had was more important to me than anything Santiago wanted, and that was the part I needed him to believe.
He gritted his teeth but finally nodded.
Now I had to hope tasting my power was a completely metaphysical process. Santiago and I could work out the finer points later.
I thought of what was in the mortar and pestle and decided it was in my best interest not to explain to Wilder what kind of magic Santiago seemed to prefer.
“All right.” I turned to face the other men again. “You get your magical amuse-bouche. Now you.” I jerked my chin towards Cain. “You’ve set your price for the Deerling ordeal. What do you want for this?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“I did ask. Several times.”
