Page 32 of The Unweaver

He slanted a wry look over his shoulder. “You think?”

“Well, since you seem to know everything already, why don’t you fill me in? Do you honestly think you’ll win, two against one? Against the Tribunal?”

“I already own this city and they’re fuckin’ idiots to believe otherwise. After the Great War distraction ended, the natives were bound to get restless again. I’ve had plans in motion for years, and dispensing with that truce gobshite will liberate opportunities. Now they’ve made the first move, I can claim self-defense should the Tribunal interrupt again. But first.” He half-turned towards her, his profile imbued with firelight. “Have we a deal?”

Her world had been tilted on its axis; she didn’t know where she stood anymore. With the upheaval of her loyalties, she was no longer Mother’s pet. But she was still on a leash.

An array of bleak futures unfolded in her mind. Mother making that one call and bringing Cora to heel like a disobedient dog, shredding her life with her sharp beak and Verek incinerating the pieces. Or willfully misleading herself with Bane, delaying the inevitable with his proffered illusion of sanctuary.

During parley, though, Bane had woven a fragile thread of trust. He hadn’t revealed her identity even when he stood to benefit. Maybe there was a vein of morality in his ruthlessness. He also hadn’t treated her with the revulsion she’d come to expect. Not yet at least.

The devil still waited at the crossroads. What strings were attached to his deal? Would they come to strangle her?

Cora slumped forward, head in hands. Perhaps life was a slow descent into the lower levels of hell, only to realize there was no bottom. From the nuns to Felix to Mother and now Malachy Bane, the reigning king of hell himself. Arrogance sheathed in burning ice.

After a long silence with only the crackle of flames, her gaze crept between her fingers to find him looking down at her with fierce intent. Her hands dropped. She couldn’t balk from the truth blazing in his eyes. The bridge to her past had burned and the only way was forward. Withhim.

Cora realized, with cold clarity, there were few things she wouldn’t do to get Teddy back. Time would tell just how Bane would use that against her. “What do you want from me?” she asked carefully.

He contemplated her from her old boots to her singed hair. “I want you to trust me.”

“Trust?” she scoffed. “Definitely not.”

“What do you want, Cora?”

The sound of her name rolling on his tongue made something flutter in her stomach. Something she quickly squashed.

She let out a ragged breath. “I want to get Teddy back and leave this wretched city. If that means partnering with you, then... so be it. Find my brother and I’ll work for you.” The words came easier than she’d expected. Defection was simple, now she was on the other side. Shearing off that festering umbilical cord at last was a near physical relief. “With some conditions.”

He crossed his arms, the fine fabric of his suit pulling tight over his broad shoulders and chest. “Go on.”

She straightened. “I have the right of refusal on jobs. I don’t have to kill or hurt anyone. And you pay me forty—a hundred—quid. Per job.”

“Is that all?”

The sum hadn’t made him flinch. A hundred pounds, Cora realized belatedly, was a pittance to him. She regretted not asking for more. Pushing her luck now was bound to backfire, though. “If we seal it with a Binding Agreement, yes. That’s the only way I’d trust you.”

She measured his reaction. Proposing a lifelong contract written in their blood, whose conditions and the painful consequences for violating them could only be severed through death, was a long shot. Binding Agreements were reserved for matters of vital importance—securing the succession of magical dynasties, not employment contracts.

Floating a lifetime commitment to the Realmwalker was also easy. If they didn’t get Teddy back, her lifetime wouldn’t be that long, anyways. But there was no way in hell Bane would agree to it.

“All right.”

Cora blinked, relieved and worried by his ready acceptance. “Really?”

He helped her to her feet and pulled out a knife. Polished metal reflected the hearth glow. “I have conditions of my own. You’ll divulge everything you know about Edwina, Verek, andtheir dealings. You won’t under any circumstances undermine me, my gang, or my businesses. You won’t defy my orders.”

She snorted. “If you want a doormat, find yourself a wife. We’re talking business.”

At his unamused expression, she glanced at his left hand to see if she’d just insulted Mrs. Bane. No ring. A memory stirred, of her flatmates gossiping over tabloids featuring a certain Irish gangster, photographed with a different gorgeous woman on his arm each time.

Oh god, her flatmates. Her flat and everything in it were lost to her now.

Negotiation ensued as she made her deal with the devil. Bane would help her find Teddy and give Cora his full protection and resources, within reason. In return, she would cooperate with his orders to the fullest extent possible and work for Malachy Bane until her dying breath. No hidden clause could be more fearful than that fact.

Without breaking skin, he traced the knife over her palm, along her lifeline. His gaze captured hers. “Have we a deal?”

She wasn’t certain if it was madness or inevitability that led her to be standing here. Their gazes held in a moment that was its own eternity.

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