Page 79 of A Strange Hymn

The thought of a week here, surrounded by these fairies, is suddenly terribly daunting.

On the edge of the dance floor, a thick shroud of darkness cuts through the brightly clad fae, and right at the center of it is the Bargainer. He strides toward me, the night clinging to him like a cloak.

I head over to him, noticing that for once this evening, he’s free of an audience.

His eyes are pinned to someone in the crowd. “That little fool is right,” Des says when he reaches me. “You are not ordinary.”

“You were listening to my conversation?” One day I’m going to figure out just how he comes by his secrets. There’s no way Des could’ve just overheard what the Green Man said to me.

“Are you surprised?” he asks, turning my question into one of his own.

I shrug. Now that he’s here, his presence like a drug, I find I don’t really care about whether he was snooping or the fact that he might’ve left his fan club just to make sure another dude wasn’t poaching me.

I drape my arms around his neck. Suddenly, I understand what’s gotten into everyone else. It’s the smell of the smoky bonfires, the thrum of the music, the tingle of the alcohol in my veins. It’s all coaxing me to fall into this night and this man. To give everything to magic, if only for a single evening.

He cups my cheeks, and I see him drinking in my expression. I imagine I must now look like all the other revelers—flushed cheeks, dilated eyes, easy smile.

Making some decision, he kisses me hard. He tastes like fairy wine and dirty thoughts.

“Dance with me,” I say when our mouths part.

His thumb strokes my cheek. “I don’t want to dance with you.” The pitch of his voice hits me right in my core.

He doesn’t want to dance, but his pale smoky eyes want something else, something that’s waking up my siren. My eyes move to the edge of the clearing, where fairies have been disappearing and reappearing all night.

He pulls me in tighter. “I would make it worth your while…” he whispers, knowing where my thoughts are.

I could just give in. I mean, why not?

But I shouldn’t. Right?

His hand moves to my wrist. “Or I could simply make the decision easier.”

My breath catches as Des holds my wrist between us, the black beads seeming to suck in the light around us.

“Truth or dare, cherub.”

If I choose truth, the two of us will have a little heart-to-heart, and then we’ll go back to dancing and drinking. But if I don’t…

My gaze moves up his imposing frame to that pretty, hardened face of his.

“Dare.”

His hand squeezes my wrist tighter for a moment as a slow devious smile spreads across his face. “So be it.” His hand slips down to my palm, his magic smoothing along my skin like a thousand light caresses.

The Bargainer warned me about this before I bought my first favor off him. That with a siren, he wouldn’t just ask for secrets.

There’d be sex too.

Only then, he’d been saying that to scare me off. But now…being mates, well, sex often comes hand in hand with love. And none of this feels like I’m paying back favors, but more like Des has found a loophole in his magic that feeds my siren and brings me so much pleasure.

Des pulls us toward the dark woods that border the clearing, his silver eyes smoldering.

I feel the sly looks of other fairies as we slip away, and I can’t help the rising heat in my cheeks. They all know what we’re about to do.

We leave the music and the dancing behind us, the forest eerily silent.

“What are you thinking?” Des asks, his voice smooth like scotch.

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