Page 15 of Bargains with Benefits
You sure you’re up for the challenge?Darius’s words echoed in my mind.
I had to try.
“Well,” I started again. Setting down my mug on the end table, I lifted my hands. “I can see you appreciate the beauty of this place. I need your help to save it.”
Vincent looked around the room, his gaze cautious. “Save it? What’s wrong with it?”
“It has no guests,” I clarified.
His eyes narrowed. “I need more information. I thought you worked at the tavern.”
I forced a smile. This was going better than I’d hoped. “I work at the tavern, but I’ve also been groundskeeper here since moving to the city. I was recently promoted to manager. As you can see”—I waved my hands around us—“it’s quite empty. Even with the influx of travelers to Sandrin, no one has come to inquire about vacancy.”
His head snapped up. “No one?”
I shook my head. He was trying hard not to look interested. His gaze roamed the room again, carefully avoiding mine. It landed on the water outside the window. “I can’t believe that, with this view.”
“I didn’t want to believe it either, but it’s true. The manager quit. He couldn’t take the failure.” I wasn’t sure how to proceed. Yesterday, as part of my apology, I’d told him it was my father I was angry at, not him, but it seemed too much to explain our history and what saving this inn would mean to me.
Vincent seemed to put some pieces together as his careful gaze slowly met mine. The warmth was back. “This is your father’s property,” he said cautiously.
“Yes.”
He appeared to understand what that meant. He couldn’t know the details, but he apparently remembered the strain I’d mentioned between Darius and me. More than that, he wasn’t shutting me down. I swallowed thickly and reminded myself of my promise to be honest with him if I asked for this favor. “He knows I’ve been interested in running it for years.” I forced the words out. “If I can get it filled by Long Night, he’ll keep me as manager. If not, he’ll close and sell it.”
Vincent’s gaze was calculating. He smiled in a way that didn’t quite reach his eyes as he spoke. Like what he was about to say was a joke at his expense, and he wanted to beat me tothe punchline. “You know who I am,” he offered. “And you want me to recommend this place.”
I considered Daisy’s words from last night—that he didn’t take suggestions. It couldn’t be this easy, could it? Daisy knew him. She wouldn’t have tried to scare me away. His face was masked of any emotion. He appeared carved from stone, for all I could read. Maybe more telling, his wind hadn’t appeared since he’d entered the inn. “Yes…” I said slowly, drawing it out.
The sharp lines of his face were momentarily drenched with disappointment. Then, his expression quickly morphed back to calculating. At least he hadn’t already declined. I readied to fill the growing silence, but he spoke again.
“I need something from you, too. Maybe we can strike a bargain.”
In my nerves surrounding my request, I’d forgotten he wanted to discuss a topic of his own. Now, he made it clear he wanted something of me as I did him. Given my request, I couldn’t exactly be upset about that. My heartbeat spiked as he let the silence hang between us. His appraising gaze had words tumbling from my lips. “What do you need from me?”
My mind roamed through the possibilities and came up with none. He knew nothing about me. What skills would I have that he required?
Then I remembered how he’d found me. Seraphina had called my name. Warning bells started ringing in my mind. He was old fae. He knew my name. The only piece of information important to him would be…my surname.
My fears were confirmed when he finally said, “I need your help on an article investigating your father.”
8
Vincent
Her already pale face went white as a sheet at the mention of her father. Something uncomfortable churned in my stomach at the sight.She wanted to use me first, I reminded myself. My wind raged at the assertion, but it didn’t have a leg to stand on. She’d known my name when I showed up today, and had planned to ask me a favor. I’d thought she was different, but I’d been wrong. She was like the rest, only interested in my ability to recommend.
It bothered me more than I cared to dwell on.
I shoved down the useless emotions that bubbled in my throat.She’ll get her recommendation—it’s what she wanted. This way, at least, we’re both getting something out of it.I swallowed another sip of now lukewarm tea. Maybe if I told myself this enough times, I’d feel better about it.
“What’s the story?” Her voice was flat, lifeless. Whatever part of her had graced me with welcomingchatter and made me tea in an attempt to salvage our disastrous first meeting was gone. Part of me wanted it back.
Pushing my hand through my hair, I leaned forward. Asking for more information suggested she was considering my bargain, no matter how much pain was on her face.
You put it there.My wind surged violently in my chest, yet it didn’t try to break free. It seemed to sense things weren’t quite settled here.No, Darius put it there,I reminded myself. This was part of why we’d come. If she looked this hurt at the mention of her father, she deserved to know what I knew. She deserved to determine for herself whether he was involved.
“You know about the proposal for a magic school in Sandrin?” I asked. “Not limited to only those traditionally educated by the fae courts?”
