Page 54 of Bargains with Benefits
He considered it and shook his head. “She would know better than I.”
She seemed on the right track with her feet in the water. “Is there any limit to what the requirement could be?” I asked.
Sympathy covered Ambrose’s features. “Not really. Usually, it has some significance to the wielder so that they can figure it out. The magic inside of us wants to be wielded. It wants to be at peace with its wielder. The requirements would be such that they wouldn’t tax the fae to complete them.”
I scratched my jaw in thought even as he changed the subject.
“Have you made any more progress on your research into Darius Pierce?”
We were approaching the inn, about to break through the tree cover.
“Not much,” I said. “I’ve been hesitant to do anything else without Luna. I don’t want to feel like I’m sneaking behind her back to investigate her family.”
Ambrose laughed. “You’ve got it bad.”
I swatted at him, even though I knew it was true. “Didn’t she say she wanted to know?” he pressed.
“Yes,” I sighed. “I just don’t know if she meant it. We’ll have to talk about it soon since we’re going to have a meal there next week. She said she’d help me sneak into his office while we were there. I don’t know what we’ll do if we find anything that says he’s bribing the governor.”
“You’ll have to trust she knows what she’s doing.” He patted my shoulder sympathetically. “Are you so sure you’ll find something?”
“I have no idea. I hope he isn’t doing this, especially since he wants to make amends with Luna, but…”
“But you know what it’s like to have parents obsessed with court tradition?”
I hung my head as we entered the inn. “That I do.”
25
Luna
We’d learned a lot about whatdidn’tcall my magic yesterday but had no luck with anything that did. I admired Evelyn and Ambrose’s dedication to their extensive process. They had a list of tests, and for each one we completed, Ambrose recorded the outcome.
They were all listed as failures.
Vincent was quiet but reassuring. I liked that about him. It was almost dark when we finally finished the experiments, and Vincent walked me back through the woods to my cottage. Something in my heart warmed at his consideration. That same something inside me wanted to reach for him, wanted to entwine our fingers as we walked, and maybe not let go. He’d squeezed my arm before he left, saying we’d figure it out and that he’d see me in a few days for the meal with Darius.
I wanted him to stay, but my mouth wouldn’t open to say the words. His wind wrapped around my arm in its ownfarewell as he walked back through the trees until they hid him from sight.
It was for the best. Probably.
Even as I thought that, days later, my mind still wondered why. Yes, he’d been an ass when we first met and then made the stupid bargain that forced me to confront Darius. I wasn’t exactly innocent in our meeting. Magically fueled or not, I’d thrown a drink at him. Then I hadn’t hesitated to ask him for a favor once I’d found out who he was.
I wanted to believe we could be more than our first meeting.
He’d tried to get out of our bargain. I knew that’s what he wanted, but no matter how much our feelings for each other might have changed, we still wanted the outcomes we’d bargained for. I still wanted to save the inn. He still wanted to write a piece that wasn’t a recommendation. And some part of me wanted to know if what Darius was accused of was real. Now that I’d heard the accusation and Vincent’s overheard conversation, I needed to discover if it was true. Forging some new relationship with him would mean nothing if he secretly tried to deny half-fae a right to learn magic.
I’d complicated matters by being so honest with Darius. It appeared he didn’t think much of Vincent from his initial reaction. I chalked that up to court politics. The Norden and Osten Families were still getting used to their leaders’ friendship. It was understandable after hundreds of years of animosity.
Two outfits lay across my bed. Vincent would be here soon, and I didn’t know what to wear. The first, a plain black dress, was one of the outfits Vincent and I had purchased for my new fae look. Whenever I left Cliff House property, I’d been trying to stick to the new look we’d come up with so that if—when—the inn was featured in Vincent’s column, readers would remember me as a respectable fae from a respectable family.
The second outfit was louder, a gold skirt and a white off-the-shoulder blouse.
I should stick with the plan. The black dress is fine.
My gaze flicked between the two outfits, and my heart rate sped up as I reached for the fae dress. No, that didn’t feel right. This was my first time entering Pierce House. I wanted to do it as myself. If Darius was genuinely going to accept me, I wanted him to accept me for who I was, not the front Vincent and I had constructed for his column.
The black dress went back into the closet. Moments later, as I put the finishing touches on my coronet braid, leaving the peeks of silver out and twisting them around my face, Vincent knocked at the door.
