Page 65 of Architecti
“Then, how did you come to be here?”
He folds his arms, staring down at me.An impressive feat given I’m tall for a woman.“Because you summoned me.Keep up, I’m a busy devil.What is it you seek?”
This is really happening.I’m going to be able to save Aurelia.
“My girlfriend.She’s sick…”
“So take her to the doctor,” he drawls, his voice deep and rumbling in a way that would make even straight men reconsider their sexuality.
“Terminally sick.I want you to save her.”
He narrows his eyes at me.“It costs a soul to save a soul.”
“I know.”I researched enough to know the price.But I also know you can negotiate.
“Give me fifty years with her.”
He throws his head back and laughs, a great booming sound that billows around the cemetery.
“I’ll give you two.”
I read that deals like this go one of two ways.Either you successfully charm them enough they are open to negotiating, or they get bored and leave.I figured to grab his attention I’d have to go big.I’m never going to have a full life, not with an ask this big, but I could get some time with her.
“Forty,” I bark back.
That wipes the smile off his face, he turns to leave.Okay, shit, I was too bold.
“Twenty-five,” I offer.
“Five,” he counters.
“Ten.Final offer.”It’s a brash move from me, but I’m desperate and he knows that, or he wouldn’t have come.And devils do like their deals.
He spins to face me, his face as glimmering and dark as a starry sky.
The longer I stare upon him the colder my body grows.It’s the first time I’m truly afraid.My heart races so fast my chest hurts.I can’t breathe.
He leans down into my face, brandishing a crooked smile at me.
“Ten years, one soul for another.And no comebacks.”
He holds his hand out.
“That easy?”I breathe, my words barely audible.
“That easy,Midnight.”
“I didn’t tell you my name.”
“You already gave me your soul…”
I glance down, our hands clasped.The worddeala whisper and an echo in the air.
Entropy moths materialise, fluttering around me, their wings brushing my hair and cheeks and arms.They’re soft, sweet, oddly beautiful despite their awful meaning.
I always thought I was fated for more.But is there any greater life than one lived in service of another.And I love Aurelia enough to sacrifice everything for her.
I thought it would be a momentous occasion.Thought we’d sign in blood.That there would be a thunderclap or a rift in reality.
