Page 56 of Bloody Bargain
My mouth fell open. “I thought he was a void fiend or something.”
“You’re not wrong exactly. Theaufused to worship them. Things changed when the veil was lifted.”
“Worship, as in a god? I stabbed agodwith a fork?”
D’abel laughed, getting to his feet. He stretched, twirling his tail through the grass like a sidewinder. “Yes, mine Tessa. You stabbed a god with a fork.”
I carded my fingers through my hair with round, anxious eyes. “Are they going to smite me?”
My b’adruokh’s guffaw scared the distant birds floating in the channel. He cupped his hands behind his head with a brilliant smile that displayed his fangs with menacing joy.
“Sweet Tessa, no. They are more of a visiting nuisance now. Irrelevant, prayerless. Such attention from a mortal was probably the highlight of their century.”
Goosebumps rose across my arms and chest, not from the wet chill, but that D’abel believed it was true. Hadn’t the Greeks taught us that the attention of a god was rarely a story that ended well?
D’abel glanced at the shore, taking sinuous steps back towards the cliff’s edge. His tail slipped off the grassy precipice. “But I must search for them. The gift they hold for you is powerful. It will serve you well tonight.”
“What is it?”
“S’ba, my dagger.” He glanced at the kitchen knife sitting atop a pile of my clothes nearby. “I trust it much more with your life than the cheap ones that chip and turn dull.”
I snatched my shirt from the pile and started dressing with excitement. D’abel’s own dagger? I couldn’t imagine what sort of magic that blade contained. “Let’s go, then.”
“They will not come for you during the day,” he said as I thrust my legs into my underwear and pants together. “Your spirit has grown too much. They cannot distinguish us from each other, so they will wait until night.”
I paused, buttoning my fly. A flash of frustration lit my eyes. “You’re leaving me here?”
He nodded down to Dafydd, fiddling with his empty pack of cigarettes as he stared out at the empty beach. “If one of us doesn’t stay, he’ll be consumed.”
D’abel simply stated the fact, then waited for me to choose. Would I sacrifice Dafydd to search for the god Gamil, or trust him? It wasn’t even a question. I pulled my hair out of my collar and gave him a curt nod.
“You’re right. Go.”
D’abel pulled me into his orbit by the elbow, slow and tender. My toes pressed down on his, but neither of us moved away. He bumped his face against my forehead, ear, cheek, and chin, and I took in a deep, silent breath against his silvery hair.
“I will be back soon. Before the sunset.”
I nodded. Perhaps I would miss him because my throat felt thick and I couldn’t trust myself to speak. It would give away my greedy thoughts.
You better.
I’ll be waiting.
Hug me before you go.
Don’t go at all.
My cheeks heated and I wondered if my blush was ruddy and dark from D’abel’s blood in my veins.
“Tell me, wife,” he murmured in my ear. “Does pike sound like a romantic last supper? Flounder? Haddock? I should like to bring home my beloved’s first real meal in an age.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “You’re a helpless romantic.”
“Yes. My brother always said so.”
D’abel cupped my jaw with both hands and kissed me.
His lips were pliant as he pinched my lower lip. I opened my mouth to his tongue, conflicted at the heat that spilled through me. The thunderous echo of my heart through my veins. He was so gentle that my fingers trembled, frozen at my sides.
