Page 64 of A Dark and Lovely Devastation

I rose, hands balled. “What the hell are you talking about? I fulfilled our bargain.”

“What? That? I said you would pay in somethingrare. Do you know how often I have demons groveling at my feet?” He waved a hand dismissively. “What I want in payment is for you to offer me a small vial of your blood.”

A wariness stole over me. “Why?”

His lip curled. “That is not for you to ask. Offer your blood to me. Now.”

“If I have to offer it to you, then you can’t take it. So you will tell me why you want it.”

He looked ready to shred me, but his unflappability returned in an instant. “Faerie blood is unique to them. It holds the magic that lives inside you.”

“Are you saying that you can access my power to see the future with my blood?”

He shrugged, a clever gleam in his eyes. “Among other things.”

That didn’t sound good. What if Ornan used my ability to see what I had seen? But it wasn’t just that. Everything I read on demons warned of their connection to blood. That the very scent of it sent them into a ravenous hungry rage.

One I may not survive.

“No.”

“You cannot deny me, little faerie queen,” he hissed.

“If I must offer, it seems like I can deny you.”

“What of your last token? I know you long to use it. I will accept no new deal until you satisfy the demands of this bargain.”

“True. But I’m going to have to give this some more thought.” And more understanding of all that my blood might do for him, or a way to block him from using it to see my future. Yes, I definitely needed to study more. “Bye, Ornan.” I picked up the book containing the passage about demons and moved past him.

He suddenly appeared from the shadows directly in front of me, snarling.

“Youdarebreak a bargain with a demon?” He bared his teeth at me, a horrible anger distorting his features. Changing him into a monster, ready to rip me apart. “I demand you give me your blood.”

I’d had enough of this arrogant bastard. At this point, I’d deny him out of spite. “Return in two days, Ornan, and you’ll have my answer.”

“Give me your blood. Now!”

I bared my teeth at him in return, my heart pounding, the whispers starting. “No.”

Let me take over, Badb said.I can protect you.

I have this handled, I thought.

He leaned forward, slamming a hand into the bookshelf behind me. “Do you know what I can do? I can boil a creature’s blood, burn them from the inside out until they are nothing more than a hollow shell.”

Let me out. Badb became more insistent.

I said I got this.I glared into his enraged face.“Threatening me will not make this go any faster.”

Macha, Badb snarled and suddenly I was being attacked from the inside by both my sisters. The whispers surged, and I fell backward, into the bookshelf, gripping my head with a moan.

Ornan blinked.

I fought against them, refusing to let them take over, and for a moment I almost won, but then they rebounded and a gasp ripped out of me. I could no longer hold out against them.

Chapter 22

Badbleanedagainstthebookshelf, exhausted. She disliked how strong Morrigan was getting, that it took two of them to take her down, and leaving Badb physically weak from the encounter. The pathetic faerie queen was supposed to be broken, not putting up fights.

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