I would not wait for my twin to give me her version of the truth when I saw her in the morning. I wanted to gather it myself. Starting now. I looked Wrath over. Once, he’d told me to study my enemies closely. To look for any sign of the truth in their mannerisms. He wasn’t speaking. And it was unusual.
“Judging by your silence I imagine this is the curse at play again. We’re skirting around things it does not want me to learn.” A gleam of approval entered his gaze. Gone in the next instant. “If I accept the marriage bond, I have the strangest feeling some of that will change. The curse may not fully break that way, but I believe there are some bonds more powerful than dark magic. And there is nothing more dangerous than love, is there? People fight for it. They die for it. They commit acts of war and treason and all manner of sin in its name.”
I would know. I’d been willing to do dreadful things to avenge my twin.
Something resembling worry flashed in his eyes. “Feelings are not facts.”
“Interesting.”
My mouth curved seductively. Wrath had just lied. In the closest way he could.
Curse be damned, he still wanted me to wield my power of choice. To accept our bond without outside forces interfering in my free will. The prince of bargains was forfeiting a winning hand. And he was doing it for me. Always for me.
“Tell me about our amulets, your wings. I want to know why Vittoria and I really wore them. Was it to keep our power on a leash, or was it as my family claimed: a way to hide them from you?”
“I have no proof, but I believe both are true. I’ve also been looking into the possibility that they may have been spelled to ensure you forget certain things.”
“You had me wear them in the Crescent Shallows to test that.” I inhaled as he nodded in confirmation. At least his expression was one of guilt.
“I’d hoped the truth properties of the shallows would remove any blocks on your mind. I did not anticipate the extreme reaction it caused.”
“Do they really lock the gates of Hell?”
“Yes.”
Internally I breathed a sigh of relief. At least not everything I’d been told was a lie.
“I have one final question for now, your highness.” I placed my hand on his chest, feeling the steady thumping beneath my touch. His attention dropped to that tiny connection before he dragged it back to mine. “Pretend there’s no curse. No magical betrothal. Or romantic urges created by our bond. Would you choose me? To reign beside you. To be your queen. Your friend. Your confidant. Your lover.”
“Emilia…”
“You tricked me into a blood bargain with you before I crossed into the underworld. Do you recall what you said?” I swore his heart stuttered a beat before furiously picking up its pace. “You told me to never make a bargain with the devil. ‘What’s his is his.’”
“It was a figure of speech. A blood bargain does not equate possession.”
“Perhaps not technically.” My hand fell away and I stepped back. “You did it as another means of protecting me. In case I didn’t want to accept our bond. You claimed no other prince of Hell would be stupid enough to challenge you. It was your secret way of offering me a way out of any contract with another demon House. The blood pact I made with Pride included. Am I wrong?”
“No.”
“Don’t answer now, but I want to know if what you said then stands.”
“You’ll have to be more specific. I said a great many things.”
“If I am still yours.”
He stilled. My words hung between us, heavy and lingering. Like his gaze.
“If I am, I would tell you that you are mine. That I am choosing you as my husband. There is no one I’d rather confront my demons with, no soul I’d travel through Hell with. And no one else I want standing beside me when I go to the Shifting Isles tomorrow.”
He was quiet for a long moment, seeming to gauge my sincerity and weigh it against his own feelings. “And if I don’t require time to think it over?”
Thank the goddess.
I exhaled quietly and moved from the balcony into his bedchamber, tugging the strings of my tunic loose as I passed by him. I glanced over my shoulder, noting with satisfaction the desire darkening his gaze as I slipped the shirt from my body and let it drop to the floor.
“Then I suggest coming to bed, your majesty.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a book during a global pandemic was quite a challenge, and I am immensely thankful for the following people who cheered me (and this story!) on.
Stephanie Garber—I am forever grateful to the hours of brainstorming and talking through scenes. But even more than that, I am so thankful for our friendship outside of publishing.
Anissa de Gomery—our friendship and love of books and food and all things romance is the best, just like YOU.
Isabel Iba?ez—I am so happy I get to call you a dear friend. Thank you for reading early and giving stellar notes and for literally driving the extra mile(s) to come visit me with everyone. (Shout out to our lunch crew: Kristin Dwyer, Adrienne Young, Stephanie Garber, and my sister Kelli!) To my family—I love and appreciate you beyond measure. Special thanks to my sister Kelli (Dogwood Lane Boutique) for reading early and whose store continues to inspire so many details in my books.
Barbara Poelle, my agent, friend, and forever champion, cheers to a DECADE of being partners in publishing crime.
To my teams at IGLA, Baror International, and Grandview—Maggie Kane, Irene Goodman, Heather Baror-Shapiro, and Sean Berard, thank you a million times over for all that you do.