Kal turned to her, seemingly shaken that the demon knew his full name, and she shrugged.
“Well?” Piscary prompted.
Kal looked at Ulbrine, his disgust obvious. “I will marry Dr. Felecia Cambri,” he said, voice low and without inflection. “I will make what the vampires need, but I will set the price.”
Ulbrine sighed, a pleased, relieved smile blossoming over him. Trisk hated the glint in his eye. He knew he’d won again, and it disgusted her that he’d played them all.
“But I’m giving Ulbrine to Algaliarept anyway,” Kal said, shoving the unaware man at the demon. Bellowing in anger, Ulbrine hit the circle holding Algaliarept, then stumbled when Kal dissolved it, too. Algaliarept beamed down at Ulbrine. White-faced, Ulbrine looked up, realizing there was nothing between him and the demon, nothing at all.
“No . . .” Trisk whispered as Ulbrine shrieked. He backpedaled, too late as Algaliarept reached an arm out and jerked him forward.
“Fool,” Algaliarept said as he stepped over the drawn line, clearly intending to take Kal as well.
“Hold!” Kal said, self-preservation making him back up a step. He hit the inside of his circle. It fell, but the one Trisk and Quen had drawn held firm. Red spotted his cheeks as he faced Algaliarept, but he pulled himself forward, alone with nothing but his words to keep himself free. “Take me, and you will have sundered our bargain. You promised my name on her research, and for that, I need to be alive and in reality to marry her.”
Algaliarept said nothing. Then he snickered, the low chuckle rising to a belly laugh and finally a full-blown howl of amusement. Ulbrine began shrieking as the two of them dissolved, vanishing until even the demon’s laugh died.
With a thought, Trisk sundered her hold on the outer circle. The name on her research would be Kalamack, but since she would be married to the bitter sod, it would still adhere to the earlier bargain she’d made with Algaliarept. Son of a bitch, I hate being a foregone conclusion.
Daniel sighed, sitting down right there on the pavement. “I’m starting to miss my lab,” he said as he took off his shoe and shook out a pebble. “That’s better,” he said as he put it back on. “I’ve had that in my shoe since Chicago.”
Kal edged out of the defunct circle, chin high as he took in the surrounding vampires. His eyes landed on Trisk, then dropped to her flat middle. She was shaking, and she felt more alone than she ever had when Quen’s hand slipped from her, and, head down, he rocked away to make room at her side for Kal.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she accused Kal as he stopped four feet away from her. “You gave a person to a demon. In front of witnesses. Are you crazy?”
Kal gave Piscary a respectful nod, then turned to Trisk. Slowly his expression shifted to one of odd vulnerability. “He betrayed me twice,” he said, voice flat. “Will you do the same?”
She took a breath to protest, then exhaled, knowing that on this, all things would turn. She looked at him, seeing past the stained tie, limp hair, and fatigue that hung on him like a badly cut suit, recognizing the courage it had taken to stand before a demon with no protection other than the trust in a pact made between unequals. She saw the strength in him as he refused to be anything other than a peer to Piscary. She remembered the hard promise in his eyes, and knew he would do anything to protect what was important to him. And suddenly, she wanted to be on the right side of the line—even if she never liked him. “No, I won’t betray you,” she said.
He considered her for a moment in the last glow of the bonfire. “I can live with that,” he said suddenly, and she jumped, startled. “I need three days to get my grandmother’s ring.”
Oh God. She was going to marry him. “Fine,” she said, hoping she was matching his cool, calm tone. “It will take that long to convince my father I’m not insane.”
A smile flickered at the edges of his mouth, softening his eyes as he looked at her middle again—and then it was gone.
She was never leaving Cincinnati again. She would make it her garden.
Suddenly her throat closed, and she turned away before Kal could see her face twist up as she forced herself not to cry. Quen had his back to her. Daniel . . . Daniel just looked lost, left alone as the vampires around them began to disperse.
“Piscary? I need access to a lab in the meantime,” Kal was saying, and she wiped the hint of tears away. “A good one. That’s short-term. I will also need several low-interest loans to cover payroll and the initial setup for manufacturing. Can I count on you?”