Page 108 of The Devil and His Sparrow

He raised an indifferent brow. “So?”

“It’s breaking Iyla. She can’t lose her sister.” I met and held Dante’s gaze as my voice hardened. “I won’t let her lose Gemma.”

I’d been wracking my brain for some way to save Gemma ever since I saw the devastation it caused Iyla. Plus, I had to admit, the little girl had grown on me. We did bond over dragons. I’d considered trying more blood to save her but worried that would only make things worse. Then I realized the solution was obvious.

A Bargainer demon, one who made trades and deals. Their abilities were limitless, so long as they received a payment for their deals.

Gemma’s life saved in exchange for something else.

It sounded simple in theory.

But what most didn’t realize when going into a deal with a Bargainer demon was that they never asked for things easily given, even from their own kind—hell, especially from their own kind. It didn’t matter the cost, though. Not if it meant saving Iyla’s sister.

Now I understood why humans threw caution to the wind and made deals with demons.

Dante seemed to piece together what I was suggesting, and his dark eyes narrowed into thin slits. “Are you fucking insane? You know what she’s going to demand in exchange.”

I nodded. “I do, which is why I’ll go to her. She’ll ask for something I can easily give, whereas I don’t know what others would require. I won’t risk them demanding something impossible, not with so little time left.”

Dante leaned forward to brace his forearms on his legs, and desperation creased his brow tighter. “Easily given? Dude! You’ve lost it! Why would you do that? How could you even consider doing something so stupid for some human girl?”

“Because I love her.”

I’d never said the words out loud, and I didn’t even know I was going to say it until they were out there. Honestly, I’d never even let myself think them. Yet the moment they were given life, I realized nothing had ever been more true. That warm, bubbling emotion that had been swirling around inside me all this time made so much sense now.

Love.

I loved my sparrow.

Dante stared at me, completely speechless for once. His lips were open, but no words came out. He didn’t even blink. Just when I feared I’d officially broken him, he snarled, “We’re demons. We can’t love.”

“Says who?” I shot back, suddenly determined to defend what I knew to be true. “Look, all I know is that Iyla makes me better. She makes existing better. When she smiles, the sun shines down on me. When she walks into a room, I can breathe in a way I never could before. With her, I feel … at home. If what I feel for her isn’t love, I don’t think such a thing exists.”

He shook his head slowly. “So you’re really going to do it? You’re going to throw away everything?”

Despite the gravity of what I was about to do, I actually smiled. “For her? I’d do anything.”

“I don’t understand you,” Dante huffed disbelievingly.

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Maybe you will someday.”

Chapter 34

Iyla

RINGING FILLED MY EARS. I groaned and rolled over in bed, fumbling on my nightstand for my phone.

Huh. Bed. How did I get here?

I didn’t remember going to bed or falling asleep. I didn’t even know what time it was. One look at my phone had me shooting upright, though. It was the next morning, and Noya’s name flashed on my phone. The pit in my stomach instantly opened up, and I placed a shaking hand over my mouth to keep the bile from rising up my throat. If she was calling me, that could only mean …

“Hello?” I answered. My heartbeat pounded furiously in my ears, and I worried I wouldn’t be able to hear her.

“Iyla!” Noya’s frantic whisper filled the other end of the phone. “I’m not supposed to be calling you. I could definitely get fired for this, but you need to get down here. Gemma—She’s—”

“What?” I croaked. I bunched the comforter so tightly in my hand that my knuckles turned white. “She’s what?”

“She’s … alive.”

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