Page 57 of Song of the Dark Wood

Rowan blinked back tears as she looked away.

“What happened, Row?” Cade asked.

She shook her head. She was ashamed. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but somehow, she was the one suffering under the burden of shame.

Cade’s face grew serious. “No. Tell me he didn’t?—”

Rowan crossed her arms over her chest involuntarily.

“He did what he was going to last time?” Cade asked.

“He just beat me with a switch. It could have been worse.” Rowan tried to lock everything up, but it sprang free. “I need a bath. I need someone to make sure it’s not too bad.”

For the first time, Cade looked genuinely worried. “You should tell the Wolf.”

“Conor,” she corrected.

“Whatever his name is, you should tell him.”

“I’m not interested in being in his debt.”

“Row—Elder Garrett, he’s made a deal with a demon,” Cade said.

Rowan froze and stared at him. “Like the bedtime story you told Aeoife? I thought you said that doesn’t happen anymore.”

“I said there’s truth in every story. It happens less now than it used to. I’m not surprised that people aren’t quick to explain that their successes are from deals with demons instead of hard work,” Cade scoffed.

“How can humans make deals with demons if they can’t even see you?” Rowan asked.

“We can appear out of necessity. For me, it feels like a sucking sensation—a magnetism that draws me toward a certain person. A normal human can only see us if they are in need of a bargain that plays to our particular gifts,” Cade said.

Rowan stared at him in stunned confusion. “But no one else has ever spoken to you around me.”

Cade arched a brow. “Doesn’t mean they haven’t seen me.”

Rowan retraced all the times she’d been out around town with him, searching for proof that he was being honest. But she had no reason to doubt him and he had no reason to lie.

Her mouth went dry. “How do you know Elder Garrett has made a deal with a demon?”

Cade sighed and leaned against the wall. “I can smell it on him and see it in his aura. I don’t know who he made it with or their proclivity, but it means that he has power, beyond what he has in Ballybrine with the elders. Without knowing exactly what deal he made, I can’t say what it means, but if I had to guess, it must be some sort of persuasion. That would explain whyeven the elders don’t see through him and how he’s swiftly risen through their ranks.”

“How is that allowed? What does it mean for me?” Rowan asked. “How have you never told me about this?”

Cade shook his head. “It never came up. Demons love to make deals like that because it feeds them. They get a little crumb of the dealmaker’s soul—a touch of their life force. Something like that makes a demon more powerful while also giving the person a talent or gift they didn’t have before or enhancing an affinity they already have. Row, they work in so many different ways it would be impossible for me to tell exactly what it is.”

“Do you make deals like that?” Rowan asked.

“Not in a very long time,” Cade said grimly.

“Why?”

“Because it’s a gamble. I’m trading something, counting on the slice of soul giving me enough of a boost. Demons don’t make deals unless they know they come out on the winning end of that kind of gamble. Also, my envy is such that it’s hard to settle on one thing I want, which is kind of prohibitive to making deals. Whenever I think of something I’d like, I come up with something I want more. Anytime I get something I want, it instantly loses its luster. Being a demon isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” he said blandly.

Rowan stared at him. She tried not to look as horrified as she felt. They had rarely ever talked about the fact that he was a demon. It was the unspoken thing in every silence between them. It wasn’t so much that Cade hid things, as she didn’t bother to ask. She had no right to be mad at him for never sharing this particular inner working of his world.

Perhaps it was selfish of Rowan not to consider that the friend who’d spent years making her laugh and keeping her company might be someone else’s monster.

“So what do I do about Elder Garrett?” she asked.

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