Page 23 of Sick Bargain

“I can,” he declares. “And I will.”

I gulp, but it turns into a hiss when the needles dig so deep they hit my bone. “Do all bargains come with ownership and sex?” I’ve never heard that before, but… what do I know about Vile secrets?

“No. But yours does.” He glances at my eyes. “You can’t interfere with Vile business, and you have no fucking say over what I do or don’t do. When I want you with me on jobs, you’ll be there. When I don’t, you’ll be under the care of my brothers or locked in my room. When you work, you’ll keep your fucking hands off Cain Carson.” He trembles, probably too many Csin my best friend’s name. “Actually, you’ll keep your hands off everyone. If I hear you touch someone or they touch you, I’ll cut parts of them off until you get the hint. Got it?”

Jesus. I’m too far gone now anyway. “Fine.” Not like I touch many people anyway. “Wait. What if my mom wants to hug me or something?”

He dips the gun and tilts his head at me. “No touching unless I give permission.”

“My god, you’re fucking crazy.” I squirm under the gun, but it only digs in deeper. “What else?”

“There is no timeline on our deal. Until I free you, you’re mine. Even after your conditions have been met and the three names on your list are taken care of. Mine. Agree.”

Until he kills me, yeah. “Fine.”

“My true name will never be revealed. You’ll keep it a secret until the day you die. If we’re in public together and I’m unmasked, you’ll call me by my birth name. If we’re in public together and I’m masked, you’ll call me Krypt. But that won’t happen. If I’m with you while I’m masked, you’ll also be masked. Got it?”

“Fine.”

“The same rules apply to anyone else’s identity you learn in Vile House. Trust me, if you reveal Vile House secrets, there are so many ways I can ruin you without killing you.”

I nod, not doubting that. Tears leak harder now, soaking my cheeks and dripping onto the tattoo he’s giving me. Blood drips down my chest, mixing with black ink.

“I might be crazy, Remiel, but good luck enticing me into killing you. I’m very patient,” he says. “Everything you know, fucking everything, is about to change. Are you ready?”

I don’t know what that means, but I nod regardless. I’m ready. Because I don’t plan to live through this. Hewillmurder me, and when he does, the curse on my family will lift and Sorenwill carry on the family name in a new light. No more suicidal Sauder men.

He sets down the tattoo gun, washes my skin, and presses clear plastic to my new tattoo, taping it in place. Then he pulls a dagger from the band of his pants, slices the tips of two fingers open, and smears his blood across my face and lips. I don’t even cringe.

“Bargain struck?” his jittery voice asks.

“Bargain met,” I agree.

“Lick your lips,” he demands. When I do, his other hand smacks the underside of my chin, making me bite my tongue so hard it bleeds.

I don’t get time to wince. His fingers mix our blood, pushing it into my mouth and against my tastebuds. When he pulls them free and pushes them under his mask to suck the blood off, my hips move and the copper tang ofusclouds my mind.

“Welcome to Vile House, Remiel Sauder.” He frees my hands and places them on the edge of his mask.

There’s no going back now. I rip it free.

10

SHOW ME WHAT’S MINE

KRYPT

It’s notmy identity that shocks him because he already knows. It’s the black eye and busted cheekbone that makes him gasp. It’s my eyes and what lives within them. When my mask falls to my bedroom floor, Remiel’s gaze doesn’t drop with it. It stays on mine, maintaining eye contact despite how hard it is for most people to hold eye contact with me.

Oh… wow. His eye contact…

When the beasts within me surge to the pale silver of my irises, his throat rolls with a swallow and his fingertips touch my eyelids, forcing them closed.

I wait a single heartbeat, willing away my monsters, before opening them again. Remiel’s breath hitches, and then he looks at my injuries. I didn’t have them the last time I saw him in his music shop, but I got them shortly after. Minutes after exiting through the front door.

Because of Soren.

Because our worlds are so woven together that Remiel has no idea what kind of bargain he’s struck with me. Everything he knows is about to change, and I’ll be the conductor of his new life.

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