Page 7 of A Deal For a Kiss

He looks into my eyes, then takes my wrist in his other hand. He lifts it into the light, turning it at different angles until the scar shows clearly and neither of us can ignore it.

“And what is this?” the demon asks, as if we’re in a debate that he intends to win.

I jerk my wrist out of his grasp and press it tight to my chest, angling myself away from him.

“No.” I back up a few steps. “That’s none of your business, and I’m?—”

“You already belong to me.”

I open my mouth to sayno,and my back hits a wall.

The wall shouldn’t be there. Nothing comes from my lips but a gasp, and then I’m falling into the dark.

CARLISLE

Nightshade kept her sleeping. Her falling prey to its venom was tortuous, and I don’t care to think about what she's said nor what she’s done without me beside her in this realm.

Holding her close to me is a balm to my pain.

I wonder if she sees terrors in her sleep that would compete with the nightmares that linger in the underworld. Her cream silk nightgown would cover her body in modesty, but I’ve draped a throw blanket from her sofa around her frame as one would a babe. Both to keep her warm in the depths of the underworld we must venture, and also to disguise her and keep what has happened from prying eyes as best I can.

A coil and a single strand of hair were required from each of us. I give them willingly as I’ve done so many times before. Past lifetimes and each time, I waited for her to meet Hermes and bring her to the river Styx. The memories flick through my mind as I hold her soft curves close, and Charon, the ferryman, takes us from the land of the dead to the river’s bank.

The lights of the underworld, all the hells and heavens.

With Hades’ guard on my left and Asphodel Fields in front of me, I head toward the guard located just before the three judges, bypassing the field that makes you forget.

It was part of my punishment. I’ve done this so many times. But never with her in my arms.

My heart pounds as I make my way, my boots sinking into the soft ground, conscious of the eyes of judgement on me. It chills me to my core.

For thousands of lifetimes I’ve held Ivy in my arms, and for the first time it feels as though they’ll take her away from me…again. In all black, dark eyes peer through the shadow of the cape that drapes over the guard’s head. I’ve never seen his face. But I know the guard that waits for Lord Hades’ men.

Screams of terror are vaguely heard in the distance. This is the marketplace of souls. Where mortals are tested, where the weight of their morality is judged, possibly, for all eternity.

I start, clearing my tight throat, “I am of the army of the dead and?—”

“You may pass,” he says beneath his breath, barely sparing a glance.

My shoulders rise with a desperate need to move. To obey before he changes his mind.

“My thanks to Lord Hades,” I state, bowing my head and rushing toward my chambers with her in my arms. Her head lulls from side to side and I know she’ll wake soon.

The lockingof the stone door with the iron key is harsh and loud. The “thunk” echoes in my chambers and that’s what wakes her.

She gasps as I lay her down in a high-ceilinged room with dark walls and thick pillars, everything expertly crafted to keep the space and balance and give a sense of awe to anyone who enters. Ivy seems both awed and terrified as reality dawns on her.

The beauty of her serene expression at peace in my arms vanishes and with her widened darting eyes comes the pain of her not knowing.

Ivy glances around, taking it in.

Her new home.Ournew home.

Her body is stiff as if a prey realizing it’s been caught in a trap. Her beautiful gaze lands on the furnishings, each piece dark and solid, yet welcoming. The side tables and rugs are a mix of antiques fit for a palace, the richness in the curved wood and polished shine that never gets dull. Artwork painted by the most skilled hands in the underworld hangs on the walls. Every piece I picked with her in mind. Little memories of her in each piece. It was Hades’ version of hell I was destined to live. He said it was a gift. A compromise that was fair and just. And for so long I’ve lived without the one thing that gives me peace.

When he offered me this chance to have her, there was no reality in which I would refuse his deal.

Her eyes skip over the pieces. I can tell she wants to linger on some of them, but she doesn’t. Ivy’s only glancing at the elegance surrounding her. Even now, she frantically searches for a way out.

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