Page 112 of Angel's Flight

13.Bargains

Coolaney

Christine walked throughthe grass, morning dew gathering on her hem.It was cold and misty, closer to autumn than to summer now.Mist still lingered in the green gulleys between the hills, and the outskirts of Coolaney were so beautiful in the dawn light that it made her heart swell with sadness she couldn’t linger.She couldn’t stay.

At least she had slept, Christine told herself.At least she’d had one night in the old manor with Erik, held close in her phantom’s arms so she didn’t even think about what other ghosts lingered in the dark.She wished she had been able to linger there too.

The last place she wanted to be was trudging down this muddy path outside the village with Pauline.

“You’re right: this place barely qualifies as civilization,” Pauline quipped beside her, keeping her head high and her back straight as they made their way past an old farmhouse.It was long abandoned, with a gaping hole in a roof made of mud and moss.“I would have been doing the world a favor by clearing it out.”

“Your plan was cruel,” Christine stated, trying to keep her anger in check.None of this would work if she snapped on Pauline now.

“Yes.I can think of nothing worse than giving someone hope and dashing it away,” Pauline grumbled pointedly.Christine heard Erik sigh in annoyance behind them.

“This is an odd place to meet,” Christine declared as they came to the edge of a clearing.In it stood a large stone with others set around it at regular intervals.It was some ancient, sacred place.

“Well, some of us have a flair for the dramatic,” Pauline sighed.“Would you please get these off me now?”

Pauline raised her wrists.There were red marks where the cuffs had rubbed the skin raw after more than a day in them, and Christine almost felt guilty seeing them.Almost.Pauline’s face looked worse, with the purple bruise and cut Christine had left there.Her hair and clothes were a mess as well.“How will you explain your current state?”

“I don’t want to give away the show,” Pauline answered with a smile as Christine removed her restraints.“So we are clear: if you don’t pay up after this is done, I will lead Bidaut and our employer straight back to your door.Or worse.”

“Understood,” Erik answered before Christine could.“But you don’t get to change the price.”

“Why would I, when you’ve made the deal so delicious?”Pauline gave Erik a grin that turned Christine’s stomach.She hated this, but it was the only choice they had.

“There’s nowhere to run out here,” Christine reminded the odious woman and was answered with only an eye roll.Pauline strode to the center of the stone circle, rubbing her wrists and stretching as Erik and Christine took their place hidden in the trees to the side.“Do you trust her?”Christine asked her beloved uneasily.

“At this point, yes,” Erik replied, but she could feel his tension.He was beside her, but she didn’t know if it was right to reach for him.

“What did you offer her?”Christine asked softly.“You came back last night having made some sort of deal and I didn’t press because I didn’t want to know then.You have to tell me now, though.”

“I don’t want to disappoint you if it doesn’t work,” Erik replied, hanging his head.He had reverted to one of his more typical masks: cream-colored, plain, and comfortingly familiar.His worry and pain were familiar too.

Christine couldn’t bear it any longer.She reached out and took his hands, their rough texture so familiar now.She still wanted to hold them forever.“Please.I need to know.”

“You primed the pump, making her feel sentimental and sad,” Erik began slowly.“I want you to know that whatever you said to make her reconsider her life mattered, but she’s the sort of person who only wants to hurt others more when she’s reminded of her own pain.Our Pauline isn’t kind like you.Not forgiving, or even very bright, but she is petty and vindictive, enough that I could make her an offer beyond money, though she wants that too.I can give her the one thing she wants if she can’t have her fantasy of me.”

“And what is that?”Christine wasn’t sure she liked where this was going.

“Her fantasy is part of it.She’s studied me, or whatever version of me she could piece together from the years.She sees me as someone who can’t be tamed or contained by normal life.”Erik squeezed Christine’s hands, his eyes upon the golden ring on her finger that made her his.“I think that’s not entirely wrong.I leap into everything without thinking about what it means.I leapt into this life with you not knowing what it would entail.”

“We both did,” Christine countered, trying to sound hopeful.

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