Page 26 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
All of those came through our bond, occupying that space of my brain now reserved for everything Belial.
“Contracts like that can only be canceled one of two ways,” he said.
“Right. Okay, what two ways? How do we do it?” I said eagerly. Irritation at being interrupted flowed from him to me. “Sorry. Continue, please.”
“First is fulfillment. Doing what the contract stipulated in regards to terms.”
I grimaced, ready to start arguing about how I had thought about it some more and no longer wanted his money.
“Youwillstick to those terms,” he growled. “Remember why you signed in the first place.”
The first sign of the original Belial returned, a reminder that, regardless of the man he’d been so far today, I had been strong-armed into that contract, and he wasn’t about to let me out of it.
“Fine, fine,” I said, looking away, hating myself for ever letting Andie try to talk me into that spell. “I’ll sign that contract again. Butjustthat one. None of this magical mind-meld stuff goes with it. I want to be my own person, okay? Not an outlet for your emotions. So, what’s the other way we cancel it?”
Belial shrugged, looking away. “If both parties agree, contracts can be made null and void.”
I stared at him. “So, you knew … from the moment it happened last night, youknew, that all we had to do, both of us, was agree to cancel it and try again, and you didn’t say anything?”
After a long pause, he nodded once. “Yes.”
“Great.” I shook my head, pushing past my frustrations over having to wait until now to learn such pertinent information. It didn’t matter. Now that I did know, it was time to use it. “Let’s do it, then. Let’s cancel this contract. Then we can sign the other one. For the money.”
I hated being indebted to him, but Belial had made itveryclear that he would go to quite some lengths to ensure he had his fingers in the pie, so to speak. As long as he was out of my mind, I could suck it up and let it pass.
Probably.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t immediately process the emotions from Belial. Perhaps I should have because once I did focus on him, I detected none of the enthusiasm I felt for having him out of my head. In fact, it was as if …
“You aren’t going to cancel it. Are you?” I asked, stunned.
The answer was immediate in my head. He didn’t want to.
“But why? Why not?” I asked. “Unless you’ve been lying to me this whole time, and youwantedthis sort of bond. Is that it?”
“No,” he said firmly. “This … was a mistake. I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
That, at least, was the truth.
“If you didn’t mean for it, then it should be easy for you to be willing to fix it. You got so mad when I accidentally touched your mind before. Now you’re willinglyforcingyour way into mine. Just let me go, Belial.”
“No,” he repeated more sharply, shaking his head. “I can’t.”
“Why not!” I shouted at him.
“It’s complicated,” he said, hesitating in his reply.
He was throwing off all sorts of emotions. Confusion. Discomfort. Irritation. Resistance.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there? Something you’re hiding. Why is this contract so important to you?”
“It’s not!” he shouted.
I stepped away at the sudden outburst, the vehemence catching me by surprise.
“Why are you mad at me? What did I do?” I asked him, stunned.
And why did I suddenly feel all twisted on the inside by him saying I wasn’t important to him? That wasn’tquitethe question, but his response made it clear.
