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I cover my mouth to muffle my yelp.

Leaning against the hallway wall is Des.

He strides toward me, and like a fool, I back up. When his eyes glint the way they do now, he’s right on the edge that separates sanity and madness, humanity and fae cruelty.

He’s on me in an instant, pinning me to the wall.

“Let’s try this again,” he says, nipping my ear. “You have some explaining to do.” He presses a leg between mine, the movement rubbing against my core. “Now, do you want to start with the fact you did not listen to my instructions when we were on the balcony earlier or the fact you nearly got yourself killed by facing down an angry sorceress?”

I swallow delicately. I knew this was coming.

“I could’ve—” His voice breaks. “I could’ve lost you,” he says harshly. “If you had been hurt…I wouldn’t have even had time to administer lilac wine.”

Lilac wine?

My mind lingers on the term for only a second or two before focusing on the more pertinent issue at hand.

This is where I apologize for frightening him, and it’s where I thank him for his faith in me.

Only, I never get the chance.

Des’s face bricks itself up until the suave, cunning Bargainer stares back at me. “Or perhaps,” Des continues, “we should skip the explanations and move on to reconciliation.”

Reconciliation?

Suddenly, the Bargainer no longer has me pinned to the wall. He lifts first one of my legs, then the other, wrapping them securely around his waist.

“Des—” I say, now nervous. Just what exactly does he have in mind?

He begins to walk, holding me to him. “Let’s try listening to instructions all over again: this time, when I give them to you, you’re going to follow them.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “What are you planning?”

He flashes me a dark, smoldering look. “You’ll see soon enough, cherub.”

He heads up the hallway and down another, all the while, I’m trapped in his arms. I don’t bother trying to squirm away, mostly because I know he wants me to and because last time I tried to get out of this position, he used his magic on me.

So I let him carry me. I’m no featherweight. If he wants to exhaust himself lugging me around, he can be my guest.

Eventually he kicks open a set of double doors leading out to yet another one of the palace’s many balconies.

Cool evening air blows in at my back, ruffling my feathers and stirring my hair. “If you toss me off the balcony…” I warn.

He doesn’t wait for me to finish my threat. One moment he’s on solid ground, the next, the two of us are spiraling into the air, me still in his arms.

All right, so Des wasn’t planning on tossing me from a balcony… He’s planning on dropping me from the sky.

Only, he doesn’t let me go.

I stare him in the eye, the two of us locked together. “What now?” I ask.

His eyes glitter.

That’s about the time I feel my clothes loosen, just as they did in Lephys.

What in the…?

My fae attire essentially melts off my body. I let out a squeak, trying to grab at the remnants of my clothes. It’s no use; they slip through my fingers like grains of sand.