Page 104

I’m really not going to escape him. One day soon, I will have to face the Thief, not in a dream, but in waking life. A reckoning is coming for us, and by the end of it, one of us will be the victor, and one, the vanquished.

“I will break you again and again until there is nothing left to break,” the Thief says softly, running his knuckles over my cheek.

Break me?

I’ve been thinking about this wrong all my life. I’m not porcelain to be shattered, I’m something else entirely.

Break me?

I level my pitiless gaze on him. “You can try.”

The next morning, when I wake, I’m alone in Des’s bed.

For a moment, I simply lay there, gathering my pillow up and breathing in the Bargainer’s scent.

Eventually, I sit up, running my hands through my hair. On the bedside table, a cup of coffee sits. The note beside it says,Till darkness dies.

A little smile slips out. I take the mug, and sip, letting my mind drift.

Inevitably, my thoughts move to last night’s dream. For the first time since I started having them, I’m not frightened by the nightmare. The Thief of Souls and I are pitted against one another, not as hunter and hunted, but asadversaries. And that detail changes everything.

Since Karnon’s death, I’ve been in the business of running—so much so that I haven’t truly done anychasing.

Setting my coffee aside, I slip out of bed and rifle through Des’s things until I find a notebook and a pen. Clambering back into bed, I uncap the pen and press it to the page.

The Thief ofSouls – controls dreams (small death), wears the bodies of the dead, wields dark magic, places fairies into a stupefied state, fathers children who drink blood and prophesize …

Most of theattributes have something to do with death, and those that don’t seem to be attributes of Night fairies. Not that this knowledge brings me any closer to answers.

Stupid mystery.

I could just glamour the Thief and force the confessions out of him.

Holy shit.

Icoulddo that. Why have I not thought of this sooner?

I’m elated for two-point-five seconds before I remember that I freaking already tried this hat trickafterI drank the lilac wine, when he came to me in a dream. It didn’t do a damn thing but excite the freak.

So much for that idea. Unless dreams have their own sort of logic to them. Maybe he’s only impervious to my glamour in dreams …

I rub my forehead. I mean, who the fuck knows at this point? I’m running in circles here and all I’m managing to do is to confuse myself.

Setting my notes aside, I push myself out of Des’s bed. I steal an Iron Maiden shirt from his drawer, ignoring the folded set of women’s clothing clearly meant for me, grab my mug, then pad down the hall.

I find the King of the Night in his living room, blessedly shirtless as he paces back and forth. He stares down at an unrolled piece of parchment, his brow furrowed and his lower lip pinched between his fingers.

His eyes move from his work to me. A grin spreads across his face when he catches sight of my T-shirt. “That is averygood look on you, Callie.”

I hold up the mug. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“Anytime, love.”

“What are you reading?” I ask, coming over to him.

His gaze drops to the paper and his frown returns. “Reports on the state of the Otherworld.”

For a moment, the information is a shock. I’d almost managed to forget that even on earth Des has a host of responsibilities he still must attend to.