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I wander through the suite, taking in the opulent bathroom, with its iridescent turquoise tile and bronze fastenings—each detail harkening to the sea in some way. Around me, the walls of the bathroom are covered in slate grey rock, and the sunken tub is made of the same dark stone.

“I couldn’t help myself,” Des admits, following my gaze. “After all this time, I miss the caves I grew up in.”

Now that I look for it, I see it—the bathroom is some fusion between the ocean that I love and the caverns Des misses.

“It’s perfect.”

I leave the bathroom and walk into our bedroom. The chamber sits under the light of dozens of lamps, their flames sparking like fireworks. The headboard of the bed is the same worked bronze as in Des’s other chambers, but someone’s gone to the trouble of hammering out an image of crashing waves under a star-strewn sky.

There are a thousand other details to this suite that will surely take me days to fully notice and appreciate.

I turn to face Des. “You planned all this?”

He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to, it’s all in his eyes. Des must’ve spent ages putting this chamber together. I rub my chest. My heart hurts so damn much.

I shake my head. “Thank you.”

Des disappears, manifesting at my side. He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s nothing,” he says, his voice a little rough.

I lean into his touch, giving him a small smile. My gaze sweeps over the rooms again, and again, my eyes catch on that pool.

Really want to get in.

Before I can so much as voice those words, my clothes slip off, leaving behind a strappy bathing suit.

I touch the soft material. “Howdoyou do that?” But it’s not really a question and I don’t expect an answer. Des has always had his ways.

“Magic, love,” he says, answering me anyway.

I back up from him. The Night King watches me with his gleaming eyes, and I feel that gaze everywhere.

“If I get in the pool, will you join me?” I ask.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Do you really want one?”

His eyes narrow, even as delight touches his features. “Answering questions with questions. You are shaping up to be an excellent fairy, Callie.”

I turn to the pool to hide my grin, and slowly lower myself in. The water is cool against my skin and my siren beckons for more.

I sink farther and farther into the glowing liquid until I’m fully submerged.

Des is right—it’s not the tumultuous ocean. There are no sailors to call down to their deaths, no promise of violence. But there’s peace here, beneath the surface. And what’s more, I think as I feel the water shift and Des joins me, there’ssex.

I rise slowly from the lapping waves, my eyes meeting the Bargainer’s. He stands among the water, the glow of it illuminating all the hard planes of his bare torso. His sleeve of tattoos is on display and his hair is tied back in a bun.

He is, in a word,overwhelming.

Slowly I move over to him. As I do so, I slip one of my swimsuit straps over my shoulder and down my arm, then the other. The rest of it is quick to go. The swimsuit was a nice thought, but right now it’s useless to me.

Des watches me with those silver eyes of his. When I reach him, I pause, staring up in his eyes.

“I could never imagine this,” I say. “Not in my wildest dreams could I imagine what life with you would be like.”

He cups the side of his face, his gaze moving to my lips. “It gets to be like this; for the rest of our lives we get to have this—the sweet moments, the confessions, the laughter, the magic—we get to have it all.” His thumb strokes my cheek. “Cherub, you’re every wish of mine.”

Lowering my eyelids, I rise to my tiptoes and kiss him deeply,fiercely. Reaching for his bun, I loosen his hair, letting it fall around his face in waves. This is where I make some comment about his silly man bun, and he has some quip that keeps me on my toes.