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“I’m serious.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve been making people disappear for decades.” I’ve seen it firsthand.

Des looks at me like I’m cute and odd and exasperating all at the same time. “Have you forgotten all the terrible things that the fairy admitted to?”

Things like rape and coercion and murder and twenty minutes of other terrible deeds.

I take a drink and shake my head.

“And you still feel bad?”

Nod. The rim of the champagne flute rattles between my teeth as I play with it. “No—yes. Maybe?”

I killed fairies only a couple of nights ago; dooming a man to death definitely doesn’t top that. So it’s ridiculous to feel bad for this when I haven’t shed a tear for the poor souls I killed not so long ago …

I don’t know why I feel this way. Nothing makes much sense anymore.

Des leans his head against the wall, staring up at the stars. “The devil is in the details, you know. Those teeth and bones Typhus wore, he took each of them from his victims—some while they were still living, some shortly after they’d died.”

If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it doesn’t. My soulmate has pulled plenty of teeth of his own. He’s a bad man too. It doesn’t make him deserving of death—at least, not in my book.

“And all that borrowed magic?” Des continues. “The process is called cobinding, and though Typhus made it sound cavalier and impersonal, it’s not like that,” Des says.

I stare down at my fae wine. “Then how is it?”

“Remember those horcruxes in Harry Potter?”

I begin to smile in spite of myself. “Are you seriously dropping an HP reference right here, right now?” I ask, glancing over at Des.

“I have your undivided attention, don’t I?”

“And all my love.”

I mean, I knew he was soulmate material before, but this pretty much just sealed the deal.

Des’s face grows serious. “Essentially, when you exchange magic, you’re transferring more than raw energy. You’re moving a piece of yourself as well.”

That’s massively creepy.

“It’s not to be taken lightly. Most fairies, if they decide to do to such a thing, spend centuries picking out the right individual—even then, it’s a tricky business. Lovers quarrel, families divide, friends deceive. It happens. You can never fully guarantee that the person you share magic with will always be your ally.

“For a fairy to give away their power to a stranger—and in the Banished Lands, where the earth itself drains away a fairy’s magic shockingly fast—such an exchange is akin to suicide.

“Typhus did that to everyone there. By forcing him to return the magic he coerced from those fairies, you helped right a wrong.”

I take a ponderous sip of my wine. “Have you ever done it?” I ask. “Have you ever … cobound yourself to someone?”

The Bargainer gives me a look that should melt the panties from my body. “I bound myself to my soulmate. Would you say that counts?”

I smile into my drink. “Are you admitting that I have a piece of your soul?”

His eyes dip to my curving lips. “More than a piece, cherub.”

“Hey bitch,havea nice trip?” Temper asks the next day when she waltzes into the library where Des and I have spent the morning.

As soon as she enters, a dozen different paint brushes drift away from the enormous canvas Des is working on. He’s not nearly finished with it, but I already know what image he’s bringing to life. There’s the Flora Kingdom’s ballroom, decorated with a thousand blooming plants, and among it all, there I am, my black wings folded behind me, my hair twinkling with the night sky. I’m looking directly out at the viewer, my dark eyes looking troubled and impish all at once.

He’s capturing the night he put the stars in my hair.