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At least, the womenweresleeping.

I’m pretty goddamn sure they’re now awake.

Chapter 3

All at oncethe screams cut off, and the silence that follows is somehow even more ominous.

What in all the worlds … ?

Des and I are still staring at each other. One second passes, then two, three, four. It’s so terribly quiet.

Perhaps I imagined it all.

But then a wave of shrieks start up, trickling in like the beginnings of a storm. First it’s a single alarmed shout, then another, and then it’s several. They sound so very far away.

The Bargainer closes his eyes for several seconds, as though the sound pains him deep. “What are the chances I could persuade you to hide somewhere safe?” he asks, opening his eyes, his voice silken.

Hide somewhere safe? What exactly does he think is going to happen?

I kick my sheets off, swinging my legs out of bed.

“Zero,” I say.

His throat works. “I can’t lose you, cherub.” For a moment, the crafty Bargainer’s pain is transparent. “Not again.”

I can still see his face as I slipped into that final darkness.

You are not leaving me, Callie.

It’s still so fresh.

Des shutters his expression, the softness dissipating from it as though it never was.

Black battle leathers materialize next to me. I stare at them, my mind racing to catch up with the situation.

“You remember your training?” Des’s voice doesn’t sound quite right. It’s not mocking or teasing. He sounds far too serious.

There’s only one reason he’d think to ask me that.

We’re going to have to kick some ass.

I nod.

“Good.” He stands, his brows furrowed as he takes me in. “If I can’t hide you, I will simply have tounleashyou.”

Unleash me—said like I’m an unstoppable force. Me thinks he might believe in me a tad too much.

More screams filter in from the depths of the island, near where the sleeping women have been left to rest. In my mind’s eye I can still see those soldiers in their glass coffins, each one buried with a weapon.

I’ve been waiting awhile for this day to come.

I suck in a breath, realizing now what Des already has.

All those women were laying at the core of the island, waiting like bombs to detonate.

And tonight, the Thief of Souls just lit the fuse.

Des’s magic brushesagainst my skin, and the skimpy nightgown I wear melts off my body, the fabric pooling around my hips and leaving me bare-breasted.