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I frown up at him.

“And I’m sorry,” he continues, “but if you think I’m going to let you settle for normal, you’ve got a fight on your hands.”

Damnit. Now that he’s drawn lines, I’ll never get him to budge. If there’s one thing Des is good at, it’s fighting. Oh, and deals. And secrets. And sex.

Screw it all, he’s good at everything. It’s annoying.

“This is just like high school,” I say, remembering those days he roused or manipulated or bargained me into action. Mean, but effective. “You trying to get me to do something you believe is in my best interest.”

“Tell me I’m wrong, cherub. Tell me I’m pushy and bossy and that I don’t know a thing about your deepest dreams.”

See, that’s the rub of it all; now that I know he can hear shadows, he probably has heard all sorts of things about my dreams that I won’t willingly admit. Things that prove him right.

“You’re pushy and you’re bossy,” I say.

He leans in and places a kiss along my sternum. “And I don’t know a thing about your dreams—say it.”

I feel the breath of his magic wrapping around my wind pipe. Only this time, it’s trying to pry the truth out of me, and the truth is that the Bargainer knows a great deal about my deepest desires.

He moves down my body, placing a kiss between my breasts. “I’m still waiting, love.”

Des keeps moving down my body, pressing kisses against my skin.

But I stay silent, and eventually his magic dissolves away.

The Bargainer pauses, glancing up at me. “I love you, Callie, down to every last feather and scale. I love your darkness, I love your mind, I love your humor and your most coveted dreams. And I love how you love me—wholly, deeply, passionately.

“You’re not normal; you’ll never be normal. I’m so sorry to tell you that. You are so blindingly extraordinary that it physically hurts me sometimes, and I’ll never stop pushing you to believe this.”

Des can’t just say things like that. My weak heart isn’t fit enough to take it.

I close my eyes and draw in a shaky breath. “Give it back.”

“What is it I’ve taken, cherub?”

My peace of mind, my loneliness, my torment. My pain, my sanity, my dull little life.

So many things that once made memeare now missing, and—

“Des, I don’t know who I am.”

“You don’t know who you are?” The Bargainer’s voice drops low. “You’re Callypso Lillis, plain and simple. You were her yesterday, you’ll be her tomorrow. It’s up to you to decide what being you actually means. No one else can do that for you. Not the man who gave you those wings, not the man who’s hunting you. Not your stepfather. Not even me.

“But whatever you choose to be, cherub, make it count.”

Chapter 20

It’s late thenext morning by the time I tumble out of Des’s bed. The fairy is reluctant to let me go, and I’m not complaining.

A girl could get used to this kind of attention.

I stretch as I pad over to the closet, feeling the Bargainer’s eyes on me the entire time.

“Creep,” I say, not looking back.

“I’d have to be dead to not enjoy your backside.”

I suppress a smile, then begin rifling through the pretty dresses someone’s stocked an armoire full of. I’m not a girlie girl by any means, but fae outfits are one exception I’ll make. I grab a dress that looks like the dawn come to life, purples bleeding into pinks and oranges bleeding into yellows.