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So smooth.

“And I like it when my mate moans in my arms,” Des says. “Hmmm, maybe I should make you moan again …”

The first tendrils of the Bargainer’s magic lick against my skin “Don’t,” I say, glamour filling my voice.

Des grins at me, looking thrilled at my response.

Our bodies make slick sounds as he pounds in and out of me, and all too soon sensation is building up until I’m coiled tight. Release is right there—all I have to do is let go …

Des slides out of me, and I nearly cry out.

A woman could be driven mad by this!

The Bargainer drops to his knees, hooking my legs over his shoulders. His mouth is inches from my core, but his head is tilted up to take me in. I thought that maybe this was part of his game—to withhold my orgasm as long as possible—but one look in his eyes banishes that thought completely.

He’s gazing up at me like I’m something akin to his religion, something he might pray to, and right now I feel like a dark queen, my throne made of this man’s flesh.

“Marry me,” he says.

Time slows, and my breathing stops.

Marry me.

A second ago I was mad with lust, and now … now …

“It’s not enough to be mated to you,” he says, “I want it all, if only you’ll have me.”

My hands begin to tremble where they grip him. I can barely hear my thoughts over the pounding of my heart.

“Marry me, and I will cherish you forever, cherub.”

Marry me.

We’re already bound by unbreakable forces. The supernatural world sees us as soulmates, as does the Otherworld.

Marriage is for humans.

Suddenly, I feel all of sixteen again, and Des is asking me to prom. Prom, marriage—all of it is for that part of me that has always been a desperate outsider, a loner. That painful part of me that wants to benormal.

This is Des giving me normal.

“Godsdamnit,” Des whispers, “please say something, Callie.”

I shake my head, beginning to smile.

Only, Des misinterprets my action.

His eyes are dying, dying …

I cup his cheeks, just as I did earlier.

“Yes,” I say, my voice hoarse with emotion. I begin to nod, and once I start, I can’t seem to stop. I smile, and it feels like that smile is touching every inch of my face—every inch of this room. A happy laugh slips out.

I’m going to marry Des!

Life flushes through his face, brightening his features, and I’m sure the world has no use for suns with a smile as bright as his. It spreads across his whole face, his eyes crinkling from the action.

“You’re going to marry me?”