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Crowley isn’t finished. “There are some who say the original magick of the bargain has run its course and burned itself out. The last witch was proof enough of that, wasn’t she? And now that another is here, nothing has changed.”

“Enough,” I tell him. As willing as I am to suffer the old demon’s bitter bile, I will not allow a single word against Allie to fall from his lips. “The bargain stands, and the magick will renew itself once more, as it always does when a Tithe bride is chosen.”

“As it always has until now.”

“Enough.” The growl in my throat has him taking a step back and away from me.

As angry as I am, I don’t like the sight of it. He’s afraid. They’re all afraid. And with good reason. No matter how much I flex my own power, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re all standing here, in an unsettled realm, while the fabric of the bargain continues to fray.

“Apologies, majesty,” he says, dipping his head.

I let out a long breath. “Tend to your family, Crowley. The rest of it can wait for this evening.”

He gives me a curt nod and turns away, and as he goes, I can’t help but notice that more than a few heads in the crowd behind him swivel away as well, having obviously watched and listened in on our conversation.

How many of them agree with him? How many are, even now, weighing the costs and benefits of moving on from the bargain and going back to the old ways?

I can’t stop to consider it right now. The implications that kind of thought could have for Allie, for us, for both our realms…It’s larger than I can wrap my mind around at the moment.

If we were to break the bargain, go back to reaping…

No.

I push the thought aside as I’m called away by another courtier with an update from the builders, letting the task at hand take up my attention completely.

It’s a few more hours before I’m able to return to Allie. Tired to my bones, it takes a full ten seconds to summon the portal I need to return to the mountain cabin. Stepping into the living space, I find Felix standing and staring out at the darkened woods through the room’s wall of windows.

He turns to greet me, tension clear on his face. “Any losses this evening?”

Some of that tension loosens when I shake my head. “Not one. A few injuries, none serious. We were lucky.”

“Lucky,” he murmurs, though I’m not sure it’s in agreement.

“How is my wife?”

Felix’s hardened expression softens into a genuine smile. “She went up to bed some time ago. A good one, she is. I’d almost envy you for having her if it weren’t for how obviously well-suited the two of you are to one another.

A sharp, unfamiliar tug in the center of my chest, at that. The closest thing I’ve got in this realm to a brother, and his approval of her smooths away some of the ragged edges and doubts still twisting and gnawing at me.

“Thank you,” I tell him. “I only hope she won’t come to regret that she was the one who the Goddess chose for me.”

The honesty seems to catch him by surprise. Crossing from the window, he walks over to me and claps a hand on my shoulder.

“Allie’s got more fight in her than that. The two of you will make each other stronger, no matter what happens with the bargain.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Allie, is it? Since when do you treat her with such informality?”

“Since she asked me to,” he says, shrugging. “A stubborn little witch, that one.”

“Aye,” I agree. And one I don’t intend to let rest in peace for much longer. “She’s upstairs?”

He nods. “Went up to sleep an hour ago.”

“Thank you for staying with her.” I clap a hand on his shoulder in return, and neither of us seems to need any more words.

Felix portals away, leaving me alone in the quiet stillness of the cabin. The memories of this place gather almost immediately, but there will be time for them later. Tonight, it’s the present that has my complete attention.

Upstairs, I find Allie fast asleep, tucked in beneath a worn, slightly dusty blanket that’s nowhere near fine enough for her. Seeing her here, forced out of our home after only a couple of days in this realm, makes me feel ill. I haven’t protected her like I should.