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My bracelet is now nine rows deep and steadily growing. Not once has he made me repay him. Not for a single wish.

“All these beads make me nervous,” I say, twisting my bracelet around.

His gaze drifts back to mine. “Then stop buying favors.”

I stand, the chair scraping back. “You’re crappy company tonight,” I say.

Maybe it’s not him. Maybe it’s me.

Because at the moment, I feel so damn disappointed. Disappointed by this evening, by all the others just like it. By wanting something I just can’t have. By being too weak to give up this stupid crush even though I know I should. By collecting lifetimes and lifetimes of debt and shackling myself to a bad man who wants nothing to do with me.

“Sit down,” Des commands, and I feel the brush of his magic in the order.

My legs begin to fold, my body bending to take my seat. I fight the command, but it’s not much use.

I glare at him. And now I understand a bit better why my own power is just so terrible. It’s a peculiar kind of torture, to have your body answer to another person. Peculiar and vile.

“That’s what your repayment will feel like,” he says. “Only the compulsion will be worse. Much worse.” He leans forward. “Don’t be so eager to repay your debts. Neither of us will enjoy it.”

“If you won’t enjoy it Des,” I say, trying to stand up. His magic presses down on me, forcing me to stay seated, “then why don’t you stop making deals with me?”

Again, his eyes glint. “You play a dangerous game with me, siren. Making deals is its own sort of compulsion.” His voice is so low that only I can hear it. “And you offer them to me so easily.” He pauses, his eyes shining wickedly. “Don’t think I’ll ever stop taking them—because I won’t.”

Present

Des and Iare quiet as we leave the servants’ quarters.

Next to me, the Bargainer looks grim.

Bloodsucking children, phantom visitors, and a man who goes by the name of the Thief of Souls. It’s enough to give me nightmares.

I rub my arms. “How long have these disappearances been going on?” I ask as we exit the servants’ quarters and enter the garden.

“Almost a decade.”

And in all that time, nothing has been solved …

I’ve done my job, I’ve glamoured an innocent woman at the Bargainer’s behest. I can wipe my hands clean of this task and leave that woman to her fate, a fate that made her mad with terror. A fate she had been warned about by a baby who should be too young to talk.

I pause, stopping in the middle of the stone pathway.

The Bargainer turns to me, his brows drawn together.

“If I’m able to get more information for you from the children, will you take off more beads?” I ask.

He cocks his head. “Why do you wish to see them?” he probes.

As if it isn’t obvious. “That woman back there is frightened of these children and of what they’ve told her.Theyare the ones we should be interviewing.”

Des sighs. “I am oathbound against using my magic on children, and short of that … I have been to the nursery a thousand times, and a thousand times I’ve tried to talk with them. Not once has it worked.”

“But you’ve never brought a siren with you,” I say.

Every time I close my eyes, I see Gaelia’s beseeching stare and her hopelessness. I can’t seem to just leave it alone.

The corners of Des’s eyes crinkle. “This is true, I’ve never brought a spitfire siren to do my dirty work.” He stares at me for a bit longer. Finally,reluctantly, he nods. “I’ll take you to the children. I doubt it will be very helpful with me there, but I’ll take you all the same.

“However,” he adds, “the moment I sense anything amiss, we’re leaving, no questions asked.”