Page 52 of A Moth to the Flame (Utopia #1)

“Why didn’t you tell me that before I slit her wrist?” Neveah moans.

“You did not afford me the opportunity,” Wallace snaps .

I’m close to blacking out from bliss like I’ve never known when Cordie pulls her wrist away from my mouth to inspect it.

“It’s gone. Not even a mark left behind.” She sounds surprised.

Shit, I’m down for the count. She’s on her own now. Three against one. It’s all my fault.

“How did it taste to you?” Wallace asks.

Cordie licks my lips that are still smeared with her blood. She furrows my brow before saying, “Like…like the wild blackberries that grow on the side of the road.”

She’s right. That’s exactly what she tastes like.

Wait a minute. How can that be right? When I first tasted that flavor, I was actually kissing my mouth.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Neveah asks. “I might have sliced too deep.”

“She will live,” Wallace promises. “You should know better than to initiate a spell without considering all possible consequences. You very nearly killed the witch that you have been assigned to guard. Calculated risks to achieve a goal should be just that—carefully calculated.”

I want to glare at that bitch, but I can’t. She’s a shitty guard just like Cornelius is a shitty familiar. Just like I’m a shitty mate. Without Cordie holding me up, I’d be a puddle of drained meat on the floor. I was so busy guarding her that I forgot to guard her body, too.

“I didn’t even want this assignment,” Neveah grumbles. “This whole situation is bullshit. It’s not fair to any of us.”

“I agree,” Wallace says. “I believe we can also agree that we’ve suffered enough distractions for the evening. Assist Hope in the library while I attend to your sister.”

Sister? The fuck?

Cordie doesn’t stiffen at that reveal. I’m pretty sure he just means a member of the coven.

I don’t know what to say to that, so I concentrate on staying conscious when Cordie lifts her limp body into my arms.

“Wallace, can you—?” she grunts, then trips over something, but she doesn’t drop me.

I lose the fight to keep her eyes open, but I hear shuffling sounds before her back meets something soft. She must’ve laid me out on the couch after he put the cushions back on it.

I’m so sorry, Duke. I was counting on them needing to keep me alive to find the library. I didn’t carefully calculate all the ways I could be wrong either.

You don’t know enough to know all the risks , I answer.

“I need that favor you owe me,” she says out loud.

“You have to use the right words,” Wallace responds with a frown in his voice.

“Let me guess,” she mutters. “You can’t just tell them to me.”

He doesn’t answer, but I imagine him shaking his head.

Duke? Got any ideas? You figured out the bargaining words.

Can he repay one of us at a time? I thought he owed both of us together.

I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot. We need to think, but we don’t have much time.

No pressure.

I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to get you killed!

No. I’m sorry , I grit out. I think better when I’m moving, and I can’t move. I feel like death warmed over, Cordie. All the happy, orgasmic stuff is gone. This is bad. Your body lost too much blackberry-flavored blood.

My hand surrounds hers. She traces up and down her fingers with the rough pads of my thumb. Then, she massages up her arm until she reaches her shoulder.

“As much as it warms my heart to witness affection between the two of you, I feel the need to remind you that the clock is ticking,” Wallace murmurs.

“Shut up,” Cordie whispers. “We’re thinking.”

I’ve got it , we say at the same time.

What’s your idea? I ask.

You first. You’re the half-fae.

Ladies first , I insist.

Ugh , she growls. I think it might be as simple as “repay what you owe.”

I think it’s “I call upon your favor.”

She goes with my idea.

“A favor is owed,” Wallace responds, like he’s proud of us. “What do you request of me? ”

“I need you to cloak me, so I can get into the library without them noticing,” she says before wincing. “Can you do that? Do you have those kinds of powers?”

“I do.” He chuckles. “Are you certain this is the favor you want? Once I perform your request, the bargain will be paid in full.”

“Um…”

I swear I can hear Cordie chewing my lip again.

“Do we have to request our owed favors at the same time?” she asks him.

“Not necessarily,” he admits, “though you may want to request healing on Duke’s behalf. Your body truly lost a worrying amount of blood. It will heal in time, but it will not be at full strength until then. That may not be a weakness either of you can afford currently.”

I don’t like that idea. Cordie can’t wield the sword with my body.

She doesn’t check in with me before she decides, “We’ll use one favor now and save the other for a later date.”

Fuck. I hope she knows what she’s doing.

“Are you certain?” Wallace goads. “If not to heal your body, then you could use the other favor to gain the knowledge of what you should look for on those precious shelves.”

Cordie snorts. “Buddy, I used to consume books the way most people drink water. I don’t need a favor to figure out which ones I want to read.”

“So be it.” He clucks his tongue. “The favor is repaid.”

Cordie whistles beneath my breath, but I can’t force her eyes open to see what’s going on.

“If I get down there just to find out that I’m only invisible to myself, I’m going to trap you into a bargain straight out of your fae nightmares,” she warns him.

His answering chuckle is dark. “My darling, you have yet to learn the art of idle threats. For many centuries have I opened my eyes in the morning to my worst nightmare. Go. You have my word that I will do no harm to Duke or your body in your absence.”

Panic slices at her chest. I don’t like the specific words he used about Cordie’s body. Can we trust his word without a bargain in place ?

If you feel even the slightest pain before I get back, scream into my head , she orders.

Gee, thanks, babe. I’m sure you can make it back from your secret basement library in the time it’ll take him to snap his fingers and break your pretty neck.

The bargain between you two isn’t paid yet, so he still owes your favor. That’s our insurance.

Is this another bad time to tell you that I think I love you?

It is. At least have the decency to wait until I’m ready to say it back. Gotta go. Don’t die on me.

Her words rush together, but all I hear are the important ones. I wasn’t being serious. Not in the way she deserves anyway. But if I have a snowball’s chance in hell that she wants to say it back? To mean it?

Fuck, yeah. I can live for that.

Maybe. I feel her leave the room. Everything after the best ghost orgasm of my life has felt like shit. I’m a little worried nothing will ever feel good again after that. I might’ve hit my peak, and it’s all downhill from here.

“Can I get you anything, Duke?” Wallace asks.

I’d love to tell him to pour me five fingers of whiskey without any ice, but the best I manage is a mumble that doesn’t even sound like words.

“Excellent.”

I have a bad feeling about this.

“I call upon your favor,” he whispers.

Cordie’s eyes open immediately to the sight of him frowning above me.

“My sincerest apologies.” He tips his head back and forth. “Without this bargain in place, you will be unable to control your baser urges. That is a risk we can no longer afford.”

I blink at him. It’s all I can do.

“You will not claim your mate until I tell you to,” he says.

A jolt of electricity sizzles through Cordie’s body.

What does claim mean to a fae? Fucking after we’re in our right bodies? A wedding? Why is this important enough for him to use a favor on?

It doesn’t matter what it means, because I feel the bargain sink into Cordie’s bones, and into my mind.

It’s done now.

Wallace smooths Cordie’s hair away from her forehead.

“I am truly sorry to be the cause of what will amount to unimaginable pain for you, my dear boy. Until I know for certain who else is aware of your bond, and who may seek to use it for their own gain, this is the best way to protect both of you. As a token to earn your eventual forgiveness, let us begin the education that has been denied to you for far too long. Pay attention, because this lesson will serve you—and your mate—well.”

I struggle to pay attention.

Because I keep thinking that a do-over with Cordie has been stolen away before I ever got the chance to deserve it.