Page 131 of A Taste of Bliss

But I guess I’ll have to ask her later. If I say anything now, the Phantoms might overhear and I doubt they’ll approve of her removing things from…

Well, I guess it’s not like this is a crime scene, but still.

Bell waves us over to where she’s double-checking Jinx’s handcuffs. “We’re ready to begin.”

Amelia and I take seats across from Jinx, both of us leaving a bit of room between our chairs and the table. Neither my sister nor I want to get too close to Jinx, even if his magic is contained.

His smirk deepens and he leans back in his chair, his shackles clanking. “Well, well, if it isn’t the slutty Rassard sisters.”

Amelia grins like she’s in on the joke. “That’s a good one. Never heard it before.”

Jinx fixes her with a glare, his lips sealing into a thin line.

“Go ahead,” Stormy says to Amelia. “Let’s get this over with.” She seems to want to get out of here as much as we do.

I can feel as my sister reaches into her power well beside me, drawing on her persuasion and coaxing it out until it spreads towards Jinx. She focuses it on him, leaning forward in her chair and adopting a sultry smile. “Jinx,” she murmurs in her huskyvoice, her fingers dancing across the table towards him but not getting too close. “Where’s Jordan?”

Jinx barks out a laugh. “Keep your lust away from me, whore.”

Amelia blinks, a bit thrown off. She pushes more of her power into it. “Try an easier question, maybe?” Bell suggests.

Jinx laughs again, a bit hysterical. “It won’t work. I’m immune.”

Amelia tries again. “Why did you hex Tubbs and the others?”

Jinx gnashes his teeth together, leaning forward in his chair and pinning Amelia with a wild-eyed look. “It. Won’t. Work. I have zero desire for you or your slutty sister. I have standards.”

Amelia looks as if a bucket of cold water was dumped on her. She looks at me and then to Bell and Stormy, getting up out of the chair.

I follow her, seeing Pisces out of the corner of my eye. I expected him to be right at my side with the way he was acting earlier, but now he just looks pissed, standing behind Grim, arms crossed, Benny standing close beside him. His jaw ticks as he glares at me. I wonder what changed in the last ten minutes.

“He’s right, this won’t work. He has absolutely no desire for me, or Bliss, so we can’t use that as leverage here.”

Grim comes over to our little circle. “What’s the issue?”

Amelia explains, shrugging. “I’m sorry, I don’t think there’s anything left here for us to do.” She looks to me with pity on her face. “I’m so sorry, Bliss.”

“There has to be a way to break him,” Grim murmurs.

I turn and look at Jinx again, studying him. He’s looking around, probably searching for a way to escape. But there’s no way for him to get past all of us without his magic. I think about how Jinx has always been at Jordan’s side. I don’t think it’s love. I don’t think either of the fae are capable of such a complex emotion. But there’s something there, some tie.

It’s always seemed like Jinx would do anything for Jordan.

Even go to jail for him.

How desperate,I think.

And there it is.

I sit back down across from Jinx. “Bliss,” my sister and Grim warn at the same time.

I ignore them. I pull up my own powers and muster a sense of something I’m utterly familiar with.

Desperation.

I’m not at all sure it’ll work. Succubi powers draw out good feelings. Lust, love, relief, ecstasy. Things people feel during and after sex. I’ve never heard of a succubus being able to make someone feel shameful, desperate, or hopeless, but is it really so crazy? Isn’t that how I often feel afterwards?

I let it leak out of me, trying my best to center it on Jinx, but I can tell it’s flowing out all around me. I try to rein it in, channeling it directly towards Jinx. I can tell I have him when his face contorts into a pain that is not at all physical, only emotional and spiritual.