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LILY

Now that my adventure had ended in tragedy, I wasn’t sure what to do next with my life. The idea of setting sail ever again didn’t interest me. And I knew my father would forbid me from taking another voyage, at least this soon.

I spent my time in my villa or sitting in the shadow of the oak, looking out at the sea. Sometimes I would go to the royal library and grab a book to read. I read one now, seated by the fire long after the sunset.

I hadn’t eaten dinner, but I wasn’t in the mood to cook. Sometimes I would help myself to the kitchen in the castle, usually finding something lying around. I would normally eat dinner with my family, but I wasn’t in the mood for conversation or cards.

My eyes were on the page of my book, the blanket over me, and then I felt it.

The presence of another.

My eyes hesitated before they lifted from the parchment, spotting the enormous man standing in my dining room, scanning the details of my accommodations before his dark eyes found mine.

He was kingly in his uniform and cape, his sword across his back like he was prepared for a battle that he was already guaranteed to win.

He stared at me for several hard seconds before he stepped into the sitting room, two couches and one armchair around a coffee table on a plush rug. The ceiling was high, twenty feet in the air, far above his tall stature.

My fingers absent-mindedly shut the book. My eyes didn’t leave his.

“You didn’t tell him.”

A shiver ran down my spine when I heard his voice.

It came from a stranger, but it was pleasant on my ears like it came from a friend…

or someone more intimate. Bumps appeared on my skin even though I was perfectly warm with my blanket.

My breaths had been so calm, and now they were erratic from the unease.

He took a seat in the armchair, his spine perfectly straight with his rounded shoulders, his cape draped over one of the armrests.

Knees apart with his hands resting together between his thighs.

As with every other time we’d come face-to-face, he barely blinked when he regarded me—as if he might miss something. “Why?”

He really did know everything.

He read my mind. “Just because you don’t see me doesn’t mean I’m not there.”

I wondered if I had ever been alone since I’d arrived at his shores. If he followed me everywhere, stood beside me in silent rooms, watched my father hug me and my mother kiss me. He haunted me—whether I knew it or not.

“Why?” he repeated.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “My father is grateful I’m alive. I don’t want to tell him I brought the God of the Underworld home with me.”

“You know what I think?”

My eyes narrowed.

“There’s no way to tell him without incriminating yourself. You did the one thing he asked you not to do.”

“I didn’t do it by choice.”

“But nonetheless, you’ve rekindled an unpaid debt.”

“This debt had nothing to do with you, so why do you care?”

“As God of the Underworld, it’s my job to make sure all debts are paid.”

I sat up, feeling my signature temper flare like a lit torch. “Let me get this straight. You save me from those assholes and get me home—and now you’re back to threatening me again? You told me I was worth saving, but now I’m worth provoking?”

“I’m not provoking you,” he said calmly. “Just reminding you of our predicament.”

“As I said before, my father killed your predecessor, and he’ll kill you too.”

The God of the Underworld smiled, and it somehow felt like a threat. “Yes, he succeeded before. But he had the power of surprise on his side at the time. Not anymore. If he faces me, he will lose his life and his soul.”

This line of conversation made me sick to my stomach. “Talk about my father like that?—”

“I have a proposition for you. A way to repay your father’s debt.”

“I already said I won’t give you my soul.”

“I would never take it—even if you offered.” His smile faded, and the intensity returned to his gaze. “I want you, Lily Rothschild.”

The cool shiver I’d felt moments ago suddenly burned white-hot. I could feel it in my face. Feel it in the numbness in my hands and feet. His words could be interpreted in many different ways, but I was certain I knew how he meant them.

“Do you accept?”

Was I actually considering this? “What are the terms?”

“You’re a smart girl.” The corner of his mouth flicked up in a smile. “Until I’m satisfied.”

“That’s it?” I asked incredulously. “Awfully vague and advantageous.”

“I won’t put a timeline on it, not when time passes differently for me.”

“Does it pass at all if you’re immortal?”

He absorbed the question in silence, seeming to mull it over. “It’s complicated.”

“I need something more concrete than that.”

“Which means you’re receptive.” He looked like a predator once again, the same way he had on the dead island out to sea. His eyes ate me whole.

“You threatened to kill my father, so I don’t have much of a choice.”

“Your father brought this upon himself. He wouldn’t want you to intervene on his behalf.

You owe him and me nothing. The proposal I’ve given you is entirely optional.

” Through his clothing and his armor, the thickness of his muscles was visible, the distinct bulge in his arms like a cannonball was cradled in his elbow.

“But my fire makes yours burn, and yours makes mine grow.”

I had been reckless when I’d bedded a vampire who could have killed me. But screwing the God of the Underworld was a whole different level of recklessness. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He had a stare more powerful than a dragon’s.

His dark eyes reminded me of Khazmuda’s, inherently threatening until he had a reason not to be.

But no matter how hostile Wrath seemed to be, he never seemed dangerous.

At least, not a danger to me. “That the wildfire that burns between us is mutual. I feel your heat on my face, and I know you feel mine.”

“That’s quite an assumption.”

“Then correct it.”

My heart dropped into free fall and never landed. My balance was compromised, and I was certain that played across my face. My confidence was vanquished, my vulnerability ripped from my soul and put on display.

He didn’t gloat. The corner of his mouth didn’t rise in a smile.

“I had every intention of finishing Bahamut’s work when you came to my lands.

But I changed my mind after you left—because my desire for you is far greater than my revenge.

Take this deal, and I vow to leave your father untouched.

Your servitude will pay his debt in full. ”

“ Servitude …I don’t care for that description.”

He didn’t rephrase it. Didn’t backpedal. Just stared at me.

Wrath had followed me everywhere, had proven to me he had the ability to make good on his word.

And I knew it wasn’t a lie to trick me, because my father knew about the island for a reason.

If I did this, my father would truly be free of his past. He would do anything for me, sink to the bottom of the ocean with me, and I would do anything for him.

Even this.

“We need concrete terms. I won’t be tricked into a lifetime imprisonment.”

A sharpness entered his gaze, a hint of excitement.

“I will not give you my life or my soul.”

“I asked for neither of those things.”

“But you’ll try to trick me into it, and I won’t be a fool.”

“The God of the Underworld is never misleading. He says what he means and means what he says. My desire for you is purely of the flesh. I wish you no harm, which has been proven beyond a doubt.”

Because he’d saved me from a horrible fate.

“I want you until I’m satisfied.”

“I said that’s too vague.”

“Then I want ten years.”

“ Ten years ?”

“As I said, time passes differently for me.”

“You want ten years when you don’t even know if we’ll have chemistry, if the sex will even be good?”

His stare hardened on my face, his confidence intensity crackling like flames in a fire. “If I burn for you across the room, imagine the fiery blaze when I can finally touch you. When I can make you mine.”

The heat he described suddenly emerged within me, a gentle flame that I couldn’t blow out. It burned on and on. “Ten years, regardless of how you experience time, is way too long. If I meet someone?—”

“You will not meet someone. This is a binding contract, a commitment between the two of us.”

“Then it definitely can’t be ten years.”

“Then we’re back to my previous suggestion—until I’m satisfied.”

“Six months.”

“No.”

“Anything more than that is unreasonable.”

“You forget you’re paying your father’s debt—an enormous one.”

“One year. And that’s the most I’m willing to offer?—”

“No.”

“Then, no deal,” I snapped. “One year of my life is plenty generous.”

Last time he’d gotten angry, he’d suddenly turned into hot ash and brought the underworld to the surface, but he retained his composure. “Then we’ll pursue my previous suggestion—and end it when the time feels right.”

“I already said that was too vague.”

“You also have the power to decide when to end it.”

“I do?”

“Yes.”

“What if I decide to end it in a single day?”

“You won’t.”

My eyes narrowed. “You wanted to lock me into a binding contract a minute ago, and now you’re willing to play it by ear? Why?”

“Because if we agree on a date, it ends on that date even if we want it to continue. But if it remains open, it can continue for as long as we wish.”

“You’re the one deciding all of this, so I don’t understand.”

He’d been still for a while, rigid in place, not even moving to take a breath. “My word is my bond. I have to honor it.”

“But you’re the one in charge.”

“It’s complicated.” He relaxed back into the armchair for the first time, one ankle resting on the opposite knee, dressed for battle rather than a night in front of the fire.

His elbow moved to the armrest, and he absent-mindedly brushed his fingers across his chin, his dark eyes leaving my face for the first time. “We’re in agreement?”