I swim over to him, folding my arms over the edge of the pool. I lean my cheek against them. The cold water is clearing my thoughts a bit.

“You know a lot of secrets,” I say, looking up at him.

The corner of the Bargainer’s mouth curves up. “I do.”

“But you don’t know anything about the Thief of Souls.”

“I know some things,” Des says, a pinch defensively.

“Not that many.”

He presses his lips together, like he’s stopping himself from arguing further. Instead he rolls up his shirtsleeves, giving me a tantalizing glimpse of his tattoos.

Seriously, how is this guy not taking a bath in his own sweat?

“I don’t get it—how can you know so much about everything except for the mystery surrounding the Thief of Souls?” I ask.

Des glances down at my folded arms. Reaching out, he trails his fingers over the exposed skin. “In order to answer that question, I’d have to tell you how I know so many secrets in the first place.”

My brows furrow. “You bargain for them.”

“Not … exactly,” Des says evasively.

But I thought that was how he’d built a name for himself.

“I built a name for myself through my deals and my brutality.”

Right. That too.

He continues to stroke the skin of my arm.

He’s not going to tell me.

Des’s fingers stop. He takes a deep breath. “I’ll tell you—I want to tell you. It’s just …”

His eyes flick to mine. “The shadows speak to me.”

I give him an incredulous look.

The shadows … can talk?

And Des can hear them?

“Seriously?”

He taps my skin. “Mhm.”

Mind is officially blown.

I mean, I knew fairies could spin cloth out of moonlight, and wear stars in their hair, so this is technically nothing crazier than what I’ve already seen for myself, but still.

“That is so fucking cool.”

A laugh slips out of Des and his shoulders relax. Apparently he was nervous about telling me.

“Cherub, I’m never nervous.”

Okay, this freaking liquor is really starting to piss me off.

Hate being this transparent.

“Tell me more,” I say.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything! I just learned that shadows talk! That’s so creepy-slash-awesome. What do they sound like? Does my shadow talk? Does yours? What do they say? Do they have personalities? I could keep going.”

Des moves a wet strand of hair from my eyes. “They sound about how you’d imagine shadows to sound—like whispers—though their voices vary just like human and fae voices do. Your shadow talks. Mine, not so much. They don’t really have distinct personalities, but they do have moods. And they say all sorts of things, provided they want to talk to you.”

“Wow,” I say.

I still can’t get over the fact that my shadow has talked to Des.

“She’s told me a lot over the years.”

Oh man. Not sure that’s a good thing.

“So, shadows have genders?”

Des looks painfully reluctant to talk about this. “It depends. Technically, they don’t; they’re just shadows, but some have more feminine or masculine voices.”

Huh.

“Can anyone else hear them?” I ask.

He shifts a little. “Not that I’m aware of.”

The Bargainer looks nervous again.

“I’m not nervous.”

Oh, wait. I get it. Duh. “You know I don’t think you’re crazy, right?”

I mean, I guess normally when someone tells you they hear voices, that’s your cue to start edging away. But I’ve been around Des and the impossible world of fae for so long that learning this isn’t some outlandish revelation.

In fact, it explains a lot.

“Thank you, cherub,” he says quietly, taking my hand and threading his fingers between mine.

“What happens if the shadows don’t want to talk to you?”

“Then they don’t talk. But there are ways to cajole them. Sometimes, if I want to know something, I give them a little magic—just enough for them to hop away from their owners for an hour or two. They hate being dragged around.” He shakes his head. “I can’t believe I’m actually talking about this,” he says.

I can’t believe I got him to divulge his big bad secret.

“And what happens if you want them to shut up?”

“Same concept—a little magic for their silence.”

I glance around me. There aren’t many shadows in the Day Kingdom, but they do exist even here.

“Can you get them to talk right now?”

Des’s eyes seem to spark with interest. His focus turns to the pool.

After a moment, he says, “Janus’s father, Ignis, apparently used to hold orgies in this pool.”

“Eeeew.”

Des throws back his head and laughs. “Cherub, it’s been well over a century since that last happened.”

The sound of his laughter warms me from the inside out.

I tug on his hand again. “C’mon, let’s make these shadows whisper about something else.”

He stares at me for a beat. Right when I’m expecting him to shoot me down, his shoes slide off his feet, followed by his socks. He pivots where he sits, his legs swinging around so that he can dip his feet in the water.

I step up, in between those legs, and nip his chin, my hands sliding over his thighs.

More, more, more …

Des tilts his head downward. “Do you want to know a secret?”

“Hmm?”

He takes my lips in a kiss. “Sometimes I hold out on you simply because I enjoy driving you mad with need. It makes me feel less out of control in love with you.”

“That’s not nice.”

He laughs low. “Whoever said I was nice?”

With that, he slips into the water, plunging beneath the surface. When he rises again, his shirt is slicked to his skin, each fold of it lovingly molding to his chest.

There are no words. He took my breath away the first time I saw him, and it’s no different now. And he still has that devilish look to him—his features a little too sharp. He screams bad news. Which, of course, is like a rallying cry to my lady parts.

His silver eyes dance.

Still hearing every damn thought that crosses my mind.

“What are the shadows saying now?” I whisper.

Des closes in on me. “They’ve gone quiet.”

“Even mine?”

He stops in front of me, an arm sliding around my waist. “Even yours.”

“The Thief of Souls?” I ask, as a thought comes to me. “What do the shadows say about him?”

Callie, the Killer of Moments, really is an apt title right about now.

The Bargainer’s good mood withers away. “The shadows won’t speak of him.”

“Not at all?”

Des frowns. “Not a single thing. Whoever the Thief is, he has either their allegiance … or their fear.”

Chapter 17

I wake on the ground, my eyes fluttering open.

“Ah, you’re awake. I thought you’d lay there all night.”

My claws lengthen reflexively at the sound of the Thief’s voice, my nails scraping against the stone beneath me.

I went to bed in the Day Kingdom, and I woke …

Here. Wherever here is.

I sit up slowly and gaze around.