Eventually, with a plate full of food, I headed into the living room to face the rest of the walkers who had taken their food to sit around the TV to watch a cop show of some sort.
Leo followed slightly behind me. I curled up in a chair, and he perched on the arm next to me, then stretched his arm across the top of the headrest.
My moment of panic was over, and it was time to do something about the situation we were all caught up in…as soon as I’d eaten my bacon.
When the show ended and most of the food was long gone, someone turned the TV off, and all eyes turned to me.
It was Sai who spoke up first. “So, the time limit Set gave is tonight. What will you do, Sarah?”
While I had stalled as much as possible, Leo and his family had tried to find the two hunters Set had imprisoned, so I wouldn’t have to birth demigods with a man I didn’t love.
“Do I have an option? Honestly?” I looked at Sai, and he turned his eyes away, as did everyone else, at the anger in my voice.
We all knew I didn’t have a choice. It was either agree or try to fight a god without any possible way of winning.
This would condemn us all to whatever punishment our great mother, Breksta—or her more common name, Nyx—would thrust upon our bloodline.
Could I honestly curse the fate of so many for the sake of my own comfort? Nope. That’s not something I could live with.
Silence filled the room until you could almost choke on the tension before Sai looked up and met my gaze. “Thank you.”
I blinked at him, then the rest of them lifted their eyes to mine. Even the bitchy twin had been a little nicer to me—not much, but a little—since it had become clear that this shit wasn’t any fun.
I gave them a small nod.
Leo’s fingers brushed across my shoulder in a gesture I think he meant to be comforting. He could either feel my anger and discomfort, or else he could see it in my behavior.
“So that’s two more stars,” I said, referring to the stars on my arm that represented the hunters Mother had cursed me to find.
“I don’t know much about the rest, but with Set”—I paused to lift both hands and make parentheses in the air—“he may be able to feed us better intel on the other hunters I need to find.”
Leo rested his hand on my shoulder. “We don’t think he’ll help for free. Not unless he has to or it benefits him in some way, and we don’t know what that will mean.”
As Leo spoke, everyone else in the room stiffened. “He’s a god and not one of the benevolent ones. Some even think he’s the Christian’s Lucifer.”
All the dream walkers in the room went still as if they had been turned to stone, including me. That wasn’t something Leo had said before.
“My father either can’t or won’t confirm it. But the fighting between brothers, being cast from the garden… It’s possible. If he’s really Lucifer hiding behind his Egyptian title…” He trailed off.
We all sat there in silence. Leo didn’t have to finish that sentence.
Our mother goddess has been a goddess of many religions, and it was common knowledge that some of the other gods have been worshipped by more than one religion.
It was highly possible.
The issue with Set possibly being Lucifer was that it would mean he ruled the entire demon realm. As Leo’s home, and with me being a princess of hell now, it meant Set might rule us both.
Sai licked his lips, breaking the rest of us out of our stone-like behavior. “If he is—”
Leo shifted forward. “We cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, all we can do is take this one step at a time, and that curse has to be lifted.”
Everyone nodded. Well, everyone but Kana. It seemed the bitchy twin was back. “I’m not fucking a vampire, even if he is a god.”
“Oh, little dreamer, no one wants to fuck you.”
Set’s smooth voice drifted through the room right before he appeared, putting everyone on edge. The whole room was up and out of their seats but for me and Leo.
“You are early,” I had no clue how I stayed so calm. How the fuck had he gotten into Leo’s home like this? I sent the question along to Leo, who only stroked my neck.
“Set.” Leo stood and gave a slight bow, to which Set smirked and nodded.
“Good, you are learning respect.” He waved a hand. “Sit, sit, relax a little. I will not bite. Well, not yet.” He looked at Leo and me as if we were food.
“I am very glad you have accepted Sarah. Tonight, when the sun sets, we’ll visit my mother, and I will hand over the two hunters I hold. Then our bargain officially starts.”
His smirk grew a bit larger, and I saw his fangs flash. “Also, Leo, you are right about me only assisting others when I must. Anything else will have to be bargained for.”
I frowned. “What else are you seeking?” Even to me, my tone sounded as cold as ice.
His reaction was a pleased one. “Everything.”
The ice in my voice seeped into every inch of me until a fit of cold anger burned my insides. “I won’t give you everything.”
His smirk shifted into a smile. “I know, which is why this will be so very interesting. For each bit of information I give you, I’ll require pleasurable physical contact.”
Leo’s hand twitched on the back of my neck, and he spoke for me. “Pleasurable for who?”
Set chuckled and waved a hand, and a chair, much like a simple medieval throne, appeared as he sat down. “Sarah, of course.”
I think that surprised everyone in the room. I glanced up at Leo, who was only just managing to fight off showing it, though he did not look happy.
“Why pleasurable for me?” I had to ask.
Set’s gaze shifted from Leo to me, and the god seemed to relish in telling me. “Simple. The more pleasure I give you, the better my chances of keeping you.”
The shock must have shown on my face, because he laughed.
I had never known Leo to be possessive of me.
He sensed my surprise, but instead of shutting me out, he opened the bond wider so I could feel him entirely—so I would understand—and Leo’s thoughts and emotions rushed into me.
Set wasn’t a man I loved or wanted; the situation wasn’t of my choice.
I sensed that Leo saw Set’s actions as a plot to drive a wedge between us. He let me feel his worry that what he’d done when the three of us had been in bed was another reason I was pulling away.
I had to pull back from the insecurity and hurt behind all the anger Leo felt.
Once I was fully back in my mind, I stood up, giving Set my back, and in front of everyone, I kissed Leo.
I could see he was surprised by my action only a second before he moved his hand to my face and gently returned my kiss. It was tender, and his love for me pulsed through the bond.
Tears formed in my eyes, and I closed them, but not before he caught my pained expression.
He raised his other fingers, trapping my face in his hands, then kissed me more profoundly.
For the first time, Leo invaded my mind and body. His entire being rushed into me, seeking the pain I was hiding from him.
Horror filled me at the thought he would find the secret I had been hiding from him, and only that feeling made him pause.
He left my thoughts alone, including the image I had locked away, and instead focused on our bond and spoke clearly in my mind the exact words that had bound us in our contract.
Just as before, each time they were spoken, power flared between us; it grew into a pounding inside of me.
I was suddenly unaware of where my body was as he pulled my mind fully into his presence. It felt as if I was standing in a room with just him inside my mind.
He pressed all that power into me and spoke the words once more, and I spoke them with him, no longer remembering that I wanted to release him from me.
When we both voiced the final word inside my mind, power cut through me like a sword. A scream tore from my throat and left me floating.
I slowly blinked my way back to reality to find myself on Leo’s lap in the chair I had been sitting in.
Set was looking down at me. Leo had his head to the side, smiling at me like a drunk idiot.
“I have only seen a bonding this strong one other time.”
Leo smiled, and it was as if he no longer had any doubts. He chuckled and lifted a hand to move his shirt back, revealing our shared mark.
The nine-pointed star had been clear and well-defined before, yet now, the mark was more prominent, and within its center was a new symbol. One I’d never seen before.
The only other thing I could think of was wow.
All my depression, doubt, and worries—he’d cast them all away, bound us tighter than ever before. It was as if, while we were in two bodies, our thoughts and feelings flowed freely as one.
It was his reply in our shared space.
Only Set speaking to us brought our attention out of it. “My, my, what fun this will be.”
I didn’t have to look at Leo to know he was frowning as I was. What was odd was that when we spoke, we spoke as one. “Be careful what you wish for.”
Kana, Sai, and the rest looked at us as if we’d grown two heads.
Set laughed and stepped back from us. “Perhaps. So, do we have a deal about information?”
We started to speak as one again, but I stilled my voice before the sound came out. “For every useful bit of information you give that helps us find and take a target, we agree.”
Set snapped his fingers. “I knew that was easy, but I had to try. Deal.”
We nodded, and Leo and I each took one of Set’s hands to shake them.
The tension in the room changed the moment Leo and I both said, “Deal,” at the same time.
“Wonderful.” Set was far too happy about us agreeing to that.
