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I continued through the great rooms and sprawling corridors, looking for any way out and finding none. And if the front door was locked…I was stuck.
Gage hadn’t needed to put me in a dungeon because this place was a prison.
And he was a fae. But not like any of the books I’d read. Those fae didn’t carry guns. They didn’t live in cities like New Orleans. But they did steal humans away to their world and trap them there.
What had I done?
“You saved Channing,” I said to the empty hallway, but it did little to boost my resolve. I wanted to be angry at my foster brother for not telling me the truth about Gage and what he really was, but would I have even believed him? I barely believed myself. But my still-throbbing hand was proof that this wasn’t a nightmare, and even though part of me wanted to sink to the floor and cry, it wouldn’t do me any good. I’d been in terrible positions before, and I’d gotten out of them. I knew the company of monsters well. I wouldn’t let him scare me.
I was just considering trying my luck at climbing over a balcony into the wild garden surrounding the house when I heard something. Not the hollow, aching wail from before, but a low, amused chuckle that scraped across my already fraying senses and sent me whirling around to find Gage watching me. His tie hung loosely around his unbuttoned collar, giving me a glimpse of more swirling, shifting tattoos. His smile spread as our eyes met, and the sight of it turned me liquid.
No. Molten.
It was rage, this fire burning inside me, and some dark, unnatural magic. It had nothing to do with Lachlan Gage and his smug grins and his stupid, perfect face.
“I wouldn’t advise that. You’re far safer in here than out there.”
He was back. Not that I could be sure he was any less dangerous than that disembodied laughter I kept hearing, but at least I could see him. “Party over?” I asked in the chilliest tone I could muster.
“Unfortunately, no, but Roark is handling things.” He scanned me as if looking for clues about what to do with me. “I didn’t want to be rude and leave you here all alone.”
I frowned. “Don’t pretend to worry about me. I’m a prisoner, remember?”
“You aren’t a prisoner, Cate.” He had the audacity to look amused at the thought.
“I. Can’t. Leave.” I bit out each word, since he seemed to struggle with understanding simple concepts. “That is the definition of prisoner.”
Gage leaned against the wall, playing with a cufflink like we were discussing the weather. A tattoo snaked around his neck and disappeared under his collar. “There are matters to discuss. Arrangements to be made. I assumed you’d want a say in the terms of our bargain. You seem…opinionated.”
“I didn’t make a bargain with you. You tricked me.”
His sculpted lips curved into a smile that nearly knocked the wind out of me. How had I ever mistaken him for human? No one looked like that. He was so beautiful that it was terrifying.
“You have a lot to learn about fae.”
Like everything, but I wasn’t about to let him distract me. “So, you admit that you tricked me?”
“I didn’t say that.” He raked a hand through his ink-black hair. “I didn’t trick you, Cate. You offered yourself to me.”
Fighting him was getting me nowhere, I realized. I had no idea why he’d traded Channing’s soul for mine, but maybe somewhere very, very, very deep down, there was a shred of decency below that cold beauty. It was all I had to work with until I found a way out of this bargain.
“I was desperate.” The words fell from my lips with resignation.
Gage shrugged a broad shoulder. “I know.”
The question burning inside me leaped out before I could stop it. “Why?”
He mumbled something I didn’t catch, then, “Why not?”
I waited for more, waited for some explanation as to why Gage had bothered helping me at all. If that’s what he was doing. I couldn’t be certain. Not while I was trapped in some Otherworld with no way back to my real life.
“Are you ready to discuss our bargain now?” he asked after a moment. “Or do you plan to continue demanding release?”
“Would it matter?”
“No.”
“This bargain means Channing is free from you, from this.” I stretched my arms to the strange world surrounding us. “Swear that you won’t go after him ever again, and then we can discuss terms.”