Damn, I hated that name.Love talker. That’s what it meant. Love couldn’t be further from my mind when the curse took over, forcing me to do things I didn’t always want to do.
The woman’s pointed chin thrust forward, bringing her black lips closer to the murky light. “That’s right.”
“Dare I ask what business a girl like ye has with a faerie famous fer seducing young maids?”
Her spine stiffened. “I need to—” The words cut off as if someone had stolen them from her throat.
I knew the pain on her face.
I knew her curse.
The same as mine. One of them, anyway.
A truth curse.
She’d been trying to lie to me. Her head would hurt something fierce if she kept it up.
At the door, Oran shifted his hulking weight, adjusting the thick belt buried beneath his stomach.
“I need to kill him,” she breathed.
Well, that was unexpected.
Why would she want me dead? What had I done to her? I’d never seen the woman before in my life. There were plenty of people—humans and Danú alike—who wanted me dead.
But what possible reason could this high-born lady have?
HadI slept with her? No. I definitely would’ve remembered that voice. And those long legs hidden beneath her black skirts. She obviously didn’t recognize me, so we hadn’t slept together.
“Afraid I’m not interested in murder today,” I said via the drunkard.
Dragging a purse from her belt, she tossed it onto the table. “I’ll pay you. Half now. Half when we arrive at his castle.”
Did she have a feckin’ death wish? That was far too much money to be carrying around this side of the city.
A spark of greed lit Oran’s dark eyes. If the bastard tried anything, I’d spill his guts on the floor before he could blink.
“I need more silver like this island needs more rain,” the old man said after a little prompting. It felt as if I was forcing my magic through a feckin’ block wall. The book in my hands began to shake. Keeping up this ruse was draining me too fast.
With the woman’s cloak open, I could see a soft green glow coming from beneath the neck of her high-collared black dress. She must have been wearing an enchanted talisman.
A cursed human wearing a Danú talisman. Not something you saw every day.
“Fine.” She yanked her cloak back over herself. “If you won’t help, then I’ll find someone else.”
She had enough money to hire four mercenaries. Any one of those eejits from the other side of the wall would be more than happy to relieve her of the coins, even though not one would find me and live to tell the tale.
I should’ve left it. This human and her curse were none of my concern. If she was foolish enough to hire someone else, then she deserved to suffer the consequences.
One final question, and I would evanesce the hell out of here.
She reached for the purse. A burst of magic left the old man’s age-spotted hand clutching the coins—and sweat pooling on my lower back. “What makes ye think ye can get close enough to kill him?”
Again, her chin lifted. “I have something he wants.”
The confidence in her voice almost made me chuckle. “Yer fair enough, but the Prince of Tearmann could have his pick of any woman.”
“Notme,” she ground out, her hands balling into fists.