Page 211 of Bedeviled

I look for the Bargainer among them, but all I see are fallen supernaturals or those still locked in battle, and none of them appear to be the fairy in question.

Speaking of fairies⁠—

“What happened to Eislyn?” I ask. She must clearly still be alive if her legion of soldiers are still fighting for her.

My husband shakes his head. “Before I had a chance to get close to her, my power overtook me.”

Shit. My eyes scan the darkened room again just as the shadows consume the light completely. For a single moment, there is total darkness. I hear a couple anguished screams, then⁠—

BOOM!

A shock wave rips through the room, and wet, unmentionable things splatter against me.

Once it passes, the darkness lifts. Only Memnon, myself, Nero, and fae remain standing. Everyone else is nothing more than singe marks and blood spatter.

Perched high above on a small, nearly hidden balcony is the Bargainer.

He meets my gaze and lifts his eyebrows, as if to say, Aren’t you amused? But there’s a seriousness beneath his expression.

The Bargainer steps off the balcony, falling to the ground below with inhuman grace.

“That, my friends, is how you end a battle,” the fairy says, sauntering over to us.

As if to undermine his point, a smattering of screams drift in from outside the walls of the palace.

“Well, part of a battle,” the Bargainer amends. His gaze shifts in the direction of the screams, and I see that hard glint again at the back of his eyes.

When his attention returns to us, he says, “The psycho princess you’re after got away before your magic could reach her. But from what I understand, she’s currently headed to the conservatory—in case you still wanted to stop her.”

His eyes drift to me. “I see you didn’t stay out of the fight for long.”

I open my mouth to defend myself, but the fairy has already turned his attention to Memnon. The Bargainer leans forward and drops his voice. “By the way, congratulations on your conscience,” he says to Memnon. “I’m glad I didn’t have to kill you off.”

“I’m glad I didn’t kill you either, fairy,” Memnon says, and the two have a moment.

This might be the weirdest part of the night so far, and that includes witches launching holy water bombs at demons.

“Which way is the conservatory?” I ask, interrupting whatever is going on between the two men.

The Bargainer nods down the hall.

I swallow. I guess it’s time to hunt down Eislyn.

Memnon places a hand on the fairy’s shoulder and nods.

Again, weird.

Heaven forbid these two actually begin to like each other.

Memnon drops his arm and turns to me. “You ready, Empress?”

Asked as though we hadn’t all decided I was supposed to sit this fight out.

You’re a Sarmatian queen, he says. It was foolish of me to think you’d stay away from battle in the first place.

I nearly crack a smile, and I give him a subtle nod. “I’m ready.”

However, I linger for a moment longer, my eyes trained on the Bargainer as he begins to rise back into the air. “What are you going to do?” I ask him.