Page 33 of Devils Don’t Deal

His eyes narrowed as he studied me. “It was a long time ago. I was very young and foolish, or I never would’ve traded my heart for half a soul. But she seemed sincere.”

She? He’d traded his heart for half of someone’s soul…as in, he’d loved someone enough to trade his heart for only half their soul? He really had been young and foolish. And my own heart wasn’t twisting in my chest at the thought of him loving someone else. His soulmate. No, it was. My heart ached at the thought of my devil loving someone else. Talk about foolish.

I absently rubbed my chest and tried to be sensible. “She must’ve been magical to manipulate hearts and souls so well.”

“That’s one word for it.”

“Do you still love her?”

The expression was wiped from his face, leaving behind a beautiful blank canvas. “No. It wasn’t long after our deal that she betrayed me and killed the love in my heart. Without love, she couldn’t control me, so she sold me instead. It was a period of great learning in my life.”

I whistled and sank back into my pillows, heart aching slightly less. I stared at his chest. “You really have no heart? Figuratively or literally?”

“Both.”

“So that’s why you’re starved for love. Having no heart must be rough. And so must having a soul. Devils aren’t supposed to have souls for a reason.” I snapped my fingers. “I bet you could do another trade, someone’s heart for this half-soul. It’s a gorgeous soul, looks practically whole,” I said, smiling down at Divinity, who glared back at me, like he didn’t appreciate the idea of trading him off.

“Most wouldn’t survive such an exchange.”

“Is survival important?” I shrugged. “Anyway, it sounds like you don’t want a heart. And who would if loving was such a miserable experience? Being sold sounds…” I shook my head. “Let’s stick with our current situation. Your half-soul was withering away until I came along with my special ability to let rabbits bite me, and voilà, you’re doing great. The rabbit’s doing great. I’m the only one sucking because you released the Lady of the Wild Woods.” I glowered at him, because seriously, if he’d learned so much, he should’ve known that was a bad idea. “Surely a clever devil could come up with a better deal that would take care of my debts.”

“It was the only deal the clever goblins would make.” He gave me a slight smile with those gleaming eyes of his. “But since you’ve been fattening my soul with your love, I’ve had a change of heart.”

“Or a change of soul,” I mumbled.

His smile sharpened. “If similar circumstances arise which may put you at risk, I’ll simply eliminate the holders of the debt.”

The way he was looking at me made me keenly aware of my mouth. My lips. Where he’d kissed me when I was dying. We should probably talk about that. Why he’d kissed me when I was dying. How I could get him to kiss me when I wasn’t dying.

Did I have to talk about the kiss? Yes, if we were talking about rabbits in souls, I needed to know what the kiss had been about. Was I tied to his soul or something?

“Why did you kiss me? That did happen, right?”

He hesitated as he stared at me, eyes dropping to my mouth until my lips were burning. “I was trying to stop you from talking.”

“I think you could’ve knocked me out easily enough. You’re a devil. There aren’t a lot of things you can’t do.” Including surviving with half a soul instead of an entire heart. What a stupid deal.

He sighed heavily. “It’s true that having you conscious while I healed you helped you to accept my strength while I cut out the corruption she gave you. The situation wasn’t the most hygienic and my resistance to infection certainly helped you survive, but I admit that kissing you was the most pleasant way for me to mingle my will with yours, to ensure your survival.” His gaze heated and my toes curled. Ah, something that didn’t hurt.

Was it warm in there? I cleared my throat. “Of course. You have to make sure I survive, or I can’t keep our deal. And your soul. Or half a soul. Any sign of the other half? Maybe she’s tired of having a heart instead of half a soul and would trade you back, particularly after the glow-up.” And if he had his heart, there’d be a chance he could love me. Not a huge chance, but my optimistic nature focused on the positive.

His eyes darkened. “I tried to find her. It’s been so long that surely she’s realized that it’s better to have a whole soul instead of a dead heart, but she’s impossible to find. So I went on that show, the wedding show, hoping that she’d see me and trade back, or try to kill me, but she didn’t.” He shrugged. “It was a long shot. This is actually a much better result,” he said, rubbing the rabbit between the ears and giving it a soft smile. “You know, Divinity wouldn’t get out of your cake box for weeks and weeks before we met you. Wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t do anything but curl up like the most miserable creature in existence. So, when your father came to me for a loan, I accepted his offer, smelling you and your cake on him. The rabbit knew it could thrive on your love, so we decided to take you if we could.” His eyes glimmered. “You are so very sweet, Miss Charles.”

His silky voice sent a shiver over my skin while I swallowed hard and tried not to have a heart attack. “Okay. So now what? Your soul is happy. Can you stick it in your chest so it doesn’t get sick again? Can I have a new deal that’s just the shop and profits and not cuddling your soul?”

He straightened up and took a step back. “The deal is done. If you wish to cage the rabbit and be free from the energy exchange, that’s entirely up to you.”

I looked down at the glowing soul snuggling me and looking sweet and innocent like he would never bite me or devour a psycho killer. “But it was dying without my love.” I looked up at the devil, feeling weird and off kilter, like I’d been stabbed and kept alive by a devil’s kiss. “You were dying without my love.”

His eyes widened briefly before his expression became indolent and bored. “I was. Your love single-handedly brought my half-soul back to life. If you continue to give me your strength and life, I will have to reciprocate.” His face said indifferent, but my skin prickled.

Was he talking about kissing me? That would be bad. Far too distracting when I had a bakery to run and a heart to keep intact. “You can make me dinner,” I said in a rush.

He blinked at me. “Pardon?”

“I feed you love, you feed me potatoes. Also other real vegetables. A fairy-goblin can’t live on baked goods alone. I mean, I absolutely can, but it’s not ideal. If I’m going to keep snuggling your soul, I need to keep up my strength. Dinners can include you making them. Surely you can slip a little magical energy in while you do it.”

He hesitated then gave me the slightest nod. “Indeed. It isn’t my nature to cook energy into things, that’s your talent, but I will do my best to return your strength to you.”