The Sea Witch (Wicked Villains 5)

Ursa motions with impatient fingers, each topped with bloodred polish to match her lips. “Let’s see.”

I lift it, intending to take it off, but she snags it and tugs, drawing me closer. My breath stalls in my chest. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I swear I can feel the warmth coming off her body, and it has something coiling low in my stomach in response. I shiver and watch her run her fingers over my mother’s necklace. Sapphires, diamonds and emeralds depict the depths of the ocean around a stylized ruby seahorse. It’s worth a small fortune, but it’s priceless to me.

Ursa lays it back against my chest, her knuckles dragging over my sternum through my tank top. An accidental touch, maybe, but it has me jerking back. I don’t understand my reaction to her, but I’m loyal to Alaric, even if he’s not able to give me the same currently.

I’m still regaining my equilibrium when she shakes her head. “It won’t be enough.”

I blink. “Surely he doesn’t owe Hades so much?” I still don’t know the circumstances of Alaric’s deal with Hades, what he needed such a large sum of money for. All I know is that Hades provided it and Alaric has been paying off that debt ever since. He’s assured me that it’s not a bad life, as such things go, but he’s not free, either.

“He does.” Ursa finally releases me from her gaze, turning her face to the window. “He still owes Hades a quarter of a million dollars.”

Helplessness rises in my chest, clawing at my throat. She’s right. The necklace is worth a lot, but not that much. Especially if I’m forced to pawn it. “You promised a way to free him.”

“I didn’t promise that you’d like it.” She gives another of those shrugs that mean absolutely nothing. “You have the pretty necklace, but it’s not enough.”

“I don’t have anything else!”

“Don’t you?”

I shake my head, trying to concentrate past the hopelessness welling up inside me. “What are you talking about? Don’t you think if I had anything of value, I’d willingly bargain it for him? I would in a heartbeat.”

“If you had anything of value?” She finally looks at me again almost pitying. “Come now, little girl. Surely you’re not that naive. You must know you possess the one thing guaranteed to be valuable enough to free Alaric.”

“I don’t understand.” Except, as her gaze sweeps over my body, I’m starting to. I shake my head. “If I make a deal with Hades, that only reverses our positions. It doesn’t solve the problem.”

“No, making a deal wouldn’t solve anything.” Her lips curve up like she’s telling a joke, except nothing is funny. “I’m talking about your body. Would you give a single night to free him?”

Sex.

She’s talking about sex.

I fight not to tense, and I’m not entirely successful. I could brazen my way through this, but… “I’ve never had sex before.”

“That only makes what you’re offering more valuable in the eyes of people willing to pay for it.”

A small, foolish part of me thought I’d give my virginity to Alaric. During our time together, we’d never had the opportunity to decide if I was ready one way or another, not when we could only meet in public places. Am I willing to sacrifice the romantic notion of him being my first for his freedom?

Yes. Of course. It’s barely even a question.

What are a hymen and a single night when weighed against forever?

It’s only sex. If I have no experience with it, at least I’ll have no expectations going in. Maybe it’d actually be better to get it out of the way with someone else first. From most of what I’ve read on the subject, the first time isn’t anything to look forward to. Better to rip off the bandage and then move on to the good stuff with Alaric afterward.

Even if none of that were true, my answer would be the same.

“I’ll do it.”Chapter 2ZurielleSomehow, it surprises me that Ursa takes us directly to the Underworld. From the outside, the building looks much like the others around it, though I almost thought it’d be taller. I squint up at it and then have to scramble to keep up with Ursa’s long strides.

I thought she’d be taller, too.

It’s such a strange expectation, but she felt larger than life on our way over here, and discovering that she’s maybe six inches taller than my five-three is disconcerting for some reason. Out of the car, her presence should be dispelled. It’s not. Despite the other people on the sidewalk, she is in a class all her own, a shark swimming with minnows. Like minnows, people flit out of her way as if sensing danger.

The sunlight plays across her body the same way the shadows of the car did, drawing my gaze to the way her dress hugs her curves with each stride. She’s large and powerful and confident, and she makes me feel tiny and breakable and brittle by comparison. I don’t think I like it.