Wicked Deal (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 2)

What was happening to me?

A cold breeze drifted over me, and I turned, spotting the window that the attacker had opened.

This would not do.

I stalked over, pulled it shut, and locked it. The rooms should have been secured—that was one of the perks of this hotel. Once the locks were thrown on the doors and windows, no one could enter.

But this one had been unlocked.

I should have checked when I’d first come in, but I’d seen Carrow’s wound, and then I’d had to heal her. And then…

The memory of her touch…her taste…nearly stole my mind again. I’d never felt anything like it.

And then she’d learned of my past…the whole awful, bloody lot of it. I’d reached too high when I’d reached for her. She was the first I’d wanted in centuries—the first that I’d ever wanted like this—and it could never be.

I went from room to room, checking all windows and doors. The rest were fine, but how the hell had that one been unlocked?

Did Ivan have contacts here?

Unlikely. This place and my fondness for it had developed after his time. He shouldn’t know of it.

But I also couldn’t be certain of the date he’d risen from the crypt at the bottom of the sea. Perhaps he’d been watching me for longer than I’d realized.

My gaze flashed to Carrow, who lay still, asleep and recovering.

He could never know about her.

He’d want her for her power as surely as I did.

Yet I wanted her for far more than that. The way she made me feel….

Alive.

Thawed.

Just like the Oracle had said. The Prophecy that I’d long believed was bullshit could be true. But what did it mean? Where did it go from here?

I walked toward Carrow, confusion racing through me.

She’d given me my senses back, a taste of life. But at what cost?

If there was one thing I’d learned in my long life, it was that everything had a price. Every sunny day was paid for with rain, every moment of joy with one of grief.

It was balance.

I spun away from her and strode to the other side of the room, speaking quietly into the comms charm at my wrist. “Miranda? Get the Oracle. Send her to me at the Crescent Hotel.”

“Yes, sir. Though I can’t guarantee she’ll see you.”

Miranda had a point. The Oracle was notorious for disappearing and not showing up to meetings. But she’d been so interested in Carrow and me that I had a feeling she might make an exception. “Just try.”

“On it.”

“Oh, and Miranda? How did the Council take the news of the possible explosion?”

“Some believed, some didn’t. Witches are with you, sorcerers are not. Each guild is handling it for themselves.”

“Keep working on them.”