Darkyn's Mate

"You are offering me a deal."

"Didn't think this silly little girl that believed your lies for years had it in her?" she asked in a bitter tone.

"I didn't think you'd hesitate to help someone if you could."

"I'm not. Offering you a deal is helping you both."

He considered.

"No obligation to hear the terms. You can always walk away," she told him, repeating the words Darkyn used to lure her into the deal they made originally.

"Very well. What are the terms?"

"If this solution works, you owe me a favor of my choosing. If it doesn't, you owe me nothing."

"Carte blanche?" He shook his head firmly. "No, Deidre."

"What's it worth for you to be able to leave here? Darkyn always keeps his terms. You don't have a solution. You're running out of time," she reminded him. "Whether or not you take my deal, I'll help her. It's just the when that I'm looking at."

"You won't help her today, if I don't agree," he said.

"No."

"You'd let Darkyn torture or kill me, knowing my death is on your head."

"It's not on my head. You have a chance to save yourself. If you choose not to take it, it's your decision, not mine."

"And if I tell Darkyn you've got a solution?" Wynn challenged. "He checks in daily."

"You think he'll choose to spare you?"

Wynn studied her for a quiet minute. Deidre held his gaze, heart quick but calm in her decision.

"It's right here," she said and held up the vial. "Your ticket out of Hell. I know it's a high price."

"Carte blanche is beyond high," he said. His gaze, however, was riveted to the vial.

"If it doesn't work, no harm, no foul," she said. "If it does, wouldn't you rather take a chance to owe me than be in debt to Darkyn?"

He was thinking hard about it. She sensed weakness and dwelled on the instinct for a moment. He was going to fold. One more push. She'd never before been able to tell when someone lied to her or when they were manipulating her.

Was this how Darkyn knew how to make deals? Was this a benefit of her bond to him?

Oh, to have had this instinct years ago, when she met Wynn!

"You'll have to trust me, Wynn, the way I trusted you for all those years," she continued in a hushed voice. "You'll have to trust I'm nothing like you, that what I eventually ask of you doesn't do to you what you did to me."

"Agree or I'm fucked," he summarized.

"Yes. You can take credit for curing her, if it works."