Darkyn's Mate

"Are you satisfied?" she asked.

"Very."

"You aren't going to ask me?"

"I already know you are," he replied. "I see your thoughts like mine."

"All of them?"

"Even the one where you planned to lie to me about Wynn healing Selyn."

"Ah. Okay." She waited for some sort of reaction. He was quiet. "Did I make a good deal?"

"You did," he said. "Carte blanche never breaks bad for me. You were emotional, though."

"Yeah. I forgave him, but I just …I think I'm angrier at myself for falling for all his lies than I am at him for lying," she admitted.

"It will become second nature to know when one lies to you."

"I felt it," she said. "I was able to hear when he lied."

"Private deal," he said. "You make no deals with anyone aside from our private deals."

"In exchange for…" She frowned, reluctant to give up the ability.

"A favor of your choosing, so long as it pleases me to grant it."

Deidre sat up, staring at him. His cold gaze was calm and steady, his long fangs resting on his lower lip. The sight of them thrilled and scared her. He was relaxed, and it struck her how different he was with her in bed compared to outside their room.

"You're serious," she murmured. "You would do that?"

"Deal?"

"Yes."

"I am physically satisfied for the fifth day in a row, for the first time since I was hatched," he said. "I feel generous. Use it wisely, love. You may never get another. You can try by pleasing me every night."

"I will try, and I'll use it wisely," she said. "You can trust me." She looked at him curiously. "Do you trust me?"

"You have yet to be tested."

"But you sense depravity and weakness," she said in a mocking tone she hoped was similar to his.

"You are challenging me already." He flicked his nail against the pad of his thumb. "I am always ready for a fight. Are you, mate?"

Deidre groaned. She wasn't, but she doubted she'd have a choice. As if sensing she was tired, he didn't tease her when she reached for his hand. She sucked his blood clean from his thumb. The demon purred, watching her. She settled beside him again, comfortable in bed with him.

"Selyn has asked to see you," he said.

"I'll be happy to talk to her," she said. It was the first time Darkyn ever brought his daughter up. "Is she well?"

"Yes."

His voice never conveyed emotion. Deidre wasn't certain if there was any affection for his daughter, though his persistence in healing her was a sign of either care or obligation.