Chapter Thirty-One

Luna knew she had chosen her fate correctly when she shocked the God of Shadow utterly and wholly speechless.

Immediate death.

Eoin’s eyes narrowed on her grin. “You meant that as a jest, yes . . . ?”

“I meant what I said.”

“You are aware that you’re giving up immortality, a life of luxury, and power beyond your wildest dreams?” Eoin said, ticking each of them off on his fingers. At Luna’s shrug, he threw his hands in the air in disbelief. “Are you suicidal?”

“I’ve seen what you’ve done with two of your shadowlings,” said Luna. “I’ve seen the life you’ve given them, the way you’ve made them suffer.”

Eoin scoffed in offense. “Suffer? I—”

“What an utter waste,” she interrupted softly. Eoin fell silent. She began to circle him, one lazy stride at a time. She savored the intensity of his gaze, the way he instinctively turned his body along with her steps to track her every movement. “You’ve given your shadowlings so much. Immortality. A life of luxury. Power, beyond their wildest dreams.”

Eoin’s expression sharpened to a lethal glower. “What is your point?”

“My point is,” Luna went on, praying that she wasn’t prompting her own execution, “You’ve given them everything they could have asked for and more. You should own their absolute devotion, and yet you don’t.” She paused in her walking. “Have you any idea of the loyalty of a hound who adores its master?”

“I don’t keep dogs,” Eoin replied with a cavalier smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Eyes that, since the god had appeared in her chambers in the Mortal Realm, had now shifted in hue from green to teal.

“On the contrary.” Luna spread her arms and threw her voice high. “You have the most powerful pets in both realms. So why keep them on such tight leashes?”

She forced herself to take a step closer to the god, and then another. And another.

It grew easier the closer she got.

With her heart pounding, she stared right up into Eoin’s ethereal face. A face hewn from starlight and darkness. Beauty that only an Immortal could possess. “I think you and I are alike in even more ways than you believe.” Luna lowered her voice to a whisper and let her expression fall open to display all of the secrets she kept locked inside. “We share the same desire . . . don’t we?” The half smile had vanished from his face, and she could see herself reflected in those ancient eyes. When she spoke, she could see his pain, and knew it to be the same wound festering deep within her. “We just wish to be wanted.”

Eoin didn’t move.

Here was the gamble. Luna squinted slightly. “I can see through your enchantments.” Surprise flickered in his eyes and relief rushed through her. “A mask that shifts depending on who looks upon it.” It was similar to the charm Luna had cast on Rose for the Fairfest Ball to avoid Priscilla recognizing the Eradorian Queen as the Elite in disguise that had arrived in Axaris months prior. After all of that training with Adrianna, honing her senses to detect the presence of the slightest web of illusion in order to better wield it, she had spotted the charm the moment Eoin had materialized on her window sill. “A mirage that appeals to the viewer’s desires, takes on the traits of whomever they wish to see most.”

Eoin’s mouth tightened. “I—”

“I’m sure you’re subtle about it,” Luna mused. “You just pick up on the little things. Hair color. Height. Changes insignificant enough that it seems like you’re merely switching up your style every now and then to keep your interminable existence . . . fresh.” She tilted her head, leveling him with the most severe gaze she could muster. “How can you even keep track of yourself?”

Eoin exhaled in a rush and rocked back on his heels. “Enough. What do you want?”

Despite the question, Luna knew she hadn’t won. Yet. “I want to negotiate.”

Eoin snorted. “No.”

Luna raised her hands in defense. “You don’t even want to hear what I have to say? It’s really not much, you know.” Eoin regarded her warily. She dropped her gaze for a moment and then let it return to him. Clenched her jaw and pasted on a hollow smile. Meanwhile, her fingers inched behind her and found the dagger she had concealed underneath the belt of her dress back in the Mortal Realm. “Honestly, I don’t care one way or another. The part of me that did care died when the rest of me was supposed to.”

Swifter than the god could react, faster than even she thought herself capable, Luna whipped out the knife and drew it to her throat in one smooth sweep. “If you don’t kill me,” she informed him matter-of-factly, “I’ll kill myself.”

The god gasped in astonished delight. He was her audience, and this was her show. “You wouldn’t.”

“Don’t underestimate me, God of Shadow.” Luna pressed the blade deeper into her neck until it bit through. Bloodstains blossomed on the collar of her dress, wet against her skin. She didn’t think he’d let her die. It would be a waste, really. She was far more useful to him alive. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he wouldn’t care. “Now, for the last time,” she continued, her voice the smooth, flat pane of a frozen lake. She would not show him her fear. “Death or negotiation. What’ll it be?”

After a long silence, Eoin let out a sigh. “You, Princess Luna Evovich,” he announced, “are quite a piece of work. Fine.” Then he snapped his fingers and an elegant table accompanied by a pair of matching leather wing-backed chairs materialized to their right. The peacock quill whizzed off the floor and the contract whisked out of her grasp. Both fluttered onto the table. “I have a feeling that this will be good, so I’ll humor you.”

Luna took a seat without his invitation, refusing to show even an inkling of her mind-numbing relief. She propped her elbow on the edge of the table and rested her chin on her hand. When he copied her, she shot him a feline smile.

He had meant the action as a taunt, but she would interpret it otherwise.

“Well?” said Eoin. “Let’s hear your conditions.”

Luna picked up the quill and crossed out the tenth clause: Thou shalt reside within the allocated living quarters bestowed by the King whenever thou dwell in the Immortal Realm.

Eoin arched one eyebrow. “Interesting.”

Luna’s smile widened. “Oh, I’m nowhere near done yet.”

And then she began to haggle over her life with the God of Shadow.