The Devil's Debt: A Kiss That Binds the Damned

CHAPTER TWO: The Woman Who Owned His Damnation

By sunrise, three things were clear to King Kael Varyn.

His father's death had not been natural. The Seven Infernal Houses had already begun to claim his kingdom. And the woman who had promised to save him was the most dangerous person in his palace.

It did not help that she had spent the night in his bedchamber. Not in his bed. Kael had been extremely clear about that distinction.

She had ignored it.

"You are staring again," said Seraphine.

He stood at the great window. Beyond the walls, the capital woke beneath a bruised purple sky. Smoke rose from the eastern district, where three buildings had collapsed without cause. Black birds circled the cathedral, and its bells were silent.

"You are sitting in my chair."

"Am I?"

"My father held his private audiences there."

"Then perhaps he should have chosen something more comfortable." She crossed one leg over the other, untroubled. "Ask nicely."

"I am the king."

"And you have never learned how to ask for anything."

Kael crossed the room and stopped close enough to see the silver flecks in her irises. "Lady Seraphine. Would you kindly remove yourself from my chair before I have it thrown into the courtyard?"

Her smile widened. "There. Was that so hard?"

She rose, but did not step past him. The space between them narrowed until he felt the coolness of her skin. "You have your father's eyes."

"I am tired of hearing about my father. Tell me about the debt."

For the first time that morning, her amusement faded. She walked to the fireplace, and a flame bloomed above her palm, black at its heart, silver at its edge.

"Twelve years ago a plague swept your southern provinces. The harvest failed. Your armies mutinied. Your father came to the Infernal Court for power enough to keep the throne. The Seven Houses lent it against a future debt, and your life guaranteed repayment."

"Then I will find a way to void it."

"Your father tried for twelve years." The flame twisted into a crown. "He consulted priests and witches and scholars. He paid assassins to silence the witnesses. He tried to burn the contract. The man who carried it to the furnace burned alive, and the contract was on his desk the next morning."

Kael looked at the mark on his wrist. His father had been a liar and a tyrant. But he had also been afraid, and for the first time Kael wondered whether that fear had been punishment for his sins or the knowledge of what he had done to his son.

"Why are you here?"

"I am the debt collector."

"And yet you have not taken me."

She was quiet for a moment. Then she touched two fingers to the mark, and the contact ran through his body like a pulse. He caught her hand.

"The contract allows three kinds of repayment. Blood, soul, or eternal service. Your father offered your soul. But as king, you are granted one chance to renegotiate, through a series of bargains with the Seven Houses. Each will name a price. Each bargain, once sealed, silences one of the bells and grants you a portion of the borrowed power. Refuse one, and the debt grows."

"And you oversee them."

"Every one. I am the only one who can read the contract without being consumed by it."

"Or you mean to see that I lose."

For a moment he thought she might strike him. Instead, she laughed, low and genuine, and it changed her face so completely that he forgot what he had meant to say next.

"I think my father trusted you," he said. "And whatever happened between you, he regretted it."

The laughter died. "Be careful, Kael."

It was the first time she had used his name without his title. They both noticed.

"Do not mistake my duty for affection."

"Your interest in my father's feelings is becoming suspicious."

"Your father did not love me." It came too quickly. When she looked away, he knew he had touched a wound she never meant him to find.

A knock sounded. "Your Majesty?" Captain Rowan's voice. "The council demands an explanation. And sire, the western gate has disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"The gate still stands. But the road beyond it leads somewhere else. Somewhere with a red sky. The men say they can hear screaming."

Seraphine closed her eyes. "Already."

"How long until it reaches the capital?"

"Seven days. Perhaps fewer."

Kael threw open the door. "Double the guard at every gate, Captain. No one enters or leaves without my leave. Send riders for every commander in the south. And if anyone tells you the western road can be mended by prayer, arrest them before they finish the sentence."

When he shut it, she was watching him. "You did not panic."

"Would that have pleased you?"

"Most men panic when they learn their kingdom has seven days left."

"Most men are not responsible for thousands of lives."

Something painfully human surfaced beneath her composure, then disappeared. "You really are nothing like your father."

"Is that a compliment?"

"A problem." She went to the door. "We begin tonight. Wear black. Nothing that glitters. Hell notices glitter."

"Which House?"

"Desire."

"Of course it is."

He stepped into her path. She lifted his marked wrist and pressed two fingers to the symbol, and a voice whispered inside his skull. Mine. He jerked back. She seized his wrist, alarmed, and murmured something that made the windows hum. Black fire crawled up his arm and vanished.

"Listen carefully. In the Infernal Court you must not accept any gift, drink any wine, speak your full name, or agree to anything that sounds like a promise." She hesitated. "And whatever happens, do not kiss me."

"That seems an oddly specific warning."

"The contract recognizes a kiss as a seal of consent."

"To what?"

"A bargain."

He stepped closer. "And if I kissed you without making one?"

"Then you might discover the distinction does not matter."

Her gaze dropped to his mouth. For one reckless moment, neither moved. He could hear the fire, smell her perfume, see the pulse beating at the base of her throat. She was close enough to kiss, and he wanted to. It was the most dangerous discovery he had made since inheriting the throne.

Seraphine stepped away. "Tonight, Your Majesty, you will learn the difference between desire and damnation. Pray you never confuse the two."

Then she was gone.

Kael looked down. The black mark had become a thin silver line shaped like a thorn. Beneath it, words appeared, in his own language.

THE DEBT COLLECTOR HAS BEEN BOUND.

Then:

IF SHE LOVES YOU, YOU BOTH BELONG TO HELL.

Then:

IF YOU LOVE HER FIRST, YOU WILL OPEN THE GATE YOUR FATHER DIED TRYING TO CLOSE.

Outside, the bells beneath the earth began to ring again. Seven times.

And beyond the borders of his kingdom, a woman in a wedding dress opened her eyes and smiled. "Let the games begin."

Because the debt had never been the most dangerous secret his father left behind. The Devil had never meant to collect Kael's soul.

He meant to collect his bride.