Devil of the Spire || ONC 2024 || SHORTLISTED

04 | Making Deals

She was a dead woman.

Ilaria squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her hand over her mouth. The horrible aftertaste of vomit left her teeth gritty.

"I am...so...sorry." She couldn't bring herself to look at him. Talk about embarrassment. This night was going wrong in so many ways.

A deep noise rumbled from his throat. As stupid as it sounded, she would almost describe it as a growl. Like he had so many words to say, but he wasn't saying them. Oh, he was mad mad. She didn't want to look at him, but there was no other choice. Better get it over with now. Grimacing, she lifted her head.

His mouth twitched with what she assumed was barely contained rage. Fists shaking, he visibly took a deep breath. "Sit down."

She wasn't about to argue. Easing herself into one of the few lounge chairs in the room, she shut her eyes again as her head swam. Nausea threatened to return, so she took a few breaths, hoping to fight it off.

"I can't seem to wrap my head around what you're saying." Ilaria rubbed her temples. "Soulmates. You can't possibly be that stupid to think that they're real."

She could hear him moving around, tapping his shoes on the floor. He scoffed. "Stupid? You can't possibly be that naïve not to know they're real."

"They're not." Lifting her head, she pinned him with a dead-eyed stare. He couldn't be serious. "They are a folktale."

He shook his shoes one last time, flinging the leftover residue off them. Lord Kiernan fixed his posture and leaned against the wall. Beside him, a fruit platter drew his attention, and he plucked a ripened mango from the options. "Ever since childhood, I knew I had a soulmate. The things that have happened to me, that I have seen, that I have encountered left little room for argument. Hells, even my parents knew I was one half of a whole."

"Well, that doesn't mean that I am—"

He laughed. It was loud and sharp. Mocking, even. "Yes, it does. You cannot deny that strange events have happened tonight. I know what you saw. Your current state of illness is not a surprise to me."

Ilaria's heart twisted. There was no way her grandmother, of all people, was right. The notion of soulmates was a ridiculous one. But weird things had happened. The memories in her mind of faces and voices she didn't recognize were not her own. A cold chill slithered down her spine.

They were his.

"This is a shock to you." Lord Kiernan frowned as his head tilted curiously to the side. He hummed, took a knife out of his pocket, and began to peel the mango expertly. "There is no need to worry. I have no intent of naming you as my soulmate. There has never been an intention on my side of finding you."

Pain, otherworldly, stabbed her chest. She winced and drew in a deep breath. "Well, good."

No, not good. Not good at all! She needed to tell him about her father. He was the only one who could get him out. He was her ticket to getting her family back together.

"I will give you a nice payment to keep your silence on the matter." Lord Kiernan pushed off the wall, sliced off a piece of mango, and popped it in his mouth. "Then we can go on our separate merry ways."

Did he intend to buy her silence? This was not the end of the conversation. "Wait."

The tall man had already started walking toward the door.

"If you intend to buy my silence," she said, forcing herself to her feet. "Then give me something I actually want."

He paused at the door, hand hovering over the handle. Looking over his shoulder, he quirked an eyebrow at her. "And what is that?"