Inspire (The Muse #1)(75)
Author: Cora Carmack

“Stop calling him that. He’s not a pet.”

His eyes scan over Wilder, who I can feel tense behind me. “Looks like one to me.”

“We’re fated,” I say. “Or is that outside your vision?”

He rolls his eyes at me. “I see the strings.”

I falter, swaying back into Wilder a little. His hands catch my hips, steadying me.

“You do?” It takes a long moment for me to recover from my shock. “Then you know why I need to be with him. We’re bound.”

The watcher sighs. “Pretty one, I see nothing but strings. Millions of them. I’ve seen the strings for the person you were going to stand in line next to as you got coffee, for who sits beside you in your frivolous human classes. I see the fate strings that are too small for you to feel. Every single one.”

“But this one isn’t small. I can feel it.”

“True.”

I wait for him to say something more, but he doesn’t.

“Can you help me? Just get me in contact. I’ll do the rest.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you won’t have to deal with me at all if I’m mortal.”

“You’ll never be mortal. You’ve far too many strings for that to be your fate.”

I gasp like he’s dealt me a physical blow.

“Maybe—maybe that will change. You can’t know for certain.”

At least, I didn’t think he could. He had to only see the present. If watchers saw the future, we never would have gotten this far. Melpomene either. There would be no needs for threats. They could just cut us out of existence before we ever caused problems.

Suddenly, he drops his head down, as if he’s praying. But I can see his open, eerie eyes peering at the floor. He makes a humming noise in his throat. Like he’s assessing something or agreeing. He stands frozen that way for so long that I consider telling Wilder to run again. Or to shut himself in my room. But in the end, I know it wouldn’t do any good. If a son of Argus wanted to find either of us, he could do it in a heartbeat.

I pull the towel tighter around my chest, uneasy about this whole situation, when the watcher’s head snaps up once again.

His pale blue eyes are nearly translucent, they’re so bright. But gradually they dim, and he focuses on me once more.

“Say I did know a god who might help you.”

My heart expands in my chest, so big that my lungs don’t seem to work around it.

My voice strangled, I say, “You do? Who?”

He waves my question away and continues, “Would you be willing to make a blind bargain?” His eyes skip from mine to Wilder’s. “Both of you?”

I freeze. “Why would he need to make a bargain? It’s me. My immortality. He has nothing to do with it.”

He smiles that fearsome smile again. “Strings, pretty one. He has everything to do with it.”

“What kind of bargain?” Wilder asks.

“I know a god who needs something done. But he can’t go through … normal channels, lest the other gods find out. Complete this task for him, both of you, and he’ll give you what you want. The two of you can be together.”

“No strings attached?” Wilder asks.

The watcher laughs. “Oh pet, there are always strings. It’s all life is.”

I clench my teeth against that stupid name and snap, “And what do you get out of this? Why the change of heart?”

“I owe this god a favor. If I get you to agree to take his bargain and look the other way as you complete it, we’re even.”

“And you can’t tell us anything more about the deal? What if it’s something terrible? Or something we can’t do?”

“Risk.” The watcher smiles and waves a hand in the direction of the bathroom. “You were willing to take one before.” His eyes turn to Wilder. “You were willing to do anything. Are you not willing to do this? Or were those just pretty words by a mortal who wanted a piece of—”

“I’ll do it,” Wilder growls, stepping toward the watcher.

I cut him off, planting my hands against his chest to hold him back.

“Don’t. You don’t know this world like I do. Bargains are a dangerous thing.”

“You were planning to make one.”

“Yes, but I have nothing to lose. You’re it for me.”

His hands clasp my cheeks, pulling me into him.

“You’re it for me, too.”

“But you have Gwen and your mother. Rook and Owen and … and Bridget.”

“I love my family. I would do anything for them. But Kalli, I consider you my family too. I meant what I said earlier. Whatever we have to do to make this work, we do it. Whatever it is, it can’t be worse than losing you. Nothing can.”

He kisses me, and his mouth is painfully sweet against mine. Day by day, kiss by kiss, he’s winning pieces of my soul. Parts of me weighed down by memories or fatigue or loneliness. He loosens the binds and makes me feel like everything is new, like I’m seeing the world for the first time because it is so incredibly different with him in it.

He pulls back, resting his forehead against mine.

“We’re doing this. And when it’s done, you’re marrying me.”

After a moment, I nod.

He continues, “Promise me. Promise that on the other side of this we’ll be together for good. I want to wake up next to you every day. I don’t want to share you with anyone. Except perhaps Gwen. I want to belong to you and you to me, so nothing can ever come between us. When you … when it’s done, you’ll be like me. You won’t live forever. And I’m sorry for that. But I promise I won’t waste one single day.”

I blink back tears, and my lips brush against his as I speak. “I don’t need immortality. Living a thousand lives means nothing to me when the only one I really want is this one. I promise you. We’ll be together for whatever part of forever we have.”

“Touching,” the watcher says behind me, his tone flat. “Are we all agreed then?”

Wilder looks at me, and together we nod.

“We’re agreed,” I say.

“I’m afraid I’ll need more than your words for this one. Hold out your hands.”

I take a deep breath and stick out my hand. Wilder follows. The watcher has us lace our fingers together, and then he wraps both of his large, weathered hands around ours.

“Do you agree to the bargain I’ve offered you, knowing full well that the terms of the deal that will be set forth by the god in question are non-negotiable?”